We were required to design an appropriate

network for a company by optimally

dimensioning the IP addressing scheme
according to the number of users per
department. And also allocate appropriate
media for the different levels of connections
then configure appropriate IP addresses.

Cisco
Enterprise
Project
Caesasr Mwangi-653530
Brian Koskei-653985
Mohamed Ismail Korio-655306
Omar Adullahi Ahmed-654526
Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................1

Literature Review.........................................................................................................................................2

Network Topology....................................................................................................................................2
Communication Media............................................................................................................................3
Virtual Local Area Networks (Vlans)........................................................................................................3
Multiswitch..............................................................................................................................................4
IPv4 ADDRESSING AND SUBNETTING......................................................................................................4
Design..........................................................................................................................................................6

Development of simulation model..........................................................................................................6

Switch Configurations..............................................................................................................................7
Server Configuration................................................................................................................................8
Implementation...........................................................................................................................................8

Results and discussion...............................................................................................................................12

Strengths...............................................................................................................................................12
Weaknesses...........................................................................................................................................12
Conclusions................................................................................................................................................13

References.................................................................................................................................................14

1
Introduction
The need for computer networking was borne out of the need to use personal computers for
sharing information within an organization in form of messages, sharing files and data bases and
so forth. Whether the organization is located in one building or spread over a large campus, the
need for networking the computers cannot be over emphasized.

Cisco Packet Tracer (CPT) is a multi-tasking network simulation software that can be used to
perform and analyze various network activities such as implementation of different topologies,
selection of optimum path based on various routing algorithms, creation of appropriate servers,
subnetting, and analysis of various network configuration and troubleshooting commands

Literature Review

2
Network Topology
For interconnectivity of components, network topology describes the physical and logical
appearance and interconnection between arrangement of computers, cables and other
components in a data communication network and how it can be used for taking a packet from
one device and sending it through the network to another device on a different network.

A network topology is the physical layout of computers, cables, and other components on a
network. There are a variety of different network topologies, and a network may be built using
multiple topologies. The different types of network topologies are:

 Bus topology
 Wireless topology.
 Mesh topology
 Star topology
 Ring topology
 Hybrid topology

Communication Media
Optic Fiber Cable

An alternative to copper cabling is fiber–optic cabling, which sends light through an optic fiber.
Using light instead of electricity makes fiber optics immune to EMI. Also depending on the layer
technology being used, fiber-optic cables typically have greater maximum distance between
networked devices and greater data carrying capacity.

Wireless

Not all media is physical, as is the case with wireless technologies. Wireless clients gain access
to a wired network by communicating via radio waves with a wireless access point (AP). The
access point is then hardwired to a LAN. All wireless devices connecting to the same AP are
considered to be on the same shared network segment, which means that only one device can
send data to and receive data from an AP at any one time (half duplex communication

3
Virtual Local Area Networks (Vlans)
VLANs are a new type of LAN architecture using intelligent, high-speed switches. Unlike other
LAN types, which physically connect computers to LAN segments, VLANs assign computers to
LAN segments by software. VLANs have been standardized as IEEE802.1q and IEEE802.1p. There
are two basic designs of VLANS. They are: Single-switch VLANs and Multiswitch.

Single Switch VLANs

With single switch VLANs, computers are assigned to VLANs using special software, but
physically connected together using a large physical switch. Assigning of VLANs to computer can
be done in four ways:

Port-based VLANs assign computers according to the VLAN switch port to which they are
attached

MAC-based VLANs assign computers according to each computer’s data link layer address

IP-based VLANs assign computers using their IP-address

Application-based VLANs assign computers depending on the application that the computer
typically uses.

Multiswitch
VLANs Multiswitch

VLANs send packets between multiple switches, making VLANs with segments in separate
locations possible. When a frame is sent between switches, it is modified to include a tag field
carrying VLAN information.

When the frame reaches the destination switch, the tag field is removed before the frame is
sent to its destination computer. Multiswitch VLANs also prioritize traffic using the IEEE802.1p
standard in the hardware layers and the RSVP standard in the internetwork layers.

IEEE802.1p works with the IEEE802.11ac frame definition which includes a special priority field.

4
IPv4 ADDRESSING AND SUBNETTING
An IP address is a numeric identifier assigned to each machine on an IP network. It designates
the specific location of a device on the network. IP addressing was designed to allow hosts on
one network to communicate with other hosts on different networks iregardless of the type of
Local Area Network the hosts are participating in.

IPv4 Address Structure

An IPv4 address is a 32-bit address. However rather than writing out each individual bit value,
the address is typically written in dotted-decimal notation, for example 192.168.23.100. Each
number represents an 8-bit portion of the 32 bits in the address and each of these four divisions
of an IP address is called an octet.

An IP address is composed of two types of addresses: network address and host address and
the IP address component that determines which bits refer to the network and which bits refer
to the host is called subnet mask. An example of a subnet mask is 255.255.255.0.

Subnetting

Subnetting is a method of stealing bits from the host part of an IP address so as to divide the
larger network into smaller sub-networks referred to as subnets. After subnetting, network
subnet host fields are created.

An IP address is always reserved to identify the subnet and another one to identify the
broadcast address within the subnet. Subnetting can be done in three basic ways, one of which
is subnetting based on the number of sub-networks you wish to obtain from a single block of IP
address; another way is to subnet based on the number of host computers or devices you want
to be connected to that sub-network and finally subnetting by reverse engineering which is a
scenario in which a subnet mask and an IP address block is given and the number of sub-
networks and number of hosts per each subnet are found.

5
For example, if a public IP address block of 192.168.23.1 with a subnet mask of
255.255.255.252 is purchased from our ISP and because this block has only two valid hosts, this
IP address is used to assign to our Router interface so that traffic can be directed from our
network to the ISP and from there to the internet.

A private IP address block is then chosen to carry out IP addressing within our network. Because
of the expected clients on this network, a Class B address is chosen for the internal network and
it is 172.168.0.0 with a mask of 255.255.0.0.

Design
Development of simulation model
The materials used for the project were:

• Server

6
 • 5pcs

• Routers

• Switches

• Cables

We were required to design an appropriate network for a company by optimally dimensioning

the IP addressing scheme according to the number of users per department. And also allocate
appropriate media for the different levels of connections then configure appropriate IP
addresses given the following ip’s:

192.168.15.0 /24-Nairobi

172.16.5.0/24-Mombasa

150.30.5.0/28-Busia

204.15.15.0/27-Garissa

Configure appropriate routing to ensure all devices in the network can communicate and also
prove connectivity between the devices

Switch Configurations
The configurations to be made on the switch are, making some ports access ports and a port as
the trunk port to the Router, configuring a default-gateway, creating VLANs and assigning switch
ports to the VLANs.

Trunk-to-Router

To create a trunk port on the switch that will connect to the router, and all other access ports,
we login to the switch and using the command Line interface (CLI), use the following
commands.

For the setup of the wireless access point we did this by opening up the graphical user interface
of the access point in Packet Tracer and then clicking on the config tab to access type of
configurations available for the access point.

7
Then clicked on port 0 under the interface section to set the bandwidth of the Ethernet
connection to the access point, and then set the duplex (half duplex or full duplex), clicked on
port 1 under the interface section to configure the SSID of the access point, authentication type
(none, WEP, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK)and if any authentication type is chosen provide the
passphrase for network connectivity.

Server Configuration
The LAN design required the services of a DHCP server for authentication. The setup was as
follows:

We configured the server by opening up the graphical user interface of server0 and after
selecting DHCP service from the services tab, turns on the DHCP service after which we
configured the address pools that would be used on our network.

Implementation
Below are some screenshots oh how the network worked.

8
9
10
11
Results and discussion
Strengths
 Files can easily be shared between users.
 Data is easy to back up as all the data is store on the server
 Sharing devices such as printers saves money
 It’s easy to remember i mean you can add /16 and all pc, printers, servers will be on the
same network
 You will have already a large IP pool for future if you want to add more devices
 Computer networking data can be stored off-line.
 Anyone can connect to a computer network.

Weaknesses
 Purchasing the network cabling and file servers can be expensive.
 Managing a large network is complicated and requires training and a network manager
usually needs to be employed.
 If the file server breaks down the files on the file server become inaccessible to users.
Email might still work if it is on a separate server. The computers can still be used but are
isolated.
 large number of MAC addresses might overflow on some switches,
 any topology problem would span across entire network (e.g. a single loop might break
entire VLAN, unless blocked by loop detection on some switch),
 any rogue DHCP server might interfere with all the hosts (unless blocking untrusted
DHCP servers/ports on switches)

12
Conclusions.
In this paper, a Local Area Network (LAN) that uses both wired and wireless topology have been
implemented with some important concepts like DHCP, DNS, Email, VLANs in a single network
using Cisco Packet Tracer.

VLANs have been used to logically group clients on the network, and with the aid of a router
and switch configurations, data packets routed from one device to another.

It is also noteworthy that, the configuration and specifications are for the initial prototype and
can further be developed and additional functionality can be added to increase support and
coverage.

The procedures provide a veritable approach for the design of LANs for end-to-end IP network
connectivity for next generation network (NGN) architecture implementations.

13
References
Alan Dennis, Networking in the Internet age (John Wiley & Sons, 2002).

David D. C., Kenneth T.P., David P. R, An introduction to local area networks, Proc. of the IEEE
conf., Vol. 66, 1978.

Garima Jain, Nasreen Noorani, Nisha Kiran, Sourabh Sharma, Designing & simulation of topology
network using Packet Tracer, International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology
(IRJET), 2(2),2015.

https://classes.cs.uoregon.edu/04S/cit383/notes/ch05.pdf

http://www.theijes.com/papers/vol6-issue10/Version-2/I0610026377.pdf

Kenan Xu, Performance analysis of differentiated QoS MAC in wireless local area networks
(WLANs), Thesis Submitted to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Queen’s
University, Canada. September, 2003.

Tim Reardon, Planning, Designing and operating local area networks, DISAM Journal, Summer,
1997.

Todd Lammle, Cisco Certified network associate study guide (Wiley Publishing Inc., 2007).

14