Week 6
Cisco Packet Tracer Introduction and LAN Design Practice
Use Cisco Packet Tracer to design and test a small virtual LAN.
Lesson recap
Packet Tracer is the flight simulator for networks. You can wire up routers and switches that would cost thousands of dollars in real life, break them on purpose, and watch packets crawl across the topology in slow motion. This week you'll build your first switched LAN — two PCs, a switch, and ping. It feels trivial, but the click sequence (right device, right cable, right interface, right IP) is the same one you'll repeat for every CCNA lab on Earth. Get the muscle memory now.
Learning goals
- Open Packet Tracer and identify the workspace
- Add PCs, switches, and a router
- Connect devices with the correct cables
- Assign IP addresses to devices
- Test connectivity between devices
- Save and document the LAN file
Key terms
Packet Tracer
Cisco's free network simulation tool.
End Device
PCs, servers, phones — anything that originates or consumes traffic.
Intermediary Device
Switches, routers, access points — they forward traffic.
Topology
How devices are connected.
Static IP
Manually-set IP on a device.
Straight-through cable
Connects unlike devices (PC ↔ switch).
Crossover cable
Connects like devices (PC ↔ PC, switch ↔ switch — though modern auto-MDIX often makes this irrelevant).
Tools used this week
Curated videos
Commands
Click PC → Desktop tab → Command Promptipconfig 192.168.1.10 255.255.255.0ping 192.168.1.20Checkpoint checklist
Sign in to save your progress across devices.
- Install and open Packet Tracer
- Add devices to workspace
- Connect devices with proper cables
- Assign static IP addresses
- Test ping between devices
- Save .pkt file correctly named
- Saved required evidence
- Answered the reflection questions
Pro tips from the instructor
- ★If link lights stay red, you usually picked the wrong cable type or the wrong interface. Delete the cable and try again.
- ★Use Simulation Mode (bottom-right) and watch a ping packet hop frame-by-frame — it makes the OSI model click.
- ★Save (Ctrl+S) constantly. Packet Tracer does not auto-save, and it can crash.
Try this — stretch exercises
Optional hands-on practice that goes beyond the workbook. Check items off as you complete them — progress saves in this browser.
0/2
- Add a third PC and a second switch trunked to the first. Can all three PCs ping each other?
- Try setting two PCs in different subnets (192.168.1.x and 192.168.2.x) — observe the ping fail and explain why.
Files to save this week
These are the exact filenames the workbook expects in your USB folder. Click any name to copy it.