NAVAl, Carlson B.
Packet Tracer – Identify Packet Flow
Topology
Objectives
In this activity, you will observe packet flow in a LAN and WAN topology. You will also observe how the packet
flow path may change when there is a change in the network topology.
Part 1: Verify Connectivity
Part 2: Remote LAN Network Topology Part
3: WAN Network Topology
Background / Scenario
Packet Tracer allows the design and creation of a simulated networking topology. In this activity, you are
presented with a simplified topology to observe packet flow. You will explore how packets travel through the
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Packet Tracer - Identify Packet Flow
network using the simulation mode in Packet Tracer. You will also observe the changes in packet flow when
there is a change in the network topology.
Required Resources
Latest version of Packet Tracer installed
Part 1: Verifying Connectivity
In this part, you will verify that you can access the other networks from devices on the Home Network.
a. Click PC0. Select the Desktop tab and open the Web Browser.
b. In the URL field, enter www.cisco.pka and press Go. Be sure to use the .pka domain, not the .com
domain. It should be successful. You can click Fast Forward Time to speed up the process.
c. Repeat this for www.web.pka. It should be successful.
d. Exit the web browser when finished.
Part 2: Remote LAN Network Topology
In this part, you will use the simulation mode in Packet Tracer to observe how packets flow through a remote
LAN network.
a. Switch to Simulation mode (Shift + S). Click Show All/None to clear all the selected event list filters.
b. Click Edit Filters. Select DNS under the IPv4 tab and HTTP under Misc tab.
c. Open a web browser on PC0. Enter www.web.pka and press Go.
Predict the packet path to resolve www.web.pka to an IP address. Record your prediction.
PC0>wireless Router0>cable modem0> cloud0 > router5>east>switch0>switch1>public DNS and
reverse
the path back to the originator PC0 using the same path
d. PC0>wireless Router0>cable modem0> cloud0 > router5>east>switch0>switch1>public DNS and reverse
the path back to the originator PC0 using the same pathClick Capture / Forward until the webpage is
displayed on PC0 to view the packet flow. Click View Previous Events when prompted by the Buffer Full
dialog box.
After the IP address has been resolved, which path did HTTP packets travel to display the webpage?
Record your observations.
PC0>wireless Router0>cable modem0> cloud0 >
router5>east>switch0>switch1>switch2ww.web.pka and reverse the path back to the originator
PC0 using the same path
e. Switch to Real time mode (Shift + R). Click the X icon in the right tool panel to select the Delete tool.
Remove the link between Switch0 and Switch 1 from the Public Network to simulate a broken link. After
30 seconds, the network will learn of the broken link. You can click Fast Forward to speed up the process.
f. Select the Arrow tool above the Delete tool to de-select Delete.
g. Switch to Simulation mode (Shift + S). Open a web browser in Tablet0 and navigate to www.web.pka.
You can click Auto Capture/Play to have Packet Tracer forward the packets without your interaction. You
can also move the Play Slider to the right to speed up the packet forwarding.
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Packet Tracer - Identify Packet Flow
h. With a broken link in the LAN, how did the path change? Record your observation.
Switch 0> switch2> switch 1 to reach republic DNS Server
Part 3: WAN Network Topology
Step 1: PC0 to websites.
a. Remaining in Simulation mode, open a web browser on PC0. Enter www.cisco.pka and press Go.
Predict the packet path to resolve www.cisco.pka to an IP address. Record your prediction.
PC0>wireless Router0>cable modem0> cloud0 > router5>east>switch0>switch2>switch1>Public
DNS
and reverse the path back to the originator PC0 using the same path
Click Capture / Forward until the webpage is displayed on PC0 to view the packet flow. Click View
Previous Events when prompted by the Buffer Full dialog box.
After the IP address has been resolved, which path did HTTP packets travel to display the webpage?
Record your observations.
PC0>wireless Router0>cable modem0> cloud0 > router5>
router2>router4>west>switch>www.cisco.pka
and reverse the path back to the originator PC0 using the same path
b. Switch to Real time mode (Shift + R). Remove the link between Router4 and Router2 from the topology to
simulate an inaccessible path. The routers are using Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol
(EIGRP) to dynamically adjust routing tables to account for the deleted link.
c. Switch to Simulation mode (Shift + S). Open a web browser in Tablet0 and navigate to www.cisco.pka.
d. With a broken link in the WAN, how would the path change? Record your observation.
Router2> Router3> Router4 to www.cisco.pka
f. Switch to Real time mode (Shift + R).
Step 2: PC1 to websites.
a. Click PC1 > Desktop and open a command prompt.
b. Enter tracert www.web.pka at the command.
PC> tracert www.web.pka
c. Match the IP addresses in the tracert results to the devices in the topology. Hover over the routers in the
topology to view the IP addresses of the interfaces on the routers. If the popup does not stay active long
enough, you can access router IP addresses in the following manner: Click the router > CLI > press Enter.
Now enter the command show ip interface brief to getting a listing of the interfaces and IP addresses.
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Packet Tracer - Identify Packet Flow
Trace
Number
Device Interface IP Address
192.168.0.1
209.165.200.225
192.0.2.2
192.0.2.18
192.0.2.26
6 East Serial 0/0/0 209.165.202.130
7 www.web.pka NIC 209.165.202.132 / 192.168.2.254
Network address translation (NAT) is used to translate the private www.web.pka IP address of
192.168.2.254 to a routable IPv4 address of 209.165.202.132. In the tracert result, the first line of IPv4
address of 209.165.202.132 is for the G0/1 interface of East. The second line of IPv4 address of
209.165.202.132 displays the public IPv4 address of the web server.
d. Switch to Simulation mode (Shift + S). Open the web browser on PC1 and enter www.web.pka as the
URL. Click Go.
e. Click Capture / Forward to load the web page.
f. Compare the tracert results to the simulation results for the HTTP packets. Record your observations.
The tracert and simulation results both show the same path to the web server
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