Create exercises in Packet Tracer to prepare for Cisco certification

From the sandbox

As you know, CISCO is known not only for its noble hardware, but also for its Packet Tracer software emulator. The emulator is really very good and allows you to cope with working with cool equipment, without departing, as they say, from the cash register.

On top of that, Packet Tracer can serve as an excellent platform for instructors to conduct various tests, exams, etc. I would like to talk about the method of building the exam.

Continuation under the cut - a lot of pictures.

So, creating an exercise, exam, or other test work in Packet Tracer. First you need to create the final network in the main window of the program - in the state in which the examiner should bring it. Of course, it is extremely important to double-check everything and make sure that the network nodes really function as planned, so as not to confuse the students. As an example, I created just such a network, for training the ability to perform network subnetting and define basic routing rules:

Suppose that in this topology students will be asked to divide the network 172.30.0.0/16 into 4 subnets and respond to mass related issues. On the topology itself, I added several text blocks explaining which IP addresses from subnets should be assigned to end stations and router interfaces.
Routers themselves are configured according to the full program, which includes the main set of security measures, in the form of passwords for console and network interfaces, etc. - This habit should be developed in students from the very beginning.

When the topology is ready and tested in all directions, go to the Extensions menu and click on the Activity Wizard. A window pops up prompting you to use the topology we built as the one to which the examiner will have to come at the end of the test.

We answer in the affirmative and get into the Activity Wizard window. The Welcome tab briefly describes the entire process of creating an exercise:

We go to the Initial network tab, in which we will create the initial topology, which the examiner will see when he opens the file with the task. The initial topology may be empty, but in this case, I’ll leave it as it is, just remove all the address settings and routing rules. To do this, click on the Copy from Answer Network button:

Then you can block some of the ways to access the hardware configuration. This is what this is about: in reality, routers can only be initial configured with the help of a terminal program and a computer connected to the router via the console port (only later can you upload SDM to them, configure network connections and configure them through a browser or telnet.). Packet Tracer gives you the ability to configure the router “for easy”, i.e. for example, simply drive the IP addresses in the settings window with your hands and that's it. Like this:

In addition, in the same settings window, you have access to the console of the router, as if it were the screen of the terminal program on a computer connected through the console port. This was done for an obvious reason - if students have already begun to connect to the equipment through the console, you do not need to force them to take steam every time with this - you can simply give them access to the console through the router settings window in Packet Tracer. Of course, in the initial stages, this opportunity should be blocked.

That is what we are going to do now. Lock the network interface settings of the router through the graphical settings window. To do this, put down the necessary daws in the Locking Options tab:

In the Initial Network Setup tab, in a similar way, you can specify which equipment configuration settings will already be present in the initial topology and which will not. I set everything blank, i.e. Examiners will have to make all the settings themselves:

Now you need to write instructions for the exercise. It would be superfluous to say that they should be written as briefly and as clearly as possible so that the examiners quickly understand what is required of them and do not waste time reading and trying to understand the meaning of what was written. In my case, the task looks like this:

Subnetting and default route
In this exercise, you will practice:
Subnet the network
Perform basic router configuration
Configure default route

Stage 1 - Split the network into subnets
Answer the following questions:
How many networks exist on the topology?
Which subnet mask is suitable for this topology?

Use network 172.30.0.0/16 to subnet using the selected subnet mask.
LAN 1 must use the first subnet.
LAN 2 must use a second subnet.
LAN 3 must use a third subnet.
WAN 1 must use the fourth subnet.
Assign all the LAN interfaces of both routers the first usable IP address on the corresponding subnet.
Assign the first usable WAN subnet IP address to the S1 / 0 interface of Router 2.
Assign the last usable WAN subnet IP address to the S1 / 1 interface of Router 3.
Assign PC1 to the third usable IP address on the appropriate subnet.
Assign the last usable IP address on the appropriate subnet to PC2.
Assign the third usable IP address on the appropriate subnet to the PC3 endpoint.
Assign the last usable IP address on the appropriate subnet to the PC4 endpoint.
Assign the last usable IP address on the corresponding subnet to the PC5 endpoint.

Stage 2 - Basic Router Configuration
Name the routers R2 and R3 according to the topology.
Set the class password to a console connection.
Set the cisco encrypted password to privileged access to the router.
Set the telnet password to the telnet connection.
All passwords must be encrypted.
Configure the F0 / 0, F1 / 0, and S1 / 0 interfaces for Router 2 according to the addresses you select.
Configure the F1 / 0 and S1 / 1 interfaces for the Router 3 according to the addresses you select.
Configure the 4,000,000 bps sync frequency on Router 2 and set the ppp protocol for serial interfaces on both routers.
Assign all end stations IP addresses according to the selected scheme.

Stage 3 - Verification
Ping from terminal station PC1 to station PC2? Was ping successful?
Ping from terminal station PC1 to station PC3? Was ping successful?
Ping from terminal station PC1 to station PC5? Was ping successful? What message did you receive? Explain why it was received?

Stage 4 - Routing
Configure static routing on Router 2. Again, ping from PC1 endpoint to PC5? What message was received this time? What is the difference between this and past posts?
Configure static routing on Router 3. Again, ping from PC1 endpoint to PC5? Was ping successful?
Verify that all end stations of all networks are accessible from all other stations.

Good luck.

The text of the task should be formatted using HTML tags and entered in the tab Edit:

Preview in the tab Preview as HTML:

Now it's time to determine how the system will evaluate the work of the examiner. We go to the Answer network tab and in the Assessment Tree tab we put daws in all the required configurations that need to be done:

In the Settings tab, you can set the time for which the exercise should be completed, for example 1 hour 10 minutes:

Next, in the Password tab, you need to set a password to prevent unauthorized access to the exercise settings and click the Enable Password button.

At this stage, you can go to the Test Active tab and check if everything is fine. After checking, you can save the exercise file by clicking on the Save button:

The resulting file can be sent to students. At the end of the work, they can save it and forward it back to you, for verification.

An exercise can be edited by opening it and going to the Activity Wizard from the Extensions menu, but for this you will need the password that you defined at the time the exercise was created. I am

attaching an exercise file that I created with you now. The password is cisco.

I wish you success.

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