Part 1: Connect to the Cloud
The cloud here, signifies the internet at large. We start this exercise from the cloud moving downward logically to the nodes and then the leaves. The first step is to connect the Cloud to Router0. Since the Cloud is a form of a switch and the router is a different device type, we can use a copper straight-through cable to connect it. The cable will run from FastEthernet 0/0 port on the Router0 to Etherner6 port on the Cloud. The link lights turn green once the connection is complete and valid.
Next, we connect the Cloud to the Cable Modem. We connect these using a coaxial cable, this is probably done due to the geographical distance between the two. We will look at the physical topology in part 5 of this report. The coax cable is connected on Cloud Coax7 to Modem Port0. The link lights will turn green if the right cable was chosen.
Part 2: Connect to the cloud
We need to connect Router0 and Router1 to each other using a serial cable. Use port Ser0/0/0 on Router0 to Ser0/0 on Router1. The link lights will turn green if the right cable was chosen. We then go ahead to connect Router0 to netacad.pka. Latest devices do have a feature called Auto- MDIX which sets the transmit and receive pins for the devices automatically. This environment does not use auto-MDIX and thus a copper cross-over cable needs to be used so that transmit and receive pins are paired correctly on both ends. Connect the F0/1 port on the router to F0 port on netacad.pka. The link light should turn green if the correct cable was chosen.
In order to make configurations to the router, we need to connect to the router using a console cable to the console port on the router. We will connect from the console port on Router0 to the RS232 port on the Configuration terminal. The link lights turn black if the correct cable was chosen.
Part 3: Connect Remaining Devices
Let’s connect Router1 F1/0 to the Switch F0/1 using a fiber cable since these are fiber ports. Once this cable is connected, the link lights will turn green.
The connection from the Cable Modem Port1 to the Wireless Router’s Internet port can be done using a straight through cable since they are different device types. The link lights will turn green if the correct cable is picked.
The final link we need to lay is the one from the Wireless Router Ethernet1 to Family PC. We can use a copper straight-through cable to connect these. The link lights will turn green is the connection is successful.
Part 4: Verify Connections
We first try to ping netacad.pka from Family PC. My command prompt on the family PC froze on the first try of this ping. I therefore, went ahead and tries reaching the http://netacad.pka from the web browser and it worked. After this, I went back to try pinging netacad.pka and it worked just fine. I
suspect this had something to do with the DNS not being resolved fast enough for the ping to take place the first time.
Pinging the switch at IP 172.16.0.2 also gave me a similar result. This time, the first two packets sent did not receive any response but the last 2 packets in the ping received a response. This again is because the network did not have knowledge of the switch living on the 172.16.0.0 network and had to request information about it.
Opening the terminal from the Configuration Terminal PC and requesting the routers interface information gives us this below result.
Part 5: Examine Physical Topology
To toggle between the physical and logical topologies of the network, click Shift+P and Shift+L respectively. In the physical topology we see the Secondary network, Primary Network, Cloud and Home Network. We can click on any of these to see the devices involved. In the cloud we can find a blue rack with 2 wires connected to it. This is the wire to the cable modem and Router0.
In the Primary network we can see the Router0, server running netacad.pka and configuration terminal for Router0 on a desk next to it. We can also see the various cables connected to Router0 here.
The secondary network we can see the Router 1 and the Switch together with a cable from Router0 and a fiber cable to the switch. You would expect to see to two cables here because the fiber cable uses a different line to transmit and receive.
In the Home Network we do not see a rack to hold all the equipment since this is a typical home setting. We do see the cable modem with a connection to the Wireless router. The wireless router connected to the family PC, and two other devices which are connected wirelessly.
