By Brian Scheibe
Step 3: Create the Loading Configuration Files
At this point, you could create a lab using only the lab document and the topology file you just created. However, let’s work through the steps needed to create loading configuration files. In our test lab, we are going to create loading configurations for Router1 and Switch1 that sets them to load with a host name set to their device name.
1. Click NetMap on the Menu Bar, and click Apply Selected Topology.
2. If you had another topology loaded in NetSim, click Yes when prompted.
3. In the console of Router1, enter the following commands to configure a host name of Router1:
Router>enable
Router#configure terminal
Router(config)#hostname Router1
4. Select Switch1 from the Devices drop-down list.
5. In the console of Switch1, enter the following commands to configure a host name of Switch1:
Switch>enable
Switch#configure terminal
Switch(config)#hostname Switch1
Now we want to save our current configurations as loading configurations, so let’s perform the following steps:
1. From the Menu Bar, click Console and then click Save Multi-Device Config.
2. In the Save Multiple Device Configuration dialog box, navigate to the TestLab folder created earlier on your Desktop.
3. Type Loading in the File name field, and click Save.
Step 4: Create the Grading Configuration Files
Now we have three of the four things that can be used in our test lab. Let’s create the final piece, the grading configuration files. Remember that grading files are the running configuration that we want the user who follows our lab document to have when they finish working through our lab document. Our lab document has the user pinging between PC1 and Router1, so we need to configure some IP addresses on the devices and enable links.
In this example TestLab, the following are the commands the user should issue to enable a ping between PC1 and Router1.
On PC1:
C:>ipconfig /ip 192.168.100.2 255.255.255.0
C:>ipconfig /dg 192.168.100.1
On Switch1:
Switch1>enable
Switch1#configure terminal
Switch1(config)#ip default-gateway 192.168.100.1
On Router1:
Router1>enable
Router1#configure terminal
Router1(config)#interface ethernet 0/0
Router1(config-if)#ip address 192.168.100.1 255.255.255.0
Router1(config-if)#no shutdown
Finally, the user should issue a ping from PC1 to Router1 with a resulting successful ping.
On PC1:
C:>ping 192.168.100.1
Pinging 192.168.100.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.100.1: bytes=32 time=52ms TTL=241
Reply from 192.168.100.1: bytes=32 time=69ms TTL=241
Reply from 192.168.100.1: bytes=32 time=55ms TTL=241
Reply from 192.168.100.1: bytes=32 time=72ms TTL=241
Reply from 192.168.100.1: bytes=32 time=53ms TTL=241
Ping statistics for 192.168.100.1: Packets: Sent = 5, Received = 5, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 52ms, Maximum = 72ms, Average = 60ms
After you have issued the previous commands, you can save the running configurations on all of the devices so that you can use them as grading configurations; use the following steps.
1. From the Menu Bar, click Console and then click Save Multi-Device Config.
2. In the Save Multiple Device Configuration dialog box, navigate to the TestLab folder created earlier on your Desktop.
3. Type Grading in the File name field, and click Save.
This concludes part 2 of 3. Stay tuned for the final installment of this series.
If you have any questions about using NetSim for classroom or personal use, we would love to hear from you by phone at 877.333.3926, or email us at support@boson.com.
If you would like to try NetSim 8.0, you can download it from our Downloads page to try the demo lab.