Over the past week, I completed a practical networking lab using Cisco Packet Tracer to strengthen my understanding of real-world network design and configuration. In this project, I designed and configured a small enterprise-style network with (1) Multiple VLANs (network segmentation), (2) Inter-VLAN routing using Router-on-a-Stick and (3) DHCP services for automatic IP address assignment.

• Cisco Packet Tracer (Software)
• Router (1)
• Switch (1)
• Personal Computers (6)

• Place and Connect Devices
• Name and Secure Switch
• Name and Secure Router
• Give IP address to Router
• Enable ports on Router
• Give static IP addresses to PCs
• Test Connectivity

• Check VLAN status
• Draft VLAN topology
• Create and Name VLANs
• Assign VLANs to interfaces
• Create Trunk port
• Test Connectivity (pinging devices in other VLANs should fail)
  (Purpose: Segment the network into separate broadcast domains for better performance and security.)

• Confirm interfaces for trunk
• Create sub-interfaces on Router
• Change default gateways of PCs to sub-interface IP address
• Test Connectivity
  (Purpose: Enable communication between VLANs using a single router interface.)

• Confirm IP addresses to exclude
• Exclude IP addresses
• Create DHCP pool
• Create DHCP pool range
• Establish default router
• Set DNS to Google's DNS server
• Change all PCs IP configuration to DHCP (auto)
• Test Connectivity
  (Purpose: Automate IP address assignment and reduce manual configuration errors.)

A few things went wrong during this lab. I had a few Coding errors such as (1) excluding the default gateway from EVERYTHING else. (I forgot to exclude it from DHCP and also mistakely used it as end device IP address). Another coding error I had was (2) when creating the sub-interfaces for R1, I tried to assign an IP address first instead of setting the Encapsulation is 802.1Q. This resulted in the sub-interfaces not being up.

• VLAN creation and network segmentation
• Switch port configuration (access vs trunk)
• Inter-VLAN routing (Router-on-a-Stick)
• DHCP configuration for multiple networks
• IP addressing and subnetting fundamentals
• Network troubleshooting using CLI commands

1.Schematic

2. Initial Configurations

3. VLAN Configurations

4. Inter-VLAN routing (ROAS)

5. DHCP Configuration

6. Test Connectivity using 'ping' command from PC0

7. Screenshot of "Encapsulation error"