EEET2624 – Network Engineering
RMIT University
School of Science, Engineering &
Technology
Laboratory Guidelines
EEET2624 - Network Engineering
Semester 2, 2023
Learning Outcomes:
1. The art of experimentation.
2. Experimental and analytical skills.
3. Conceptual learning of theoretical concepts.
4. Understanding the basis of Juniper Routers and Switches.
5. Developing collaborative learning skills.
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EEET2624 – Network Engineering
Contents
Lab 4: Static Routing ..................................................................................................................... 3
1. Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 3
2. Basic Theory .......................................................................................................................... 3
3. Methodology and Exercises .................................................................................................. 4
Section 3.1: Routing Instance ..................................................................................................... 4
Section 3.2: Default and Static Routes ....................................................................................... 5
4. Report .................................................................................................................................... 6
5. References ............................................................................................................................. 7
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EEET2624 – Network Engineering
Lab 4: Static Routing
Lab place 8.01.002
Lab duration 1 session (1.5 hours) running over 1 week (Week 8)
Lab assessment • Group report for Labs 3&4 to be submitted in two weeks
after you complete Lab 4 (Saturday of week 8).
• Please take necessary records and screenshots that may
help write your reports.
Lab Plan Complete the lab in Week 8
1. Objectives
The objectives of the lab 4 are to:
▪ Configure default and static routes.
▪ Verify IP connectivity between routers.
▪ Understand the advantages and disadvantages of static routes.
2. Basic Theory
IP Routing: IP routing is the set of tasks involved in sending a packet from the source to the
destination across an IP network. The packet enters the IP network via a router and is sent to
another router in the network and so on until the packet reaches the destination. The routers in the
network use their routing tables to determine how to forward the packet. IP routing can be divided
into two main categories: static and dynamic. This lab will concentrate on the static routes.
Static Routes: Static routes are manually configured. They describe the remote destination
network and the next-hop that a packet must be forwarded to in order to reach the destination. The
destination can be one network or a range of networks. By default, a static route is created with a
preference of 5 and a metric of 1. However, these parameters can be changed to accommodate a
different configuration. If the preference and metric parameters are left at the default values, a
static route is always preferred over a route learnt from a dynamic routing protocol. By adjusting
the preference value, you can define an alternative route that will be used if the dynamic protocol
fails to provide a route. The alternative static route can be configured as a backup to the primary
static route by assigning a higher metric.
Static routing saves bandwidth because there are no automatic advertisements or updates. However,
any change to the routes must be made manually. There is no real-time response if a destination
becomes unreachable. Static routing also allows you to override any decision made by a routing
protocol.
Static Default Routes: A static default route in the routing table is a wildcard entry that fits any
destination. The route is used when the destination address of a packet does not match any other
entry in the routing table. A default route is often used on a stub network when there is only one
path to reach the other remote networks. The default route has a network address and mask of
0.0.0.0. The default route is the longest match in the routing table when nothing else matches.
Routing Tables: The routing tables are built manually by the network administrator or by
protocols that run on every router. The routing table maintains a list of IP networks and the
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EEET2624 – Network Engineering
physical interfaces on the router to reach these networks. Using the routing table, an IP packet is
routed to its destination.
The following picture summarizes the IP addresses that the routers have configured at this stage.
Figure 3-1: IP address design according to lab 3.
3. Methodology and Exercises
At this point, the operator can only ping the interfaces that are directly connected to the router.
Because those are the only network devices known by the router. If the operator attempts to ping
the system interface of the neighboring router (different from the directly connected interfaces),
the ping will fail because there is no route to the destination. In this lab, students will configure
routing instance and static and default routes to the routers’ system addresses as shown in figure
3-1.
Section 3.1: Routing Instance
A routing instance is a collection of routing tables, interfaces, and routing protocol parameters. It
is a tool used by Junos to keep virtual router instances organized. In this section, the routing
instance will be created in all the routers.
• On the BRx routers, configure a routing instance with a specified name (use BRxLinkHR0
according to your router position – The “x” is the number of your BR number “1, “2”, “3”,
“4”), using command:
routing-instances {
BR1LinkHR0 {
instance-type virtual-router; }
}
• On the BRx routers, include the topology active interfaces inside the routing instance.
Command line is # set routing-instances <instance-name> interface
<interface-name>. What is the resulted routing instance?
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EEET2624 – Network Engineering
Commit your changes: # commit
• On the BRx routers, check the status of the routing table in the created routing instance,
using >show route table <instance-name>.inet.0 terse. How many routes
you can see?
• On the BRx routers, check the status of the interfaces of the created routing instance, using >
show interfaces terse routing-instance <instance-name>. How many
interfaces you can see?
Section 3.2: Default and Static Routes
In this section, students will configure a default and a static route on the BRx router (x can be “1”,
“2”, “3” or “4” based on your router location). Since the BRx router has only one interface
connecting the HR0 core, configure the default route to connect the BRx router to the rest of the
network. If a packet’s destination is not local, the packet must be forwarded to the interface
indicated by the default route. The static route connects the BRx and HR0 routers.
• On the BRx router, configure the default route (inside the routing instance):
o # edit routing-instances <instance-name>
o # set routing-options static route <destination-IP> next-hop
<IP-address>
with the following parameters:
✓ routing instance name (brx2hr0route – “x” is “1”, “2”, “3”, or “4”
based on your router location)
✓ destination address: 0.0.0.0/0
✓ next hop address: HR0 router’s interface address towards the BRx router
How the configuration look like?
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EEET2624 – Network Engineering
Commit your changes: # commit
• View the status of the static route on the HR0 router:
> show route protocol static.
• Check whether the default route is in the routing table of BRx:
> show route table <instance-name> terse.
• On the BRx router, configure a static route, used to connect BRx router’s branch network,
with the following parameters:
✓ Destination address: other branch network subnet addresses (not the host address and
not the network that your router connects to)
✓ Next hop address: HR0 interface address that connects to your router (BRx).
How the configuration look like?
Commit your changes: # commit
• Check whether the static route is in the routing table of BRx:
> show route table <instance-name> terse.
Congratulations! You have now completed the 4th lab.
4. Report
Lab-4 will be assessed together with Lab-3 by a group report submitted two weeks after you
complete Lab-4 (Saturday, 26th August 2023 at 11:59PM). You may need to take necessary
records and/or screenshots during the labs for your reports.
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EEET2624 – Network Engineering
Lab report is prepared in groups; a template and the marking rubric are available on Canvas. Your
report should be submitted by uploading a PDF in Canvas and should be no more than three pages.
You are strongly recommended to use the template provided on Canvas.
To ensure the fairness for all students, if you don’t want to use the provided template, please
comply with the following formats.
• White A4 size paper with at least 2 cm margin on each side and at top and bottom.
• Please use font type Arial or Times New Roman and size your words to 10 points.
• The report must include:
o a title of the lab.
o a table that indicates the contribution percentages of all your group members, Group
ID, EDU #, POD #, and which lab session you are in; and
o five sections: Abstract, Objective and Introduction, Results and Discussion,
Conclusions, and References. If you don’t have any reference, you can omit the last
section.
The entire report should be no more than three pages (exclusion of references). More precisely,
Abstract should be no more than 7 lines, Objective and Introduction should be within half a page
and Conclusions should be within half a page. There is no specific length limit for other sections,
but the total length of the report is subject to three pages (exclusion of references).
Note: The report is for students to have a summary about your lab exercises, highlighting your own
understanding and ideas about the lab exercises. You can have your own discussions and use the most
representative evidence to support your discussions. You are the authors of your reports, so you can
decide how to present the things that you are most proud of. What the teaching team expects to see is
that the students can learn something from the lab exercises and have your own understanding about the
lab exercises. It is quite appreciated if students’ discussions can reach beyond what we provided in the
lab guidelines. The exercises listed in the lab guidelines are presented as examples that are used to help
students understand and think more about the relevant knowledge.
5. References
[1] RMIT Juniper Courses Material, Available at: http://www.juniper.net/courses
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