Reading: Read the Introduction of CCNA Routing and Switching Portable Command Guide. Also look over Chapter 5, and Chapter 6 in the same book. You don't have to read every word, but at least skim over the material to familiarize yourself with what is there.
In this lab you will enable remote access to a router and explore some commands for viewing information about the router's configuration and operation.
NOTE! In this lab, and all future labs, you should submit a document along with whatever other artifacts are requested (such as Packet Tracer files). The document should include all the commands you used to configure your device(s), along with any comments or observations you made, and the answers to any questions asked.
Using Packet Tracer, construct the following network:
| Device | Interface | IP Address | Subnet Mask | Default Gateway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Gig0/0 | 10.105.200.1 | 255.255.255.240 | N/A |
| Gig0/1 | 10.105.200.17 | 255.255.255.240 | N/A | |
| PC-A | NIC | 10.105.200.19 | 255.255.255.240 | 10.105.200.17 |
| PC-B | NIC | 10.105.200.3 | 255.255.255.240 | 10.105.200.1 |
Use a 2911 router and a 2950-24 switch. Note that the 2911 router has gigabit Ethernet interfaces, but the IOS commands are the same as for the 1841 router you used in Lab #1 (in so far as this lab is concerned).
Please be careful to connect the lines to the specified ports. Note that in principle, a crossover cable (dashes) should be used to connect a PC directly to a router. The diagram shows a straight-through cable being used instead. However, the straight-through cable will work because the Cisco 2911 router has a feature where it autodetects the wiring and electronically adapts to either cable type.
Configure the router basic settings as you did in Lab #1 (Global Settings and Console Access). Configure the network interfaces using the addresses in the addressing table above. For example:
R1> enable R1# configure terminal R1(config)# interface GigabitEthernet0/0 R1(config-if)# description Connection to administrator's workstation. R1(config-if)# ip address 10.105.200.1 255.255.255.240 R1(config-if)# no shutdown R1(config-if)# exit R1(config)# interface GigabitEthernet0/1 R1(config-if)# description Connection to S1 lab. R1(config-if)# ip address 10.105.200.17 255.255.255.240 R1(config-if)# no shutdown R1(config-if)# exit R1(config)# exit R1# copy running-config startup-config
Finally, configure the PCs so that each PC can ping the other.
Be sure your Packet Tracker model has appropriate names for the devices (as in the diagram above) and label the IP addresses used as was done in Lab #1.
It is a good idea to save your Packet Tracer model before you begin each part in case you need to recover to an earlier version of your work!
Telnet is an old terminal protocol that allows you to get a console on a remote device over the network. The main disadvantage of classic telnet is that it is an unencrypted protocol (although telnet-over-TLS would fix that problem, it is not widely used).
Configure telnet access to R1 as described in the basic device settings document. Test your work by opening a command prompt on one of the PCs and running a command such as:
C:\> telnet 10.105.200.17
Use exit to log out of the telnet session. If it works, save the router's running configuration to its startup configuration (it is normally a best practice to only do this once you are sure the configuration is correct).
Because telnet is unencrypted, it is usually better to use SSH to remotely access network infrastructure devices (routers, switches, etc.). Unencrypted telnet may be adequate in a closed environment with only trusted network users, but that does not describe most environments.
Configure SSH access to R1 as described in the basic device settings document. Test your work by opening a command prompt on one of the PCs and running a command such as:
C:\> ssh -l admin 10.105.200.17
Use exit to log out of the SSH session. Again, save the running configuration on the router only when the configuration appears to be correct.
In this part, you will use the show command to explore the settings of R1.
On R1 use the command:
R1# show version
Answer the following questions:
The various show commands often provide multiple screens of output. Filtering the output allows you to display only the sections of interest. To enable the filtering command, enter a pipe (|) character after a show command, followed by a filtering parameter and a filtering expression. You can match the output to the filtering expression by using the `include` parameter.
Filter the show version command, using show version | include register to answer the following question: What is the configuration register address for the device?
Display the startup configuration using the `show startup-config` command to answer the following question: How are passwords presented in the output? There are several passwords to check: the console password, the enable secret, the line password (used with telnet), and the secret associated with the admin user. Are you able to still telnet to the router after SSH has been configured?
Use the show ip route command to view the router's routing table. How many directly connected networks are known to the router and what are they? Note that the 'L' code refers to the addresses of local interfaces, which is how the router knows that packets for those addresses are intended for the router itself. Those entries are not "directly connected networks" in the sense meant here.
Use the show ip interface brief command to answer the following question: What is the status of the unused GigabitEthernet0/2 interface?
In this part, you will get an introduction to the experimental network. There is a Packet Tracer model of the network, but it is not 100% faithful to the behavior of the physical devices. In this part of the lab, you should use the physical network.
There are three gateway systems for gaining access to the experimental network. For this lab, SSH to the gateway system alpha.cis.vermontstate.edu and log in as the user student with password frenchfry. We will all use the same user accounts on the experimental network.
NOTE: The experimental network is a shared resource, and all students have full, administrative access to the infrastructure devices on it. Please be careful and considerate when using the experimental network so that it functions well for everyone!
Passwords in the experimental network are standardized and should not be changed. They are as follows:
| Username | Password | |
|---|---|---|
| Gateway Systems | student | frenchfry |
| Switches | admin | hamburger |
| Routers | admin | hamburger |
In addition, the routers and switches have a user 'student' with the password 'frenchfry' that has no special privilege (privilege level 1). The student user on the routers and switches can use the enable command (with password 'hotdog') to activate administrative privilege.
Pick one of the student routers, StudentR1 through StudentR6 and SSH to it from the gateway system. Note that for this lab, you do not need privileged status on the devices, so you should log into them as the user student. You will need to specify the device's IP address:
$ ssh student@w.x.y.z
Answer the same questions about the router as you did in the previous part, adapting the questions slightly to account for the differences in the devices (for example, the 2811 routers in the experimental network have only FastEthernet interfaces).
Use the command:
StudentRx> show ip interface | begin FastEthernet0/0
Note the IP address of that interface. FastEthernet0/0 is connected to a dedicated multi-layer switch that can be configured another time. What is the netmask associated with the interface's IP address? What is the network address and the host address of that interface? How many hosts could potentially be connected to that subnetwork (be exact and don't count the reserved addresses)?
For this lab, submit your Packet Tracer model from Part 3 along with a document containing the commands you used to configure your router (through Part 3), and your answers to the questions in Part 4 and Part 5. The preferred document format is PDF, but Word, ODT, or plain text is also acceptable.
Last Revised: 2023-08-29
© Copyright 2023 by Peter Chapin <peter.chapin@vermontstate.edu>