My First Packet Tracer 4.1 Lab
Introduction
Welcome to Packet Tracer 4.1. Research has shown that users who master a few basic tasks when first starting to use Packet Tracer get much more out of the software. This lab is designed to familiarize a user with Packet Tracer 4.1's features. This activity should take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Use these directions to go through the lab yourself, or view the animated tutorial version of the lab.
Lab Objectives
Important Terminology
- ICMP ping: command consisting of an echo request message from one device to another, and the returning echo reply.
- IP address: 32-bit address assigned to devices as identification in the network.
- Ethernet: one of the most common LAN standards for hardware, communication and cabling.
- Fast Ethernet Interface: 100 Mbps Ethernet port. In Packet Tracer 4.1, a GUI may be used to configure such interfaces.
- OSI model: 7-layer framework for looking at network protocols and devices, consisting of the application, presentation, session, transport, network, data link, and physical layers.
- PDU: protocol data unit, a grouping of data appropriate to a given layer in the OSI model.
- Packets: OSI Layer 3 protocol data units. Represented by envelopes in Packet Tracer 4.1 Simulation Mode.
- Device Tables: includes ARP, switching, and routing tables. They contain information regarding the devices and protocols in the network.
- ARP Table: Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) table, stores pairings of IP Addresses and Ethernet MAC addresses.
- Scenario: one topology with a set of PDUs placed in the network to be sent at specific times. Using different scenarios, experiment with different combinations of packets using the same base topology.
I. Viewing Help and Tutorials (View Tutorial)
- Launch Packet Tracer 4.1.
- Open Help through the Menu Bar, by clicking on the question mark on the Main Tool Bar or by using the F1 shortcut key.
- Skim the sections of the Help content to get an idea of the functionality of Packet Tracer 4.1. The menu will always be visible on the left side of the window while browsing Help contents.
- The What's New page under Introduction gives a quick preview of the added features of Packet Tracer 4.1. This includes new protocols, tools and other improvements that are implemented in Packet Tracer 4.1.
- Pay close attention to the Interface Overview page under Getting Started as it will illustrate the use of the tutorial discussed in the next step.
- Open the tutorial to learn the basics of the graphical user interface of the program. Note: some browsers may prevent the tutorial from playing. Configure your browser to allow the showing of active content to enable the viewing of the tutorial.
- When the first caption appears, as shown below, click on the Pause button in the playback controls.

- Click on the Forward button to skip to the next caption then click on Pause again. Click on the Back button to view the previous caption.
- Continue viewing the tutorial by pressing the Play button. If needed, click on the Rewind button to re-start the tutorial.
- Click on Exit to close the Tutorial window. Close the Help content as well.
Congratulations on finding resources that help get the most out of Packet Tracer 4.1.
II. Creating a First Network (View Tutorial)
- Start creating a network by first selecting the End Devices. Add a Generic PC and a Generic Server to the workspace.
- Under Connections, select the Copper Straight-through cable (solid black line) and make a connection between the devices with it. The red lights on the link indicate that the connection is not working. Now, using the Delete tool, remove the Copper Straight-through cable, and use a Copper Cross-over cable (dashed line) instead. The lights should turn green at this point, and if the mouse pointer is held over either PC, the link status will be indicated as “up.” The network should look similar to this:

- Click on the PC. While paying attention to the link lights, turn the power on, off, and on again. Do the same steps for the Server. Link lights turn red when the device is off meaning that the link is down or is not working. The link lights turn green when the device is turned back on.
- Try all 3 ways to learn about the devices. First, mouse over or hover over devices to see basic configuration information about them. Second, click on the device with the Select Tool to show the device configuration window revealing several ways to configure the device. Third, use the Inspect Tool to view tables the network device will build as it learns about the network around it. In this example, only the PC’s ARP table will appear. Always remember to close windows after viewing them or they will clutter the workspace.
- Open the PC’s configuration window and change its settings using the Config tab. Change the Display Name to Client and set the DNS Server to 192.168.219.5. Under Interface, click on FastEthernet and set the IP address as 192.168.219.10. Packet Tracer automatically calculates other parameters. Make sure that the Port Status is checked. Note: for future reference, other Ethernet interface settings, such as bandwidth, duplex, MAC address, and subnet mask can be modified using this window.
- 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.
- Open the Server's configuration window and go to the Config tab. Change the Display Name to Web Server. Click on FastEthernet and set its IP address as 192.168.219.5. Make sure that the Port Status is also on. Click on DNS and set the Domain Name as www.cisco.com. Set the IP Address as 192.168.219.5 and click on Add. Finally check and make sure that the Service for DNS is on.
- Reposition network devices by dragging to a new location. Add a network description by using the “i” button on the upper right corner of Packet Tracer 4.1. Then add some text labels on the logical workspace by using the Place Note tool.
- Load a background grid using the Set Tiled Background button.
- Save work using the FILE -> SAVE AS option and creating a meaningful filename.
Congratulations on creating your first network.
III. Sending Simple Test Messages in Realtime Mode (View Tutorial)
- Start with opening the file saved in the last section.
- Notice that the file opens in Realtime Mode. Use the Add Simple PDU tool to send a simple 1-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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Click on “New” to create a new scenario. New scenarios will initially be blank.
- 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:

- Several scenarios can be saved with a single network. Alternate between Scenario 0 and 1.
- Now, remove Scenario 0 using the Delete button.
- Scenario 1 is now visible. Go to the last column in the User Created Packet Window and double-click on (delete) to remove a PDU.
- Delete the whole scenario. Notice that the scenario list returned to the default Scenario 0.
Congratulations on being able to send and organize simple test messages in Realtime Mode.
IV. Establishing a Web Server Connection Using the PC’s Web Browser (View Tutorial)
- Open the file saved from the previous section.
- Click on the PC to show its configuration dialog window.
- Select the Desktop tab, then click on Web Browser. Type in www.cisco.com as the URL and click the Go button. Packet Tracer 4.1’s welcome page, shown below, appears; indicating that the web connection is successfully established.
- Clear the URL, type www and click on Go. Since the address entered is not complete, a “Host Name Unresolved” message appears.
- Type 192.168.219.5 as the URL entry and click on Go. Notice that the Packet Tracer 4.1 welcome page also appears. This is because the Server IP address can also be used to establish a web connection.
- Close the configuration 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 – “packet tracing!”
- Select the PC again and go to the Web Browser in the Desktop tab. Type in the www.cisco.com as the URL again and click Go. Packet Tracer 4.1’s welcome page should not appear right away.
- Switch to the main interface of Packet Tracer without closing the PC’s configuration window. Notice that DNS and ARP packets are added to the Event List.
- Click on Auto Capture/Play or keep on clicking on Capture/Forward button until the HTTP packet appears on the PC. Go back to the PC’s configuration dialog window. Packet Tracer 4.1’s welcome page is now shown.
- Close the PC’s configuration dialog window.
Congratulations on successfully establishing a web server connection.
V. Capturing Events and Viewing Animations in Simulation Mode (View Tutorial)
- Open the previously saved file.
- In Realtime Mode, send a simple PDU from the PC to the Server.
- Delete the PDU by using the method learned in the previous section.
- Switch to Simulation Mode.
- Click on Edit Filters and click on All/None to uncheck all fields. Then select ICMP to only view ICMP packets in the animation.
- Add a simple PDU from the PC to the Server. Notice the newly created PDU is added to the User Created PDU List. This packet has been captured as the first event in the Event List and a new packet icon (envelope) appears in the workspace. The eye icon at the left of the Event List indicates that this packet is currently displayed.
- Click on the Capture/Forward button once. This simulates a network sniffing program, capturing the next event that occurs on the network. Note that after clicking on Capture/Forward, the packet in the workspace moves from one device to another (this is the ICMP echo request message from the PC to the Server). Another event is added in the Event List – this reflects the change in the workspace. The first time through an animation, the meaning of the Capture/Forward is “Capture”; after resetting the simulation, the meaning is “Forward.”
- Adjust the speed of the animation by dragging the Play Speed slider to the right to go faster, to the left to go slower.
- Click on Capture/Forward button a second time. This captures the next network event (the echo reply from the Server to the PC, shown as successful with a green check mark on the envelope).
- Click on Capture/Forward button again. The Server has already sent an echo reply to the PC therefore, there are no more ICMP events left to capture. A “No More Events” window will appear, as shown in the screenshot below. Click OK.

Congratulations on successfully capturing events and viewing animations in Simulation Mode.
VI. Looking Inside Packets in Simulation Mode (View Tutorial)
- Continuing from the last activity, click on Reset Simulation. This clears the entries in the Event List except for the original packet.
- Select the packet envelope on the workspace to show the PDU Information window like the one shown in the screenshot below. This window contains the OSI model tab which shows how the packet is processed at each layer of the OSI model by the current device. Close this window, noting that this packet is indicated in the Event List by the eye icon. The whole row in the Event List is also highlighted. Click on the color square in the Info column is equivalent to clicking directly on the packet envelope (try it!).

- Use the Next Layer and Previous Layer buttons to see details of the packet processing at the relevant OSI Layers. Note that only the Out Layers can be viewed in the case of this original echo request message.
- Click on the Outbound PDU Details tab. This tab shows exactly what makes up the PDU headers. It is organized into header type and the individual fields in each header.
- Close the PDU Information window. Click on Capture/Forward button once.
- Click again on the packet in the workspace to open the PDU Information window. Notice that this time, information regarding the In Layers and Out Layers can both be viewed.
- Click on the Inbound PDU Details tab. This shows the details of the inbound echo request packet from the PC to the Server. Click on the Outbound PDU Details tab, which shows similar information, but in this case for the echo reply packet from the Server to the PC.
- Click on Reset Simulation again. Now click on Auto Capture/Play. The echo request and echo reply are automatically captured, and the “No More Events” message will occur automatically.
- Click on the Back Button to rewind the animation one step at a time. Now click on the Capture/Forward button to forward the packet through the animation. Note the change in the Event List and the workspace. Remember at any time, a packet “envelope” may be selected directly, or by clicking the Info column in the Event List, to open up the PDU Information window.
- Click on the Back Button twice to rewind the animation. Now click Auto Capture/Play and the packet animation will automatically occur.
Congratulations on being able to look inside packets, view the logic that devices use when processing them, and use the Back, Play, and Forward functions to study packet animations.
VII. Viewing Device Tables and Resetting the Network (View Tutorial)
- Start by closing the existing workspace and reopening the original saved file.
- Open the ARP Tables for both devices by clicking them with the Inspect tool. The ARP tables always appear on the same spot. Reposition them to make them both visible. The tables can also be resizes for better viewing.
- In Realtime Mode, send a simple PDU from the PC to the Server. The ARP tables are filled in dynamically, as shown here:

- Delete the PDU using the method covered in the previous sections. The entries in the ARP tables are NOT cleared. ARP entries for both devices have already been learned. Deleting the user created PDUs does not reset events that have already occurred in the network.
- Click on Power Cycle Devices. Now the ARP tables are cleared because the Power Cycle Devices button turns the devices off and back on again. By Power Cycling the devices, temporary information like the ARP tables is lost.
- Go to Simulation Mode. In the Event List Filters, make sure that ICMP and ARP are checked so ICMP and ARP packets can be viewed in the animation.
- Create a new simple PDU from the Server to the PC.
- Notice that since the network was reset earlier, the ARP tables are empty. ARP request packets need to be issued before the ICMP ping packets, so that the devices in the network can learn about each other. Click on Auto Capture/Play to watch the animation.
- Click on Reset Simulation. Notice that even though the Event List is cleared (except for the user created PDU), the ARP tables still remain full. Click on Auto Capture/Play. This time, since the ARP tables are full, there are no new ARP packets issued.
- Click on Power Cycle Devices to empty the tables. Notice that a new ARP request packet appears automatically on the Event List.
Congratulations on being able to view device tables, reset a simulation, and reset the network.
VIII. Reviewing Your New Skills
- Single-clicking on the Delete button removes the entire scenario including all the PDUs associated with it.
- Double-clicking on (delete) in the far right column in the PDU List window deletes individual PDUs.
- The Reset Simulation button clears all entries in the Event List, except for User Created PDUs, and allows the animation to restart. This, however, does not reset the device tables.
- The Power Cycle Devices button turns all of the devices in the network off and on so the tables that the devices built are lost along with configurations and other information not saved.
- Saving work periodically prevents lost configurations and state changes in the network.
Congratulations on being ready to build and analyze many different networks in Packet Tracer 4.1! Be aware that there are many other features that were not covered in this lab. To learn more, please view the other available tutorials and review the help files. Have Fun!