Computer Network Lab

EXPERIMENT 4

OBJECTIVE: Configure and implement a network using Packet Tracer.

a. Creating a First Network

b. Sending Simple Text Messages in Realtime Mode
c. Establishing a Web Server Connection Using the PC’s Web Browser

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: The client–server model is a distributed application structure in

computing that partitions tasks or workloads between the providers of a resource or service, called
servers, and service requesters, called clients. Often clients and servers communicate over a
computer network on separate hardware, but both client and server may reside in the same system.
A server is a host that is running one or more server programs which share their resources with
clients. A client does not share any of its resources, but requests a server's content or service
function. Clients therefore initiate communication sessions with servers which await incoming
requests.

STEPS FOR HANDLING NETWORK

PROGRAM NO – 4 (a)

1. Start creating a network by first selecting the End Devices. Add a Generic PC and a
Generic Server to the workspace.
2. Under Connections, select the Copper Straight-through cable (solid black line) and connect
the devices with it. The red lights on the link indicate that the connection is not working.
Now, use the Delete tool to remove the Copper Straight-through cable, and use a Copper
Cross-over cable (dashed line) instead. The lights should turn green at this point. If the
mouse pointer is held over either devices, the link status will be shown as “Up.” The
network should look similar to this:
3. Click on the PC. While paying attention to the link lights, turn the power on, off, and on
again. Follow the same steps for the server. The link lights turn red when the device is off.
This means that the link is down or is not working. The link lights turn green when the
device is turned back on.
4. Try all three ways to learn about the devices. First, mouse over the devices to see basic
configuration information about them. Second, click on each device with the Select tool to
show the device configuration window, which provides several ways to configure the
device. Third, use the Inspect tool to view the tables the network device will build as it
learns about the network around it. In this example, open the ARP table. Since the devices
have not been configured yet, the ARP tables are empty. Always remember to close the
windows after viewing them or they will clutter the workspace.
5. Open the PC configuration window and change the settings using the Config tab. Change
the display name to Client and set the DNS server to 192.168.0.105. Under Interface, click
FastEthernet and set the IP address as 192.168.0.110. Packet Tracer automatically
calculates other parameters. Make sure that the Port Status box is checked. For future
reference, note that other Ethernet interface settings, such as bandwidth, duplex, MAC
address, and subnet mask can be modified using this window.
6. Go to the Desktop Tab and click on IP Configuration. Notice that the IP address, subnet
mask and DNS server can be changed here as well.
7. Open the Server configuration window and go to the Config tab. Change the display name
to Web Server. Click FastEthernet and set the IP address as 192.168.0.105. Make sure that
the Port Status is also on. Click DNS and set the domain name as www.firstlab.com. Set the
IP address as 192.168.0.105 and click Add. Finally, check to make sure that the service for
DNS is on.
 8. Reposition the network devices by dragging them to a new location. Add a network
description by using the “i” button on the upper right corner. Then add some text labels
within the Logical Workspace by using the Place Note tool.
9. Load a background grid using the Set Tiled Background button.
10. Save your work using the File > Save As option and create a meaningful filename.

PROGRAM NO – 4 (b)

Aim: Sending Simple Text Messages in Realtime Mode

Objective: This program illustrate the use of Realtime Mode of sending simple text message

Procedure:

1. Start by opening the file saved in the last section.

2. Notice that the file opens in Realtime Mode. Use the Add Simple PDU tool to send a simple
one-time ping message, called an echo request, to the server. The server responds with an
echo reply because all devices have properly configured IP address settings.
3. Scroll up and down the User Created Packet Window to see the different capabilities of this
ping message, including an indication that the ping was successful.
4. Toggle the PDU List Window to see a larger display of this message. One or more of these
messages can be saved as a scenario. Scenario 0 is displayed when starting. Label this first
scenario with an “i” note. Different scenarios allow the use of the same topology for
experiments with different groupings of user created packets.
5. Click New to create a new scenario. New scenarios will initially be blank.
6. Add two packets using the Simple PDU tool, a PDU from the PC to the Server and a
different PDU from the Server to the PC. Then add an “i” note describing the scenario, to
complete Scenario 1. An example is shown below:
 7. Several scenarios can be saved with a single network. Alternate between Scenario 0 and 1.
8. Now, remove Scenario 0 using the Delete button.
9. Scenario 1 is now visible. Go to the last column in the User Created Packet Window and
double-click (delete) to remove a PDU.
10. Delete the whole scenario. Notice that the scenario list went back to the default Scenario 0.

PROGRAM NO – 4(c)
Aim: Establishing a Web Server Connection Using the PC’s Web Browser
Objective: To study the concept of receiving a web page from server, requested by a client.
Conceptual Background:
The primary function of a web server is to deliver web pages on the request of clients using the
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). This means delivery of HTML documents and any additional
content that may be included by a document, such as images, style sheets and scripts.
A user agent, commonly a web browser or web crawler, initiates communication by making a
request for a specific resource using HTTP and the server responds with the content of that
resource or an error message if unable to do so. The resource is typically a real file on the server's
secondary storage, but this is not necessarily the case and depends on how the web server is
implemented.
While the primary function is to serve content, a full implementation of HTTP also includes ways
of receiving content from clients. This feature is used for submitting web forms, including
uploading of files.
Procedure:
1. Open the file saved from the previous section.
2. Click on the PC to view the configuration window.
3. Select the Desktop tab, and then click Web Browser. Type in www.firstlab.com as the URL
and click the Go button. The Packet Tracer welcome page, shown below, appears,
indicating that the web connection has been successfully established.
4. Clear the URL, type www and click Go. Since the address entered is not complete, a “Host
Name Unresolved” message appears.
5. Type 192.168.0.105 as the URL entry and click on Go. Notice that the Packet Tracer
welcome page appears again. This is because the Server IP address can also be used to
establish a web connection.
6. Close the window and try the same steps in Simulation Mode. In this mode, the user
controls time, so the network can be viewed running at a slower pace, allowing observation
of the paths packets take and inspection of packets in detail.
7. Select the PC again and go to the Web Browser in the Desktop tab. Type www.firstlab.com
as the URL again and click Go. The welcome page should not appear right away.
8. Switch to the main interface of Packet Tracer without closing the PC configuration window.
Notice that a DNS packet is added to the event list.
9. Click Auto Capture/Play or repeatedly click the Capture/Forward button until the HTTP
packet appears on the PC. Go back to the PC configuration window. The Packet Tracer
welcome page is now shown.
10. Close the PC configuration window.