Weekly Activities

Week 9

In week 9, we will go through three chapters: CCNA2 Chapters 1, 2 & 3

Learning Objectives:

After studying CCNA 2 chapter 1 topic you should be able to:

 identify a router as a computer with an operating system (OS) and hardware designed
for the routing process;
 demonstrate the ability to configure devices and apply addresses;
 describe the structure of a routing table;
 describe how a router determines a path and switches packets.

After studying the CCNA 2 chapter 2 topic, you should be able to:

 define the general role a router plays in networks;

 describe the directly connected networks, different router interfaces;
 examine directly connected networks in the routing table and use the CDP protocol;
 describe static routes with exit interfaces;
 describe summary and default route;
 examine how packets get forwarded when using static routes;
 identify how to manage and troubleshoot static routes.

After studying the CCNA2 chapter 3 topic, you should be able to:

 describe the role of dynamic routing protocols and place these protocols in the context
of modern network design;
 identify several ways to classify routing protocols;
 describe how metrics are used by routing protocols and identify the metric types used
by dynamic routing protocols;
 determine the administrative distance of a route and describe its importance in the
routing process;
 identify the different elements of the routing table.
Activity 1

There are four key concepts in this chapter.

1. The router is a specialized computer (1.1). This seems simple enough on the surface because
the hardware similarities are obvious. However, the specific boot-up process a router goes
through and what the router looks for as it boots up are different from that of other computers.
Also, the type of IOS that can run on a hardware platform and a router’s immediate search for a
configuration to begin the routing process are distinctly different from a typical computer. The
router is the heart of the Internet. Everything else is built around routers: IP addressing, packet
forwarding, security issues and QoS. Internetworking activities revolve around the router.

2. Basic Router Configuration (1.2) begins the practical application of routing theory. Students
must understand the commands required to apply a basic configuration because every
subsequent lab will start out with these same basics. Every router needs IP addresses and
subnet masks applied to its interfaces to function. Every router needs passwords set for
security. Every router has to have its configuration saved and verified to assure proper
operations. Only then can it can do the job of moving packets to their correct destination.

3. Routing Tables (1.3) are populated based on a set of rules that routers use to forward
packets. Routing tables have information about three types of routes; directly connected, static
and dynamic. This chapter will introduce this information and explain how to read routing
tables. Later chapters will describe the details of router configuration. The ability to read
routing tables is a necessary first step in learning to troubleshoot. Creating efficient routing
tables is a skill needed by networking professionals so the human network can work and play
effectively.

4. Path Determination and switching (1.4) are complimentary concepts. Routing protocols use
metrics, which vary according to the specific protocol, to choose the best path for a packet.
Some routing protocols even allow for more than one path to the same destination. In both
cases, the routing table is part of this process. The switching function is the process used by a
router to accept a packet in one interface and forward it out another. This process includes the
decapsulation and re-encapsulation that takes place in Layer 3 and Layer 2 of the OSI model.

Lab Instructions:

When you complete these labs you'll have solid skills in device cabling, establishing a console
connection, and command-line interface (CLI) basics on Router Configuration.

Now click here to acess the Labs for Chapter One.

Activity 2

There are three key concepts in this chapter.

1. The Routing Table (sections 2.3, 2.4, 2.5) is the most critical piece of information that routers
use. This table provides the information that routers use to forward every received packet. If a
routing table is inaccurate, traffic will be forwarded incorrectly, and may not reach its final
destination. A firm understanding of how to read and evaluate a routing table is critical for
student understanding of traffic paths, traffic manipulation and troubleshooting.

2. Static Routing (sections 2.0, 2.4, 2.5) provides a method for network engineers to have total
control over the routes that data travel on an internetwork. Engineers gain this control by
manually building routing tables, rather than configuring dynamic routing protocols to build
tables. Students must understand the advantages and disadvantages of static route
implementation because it is widely used in small internetworks, as well as for connectivity to
service providers. Students may believe that static routing is simply an old fashioned way of
performing routing and that dynamic routing is the only method used in the real world. The
instructor will need to point out that this is not the case. Additionally, it is important for
students to understand that writing a static route in the router is no more than specifying a
path and a destination in the routing table and that routing protocols do the same, only
automatically. Students should know that there are only two ways to populate a routing table:
manually by the addition of static routes by the administrator and automatically, by means of
dynamic routing protocols.

3. Summary Routes and Default Static Routes (sections 2.4, 2.5, 2.6) allow administrators to
drastically reduce the size of routing tables. Because the routing table contains the most critical
information used by a router, the table must be populated efficiently. Use of summary and
default static routes makes the routing process more efficient. Specifically, smaller routing
tables result in less route lookup time, less processor utilization, and faster packet forwarding.

Lab Instructions:

You will perform the initial router configurations and test connectivity between the devices.
You will configure the static routes that are needed to allow communication between the hosts.

Now click here to acess the Labs for Chapter Two.

Activity 3

This chapter explains how path selection is determined in large internetworks. Each concept is
presented to give students a general understanding of dynamic routing protocols and their
characteristics. The concepts also prepare students for learning specific routing protocols,
which will be introduced in later chapters.

There are four key concepts in this chapter.

1. Dynamic routing protocols (3.0.0, 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3 ) allow network engineers to delegate
control of route selection to the router itself, rather than maintaining human control of routing
via static routes. Students must understand dynamic routing protocols because they are used
extensively in large internetworks. Also, understanding the advantages and disadvantages of
using dynamic routing protocols will allow administrators to make wise decisions when building
networks.

2. Routing protocols can be classified (3.2) in many different ways. Different routing protocols
are designed for specific types of networks, and students must understand the consequences of
choosing one routing protocol over another. Interior versus exterior, distance vector versus link
state and classful versus classless routing protocols are presented in this section.

3. Metrics (3.3) allow routing protocols to make decisions about which routes will be placed in
the routing table. Generally routing protocols use different metrics or different combinations of
metrics to make this decision. An understanding of metrics is necessary because it helps
network professionals make good choices when selecting a routing protocol.

4. Convergence (3.2.5) occurs when all routers in an autonomous system or domain have
consistent routes to all destinations in the network. The amount of time that routers within an
autonomous system take to converge is crucial to maintaining accurate routing tables. Also,
after a link or network failure, or the addition of a new network, routers must re-converge,
which again takes time. The goal for students is to understand the concept of convergence and
the convergence characteristics of different routing protocols.

There are three LABs for you to play:

Lab 3.1

In this activity, you have been given the network address 192.168.9.0/24 to subnet and provide
the IP addressing for the network shown in the Topology Diagram.

Click the instruction pdf for more details

Lab 3.2

In this activity, you have been given the network address 172.16.0.0/16 to subnet and provide
the IP addressing for the network shown in the Topology Diagram.

Click the instruction pdf for more details

Lab 3.3
In this activity, you build a network from the ground up. Starting with an addressing space and
network requirements, you must implement a network design that satisfies the specifications.
Then you must implement an effective static routing configuration.

Packet Tracer Skills Integration Instructions (PDF)

Activity 4 - Discussion Questions

What happens when the host requests a web page from the web server?

Look at all of the processes and protocols involved starting with the user entering a URL such as
www.cisco.com.

This includes protocols learned in Exploration 1 as well as information learned in this chapter.

See if you can determine each of the processes that happen starting with the client needing to resolve
www.cisco.com to an IP address which results in the client having to do an ARP Request for the DNS
server.

What are all of the protocols and processes involved starting with the DNS request to getting
the first packet with http information from the web server.

How is DNS involved?

How is ARP involved?

What affect does TCP have between the client and the server? Is the first packet the web server
receives from the client the request for the web page?

What do the switches do when they receive an Ethernet frame? How do they update their MAC
address tables and how do they determine how to forward the frame?

What is the decapsulation and encapsulation process of each frame received and forwarded by
the router?

Is any ARP processes required by the web server and its default gateway (its router)?

(Material above is adopted from Cisco website)