Computer networking professionals getting started with Packet Tracer may find the interface to be flustered. Being a development program, this is only natural. However, learning how to configure a router with Packet Tracer will put professionals on the right track to mastering the program in about half an hour.
By this time, you should already have the Packet Tracer download and have it installed on your computer. Open the program and select the router from the lower left-hand corner, and drag it into the center of the sandbox screen as seen below. (Click for larger picture)
We will be setting up a very basic network that allows two computers to communicate, so the next step is to select end devices from the bottom left-hand corner and drag it to the sandbox screen. Do this twice to make two computers appear below the router.
Now select connections from the same bottom left-hand corner. When you connect like-devices(Such as a router and computer) you use a crossover cable, so you should select copper cross-over cable from the second menu to the immediate right. Click on Router0, and connect the cable via FastEthernet0/0 as seen below:
Now click the PC0 and select FastEthernet. You will notice that although a link is established, it is not functional. You can tell by the red dots that are present on both ends of the connection. Once the router is configured correctly, the red dots will turn green to indicate the devices are able to communicate.
Do the same operation to PC1, only this time connect the cable to FastEthernet0/1 since FastEthernet0/0 is already taken by PC0. Your network should be similar to the one below at this point:
Configuring The Router In Packet Tracer
A router that is turned off doesn’t work very well! Click on your router to bring up the configuration menu and verify that it is turned on.When on, there will be a small green light below the switch as seen in the diagram.
Next we have to open the Ethernet ports to allow communication. Although they are physically connected, they are in a state that is known as being in administrative shut down. Now click on the CLI tab to access the configuration menu. If you’ve used the Cisco IOS before, you will notice it looks and acts the same way.
1. Press RETURN to start the session
2. Type enable to get to privileged mode (this gives you more options in configuring the router)
3. Type config terminal (or config t for short) to access the configuration menu.
4. Type interface fastethernet0/0 to access Ethernet0/0
5. Type ip address 192.168.10.1 255.255.255.0 to assign an IP address and subnet mask to the interface.
6. Type no shutdown to open the interface up for business.
That’s it! You should now see a message similar to the following:
%LINK-5-CHANGED: Interface FastEthernet0/0, changed state to up
%LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface FastEthernet0/0, changed state to up
Now we have to do the same thing for fastethernet0/1. If you don’t, there still won’t be a connection to PC1! Make sure to enter the IP address carefully as seen below:
1. Press Ctrl + Z to go back to the previous mode.
1. Type interface fastethernet0/1
2. Type ip address 192.168.20.1 255.255.255.0
3. Type no shutdown
At this point our router is configured properly. If you test out a ping, you will notice that the computers still don’t communicate, however!
Configuring The Gateway In Packet Tracer
Our last step is to configure the gateway on each desktop computer. The gateway is the address we assigned to the Ethernet port that the desktop is connected to. It will allow the computer to interface with another network, so our ping won’t work without it!
Click on PC0 to bring up the configuration menu. Under global settings you will find a field for the gateway. Enter the corresponding IP address of the router’s interface, which is 192.168.10.1. Then click the FastEthernet tab on the left column to set the actual computer’s IP address to be on the network. Use 192.168.10.2 for the IP address, and 255.255.255.0 for the subnet mask.
Do the same thing for PC1, only use 192.168.20.1 for the gateway address, 192.168.20.2 for the IP address, and 255.255.255.0 for the subnet mask. You can confirm that your network works by sending out a packet of information from PC0 to PC1, and vice versa. Click the packet icon on the right menu as seen below:
Click on PC0 and then click PC1. On the lower right of the screen you will see a message box that says “Successful.” If it doesn’t, you may have had a syntax error when putting in an IP address or router configuration command. Review your work or ask for help among the community if you are stuck.
Closing Comments
Congratulations! You have a small working network. A real-world application of this very network would be to have two computers connected to the Internet, whereas the router would then be connected to your telecommunications company. (Or what we would call the “cloud”)
More advanced devices and topologies won’t be so easy, but you’re now on the right path to becoming qualified for the CCNA certification exam.
Seriously, this is probably one of the best Packet Tracer tutorials i’ve come across. It sure beats having to watch a YouTube tutorial with some random guy typing text into Notepad because he can’t afford a microphone.
Keep it up! I’ve subscribed.
nice… and hoping for more
this is a nice refresher for me– haven’t had a networking course in years and this brought back memories
you are the only resource found in Google that even had PT tuts that wasn’t a danged video tutorial
can’t exactly watch a video when i’m at work on break. .
I am new in this world and indeed it worked. Instructions are well arranged and easy to follow
hi, thanks for your tutorial. and i already try step by step. i just want to give some feedback about one step. here:
1. Press Ctrl + Z to go back to the previous mode.
1. Type interface fastethernet0/1
2. Type ip address 192.168.20.1 255.255.255.0
3. Type no shutdown
when i tried this one, it was not work. so actually as the first step we have to use/type “config terminal” before type interface fastethernet0/1. thanks
hope you’ll make much more tutorials, because it is clearly for beginner like me.
this has helped me for my beginning router config class.
wish my teacher had better material like this stuff
@ram – I got this working perfect, I think you might have skipped some of the steps or skimmed through a vital part of the tutorial.
thank you. it helped me a lot…
Very nice, helpful and yes hoping for more! Small eratum:
1. Type interface fastethernet0/1
Should be:
1. Type interface fastethernet1/0
usefull
how to configure router to router?
it does work as exactly i want
very nice tutorial
I almost desperate to search for help
and this one is really enlighten me 😀
well it is quiet good
thx!!
Excellent. Thanks for providing good one
this really works help me to be a good network administrator n send topics related to networking
Thank you for the tutorial and for the hard work !
well Job dear.
Great tutorial for getting started with the Cisco Packet Tracer.
Would love it if more examples could be published as I am going for my CCNA
Pls. how can I get the packet Tracer software to enable me prepare for my ccna exam.
Thanks in anticipation.
Thanks for this refresher I am sure I will get plenty of opportunities in October to configure a router.
Thanks for the guide, can u help me with this, In ROW 1 or level 1 I have 3 routers RT1, RT2 and RT3 connected to each other; at level 2 or row 2 I have 3 switches SW1, SW2, SW3; switches 1 and 2 connect to RT1 and switch 3 to RT2 one PC to RT3; at level 3, 3 PCs are connected to each switch and two additional PC’s to RT3 directly… All connections are fast Ethernet 100 Mbits/sec full duplex. could u please show config for this scenario with and without VLAN’s and different routing algo’s. what modules would be suitable for extension and can I use a TFTP server in packet tracer.. and also main router connecting to RT1 and RT3 to implement STP. PLEASE HELP 🙁
Hi. I am using Packet Tracer to create a network consisting of a router, 2 switches, and 4 PCs. I am unable to get a successful Ping and all green dots. Too, which connectors to use for Switches to Routers and from Routers to Switches. Totally unfamiliar with Packet Tracer. Any suggestions?
It was Awesome 😉 thanks alot !!
how to configure 4 or more router with the static routing,,please help me with that
perfect tutorial
it is really very good tutorial
please post a comlete guide for using all packet tracer features
I’m about to take a cisco educational way, so i’m pretty new at this.
I do wonder why you give the router a IP for each port?
Normally a router got a static IP you connect with.
I’m sure there is a explonation for this, but so far it seems strange to me, anyone would explain it?
I finished ccna.due to the bad facilities i didnt learn fully.now i want to study the router configuration by using packet tracer software.i need help how to configure,what can i do?
I just finished up a course using Packet Tracer. This tutorial definitely makes it easy to take virtual lab testing to the real world application. Hats off to Cisco and the makers of Packet Tracer.
hi,I was installing the internet download manager on my notebook but after that, I can’t have the internet access. When I remove this program my internet access is coming back. How can I solve this problem?
i revised my configs and at alast it is successful
Thanks for the person who build this site which is very useful for all the students who are at learning stage like me.
Cheers
Varun
This is excellent, for beginners like me, I’ve enjoyed this. please give us more and complex lab, thanks a lot
David;
You need to configure a static address on each router port because the two ports on the router are routing ports, not switchports. The 192.168.X.X is a class C address space, which means that 192.168.10.0 and 192.168.20.0 are in different networks.
The router will automatically be aware of any networks it is directly connected to, but bear in mind that you’ll need to enable a routing protocol (EIGRP, OSPF, RIPv2) if you connect two or more routers together.
you guys can type int fa 0/0 instead of interface fastethernet 0/0 for short cuts. same as configure terminal u can put config t.
Successfully configure router because of this tutorial. Thanks. BTW do you know how to do RIP?
This is the best tutorial on router configuration i’ve ever come across. THANK YOU ! THUMBS’ UP!!!
Learning Objectives
Configure Cisco router global configuration settings
Configure Cisco router password access
Configure Cisco router interfaces
Save the router configuration file
Configure a Cisco switch
Introduction:
In this lab students will configure common settings on a Cisco Router and Cisco Switch.
Given an IP address of 198.133.219.0/24, with 4 bits borrowed for subnets, fill in the following information in the table above in your notebook or on a separate sheet of paper. (Hint: fill in the subnet number, then the host address. Address information will be easy to compute with the subnet number filled in first)
Maximum number of usable subnets (including the 0th subnet)?
Number of usable hosts per subnet?
Had never heard of this until this morning, and am a total newbie. I have watched a few tutorials on you tube, but not much good. Am now going to print off these tutorials and do them in my own time
hello evry one …
m going to connect switch to router and attach end devices to switch . buhh having a problem it didnt ping to the other side of router ,,,, anyone can help me plz?
Thanks for the guide, I need your help to answer this question with the objectives as follows:
Configure Cisco router global configuration settings
Configure Cisco router password access
Configure Cisco router interfaces
Save the router configuration file
Configure a Cisco switch
Introduction:
In this lab students will configure common settings on a Cisco Router and Cisco Switch.
Given an IP address of 198.133.219.0/24, with 4 bits borrowed for subnets, fill in the following information in the table above in your notebook or on a separate sheet of paper. (Hint: fill in the subnet number, then the host address. Address information will be easy to compute with the subnet number filled in first)
Maximum number of usable subnets (including the 0th subnet)?
Number of usable hosts per subnet?
I am having a challenge with subnetting.
how can i install configration router and how i can do update infoblox
How to save the configuration?
Two routers are required. Router 1 has three Fast Ethernet interfaces that are connected to Switch A and Switch B respectively. Router 2 has two Fast Ethernet interfaces that are connected to Switch C and Switch D respectively. 3 PCs are connected to a Switch A. 4 PCs are connected to Switch B. 5 PCs are connected to a Switch C. 6 PCs are connected to Switch D. A Windows Server is directly connected to router 1. 2 PCs are also connected to router 1 but through a Hub.
can any one help with this
the best tutor to come across about router config using packet tracer
how to Configure Cisco router password access?
the first fastethernet0/0 is working but the second is not working ot 1/2,how is it configured in the router
Seriously, this is probably one of the best Packet Tracer tutorials i’ve come across. It sure beats having to watch a YouTube tutorial with some random guy typing text into Notepad because he can’t afford a microphone.
Keep it up! I’ve subscribed.
after the tutorial, my configuration was superb, but their is an issue i cant send a packet from pc0 to pc1, a msg pop up saying pc1 has nofunction port.
how to switch on the green light in the diagram of the router?
Many thanks.
This is probably one of the best Packet Tracer tutorials
Thanks for providing this step by step tutorial. Can you do another tutorial for a rip.
The two PC can’t communicate with each other, reason, they are not on the same network. can someone help me through?