Setting Up A Network And Configuring Network Services Is An Essay.

This is a practical assessment and will enhance and test your practical skills related to the subject topic. You are required to set up a simple network using minimum three PCs and minimum two routers, or use simulation software to set up the same network.

To complete this assessment you are expected to refer to information beyond the text book. This assignment is open; in that you are free to choose the devices or software you use to complete the specified tasks. Students are expected to accomplish this task by utilising the necessary commands discussed in lectures and also described in the prescribed text book.

There are numerous web sites available that discuss Linux networking. You are expected to list your sources of information for the different tasks. When completing this project, you may encounter errors or experience difficulties getting your setup to work. If this occurs, your challenge is to analyse why they happen and report on how you solved the problems you encountered.

Additional information will be provided for technology options to use in creating this lab closer to the assessment due date.

Task 1 - Setting up a Network

You are required to set up a network consisting of PCs, routers and servers. You need to configure routing between routers (minimum two routers required). The routers will have multiple network interfaces. The PC (client) will be connected to one of the router's interfaces and other PCs (servers) will be connected to the second router's interface.
Client <--> Router <--> Router <--> Server(s)

Setup separate server for each application/service. Each side of the router will be in its own LAN (or WAN) segment and should have a different network address, use ONLY private IP address ranges to design this network.

Perform the following activities and support your workings with screenshots [10 marks]:
1. Configure the PC, Server and Router interfaces with appropriate network addressing;
2. Configure routing (IP packet forwarding) on the routers;
3. On the client ping the client's own network interface, then the local router gateway interface, then the remote router interface, then the server;
4. Use the traceroute command from the client to the server. Include results of the traceroute in your submission.

Task 2 - Configuring Network Services
Using the same network topology that you have setup in Task 1, perform the following additional activities [15 marks]:

1. DHCP: Configure DHCP on the server and show that the client PC has successfully received an IP Address and other network parameters (default router, netmask, DNS) using DHCP;
   2. WEB Server:Configure a WEB server on dedicated machine, with URL as www.YOUR NAME.csu.edu.au
   3. DNS: Configure a DNS Server on the server device and demonstrate that forward and reverse DNS are working from the client PC; test DNS Server by browsing www.YOUR NAME.csu.edu.au from client PC, DNS must resolve this URL to IP address of WEB Server
   4. Firewall:Configure traffic filtering on the router to block TCP traffic only between one of the client PC and WEB Servers, and provide evidence of such traffic filtering.

Task 1 - Setting up a Network

I used two routers, two servers and one PC for my network layout. One server will act as the DNS server and the other one will be the DHCP server. The two routers are connected via a serial cable while the routers and PCs are connected via a cross-over cable.

The router interface that connects to the PC1 is fastethernet0/0 while the interface that connects the two routers are serial0/0/1 for router0 and serial0/1/0 for router2.

Server0 has and IP address of 40.0.0.4 while server2 has an IP address of 30.0.0.4. The default gateway for server0 is 40.0.0.1 while the default gateway for server2 is 30.0.0.1.

Server0 connects to the router2 via a fastethernet0/1 interface while server2 connects to the router2 via a fastethernet0/0 interface

1. Configuration of the PC, Server and Router interfaces with appropriate network addressing.

PC1 configuration

PC1 IP address configuration. The IP address to PC1 is 10.0.0.4 while its subnet mask is 255.0.0.0

Router0 configuration

Router0 configuration of fastethernet0/0 interface with IP address 10.0.0.1 and subnet mask of 255.0.0.0

Router0 configuration of serial0/0/1 interface with IP address 20.0.0.1 and subnet mask 255.0.0.0 with a clock rate of 64000

Router2 configuration

Router2 configuration of serial0/1/0 interface with IP address 20.0.0.2 and subnet mask 255.0.0.0 with a clock rate of 64000

Router2 configuration of fastethernet0/0 interface with IP address 30.0.0.1 and subnet mask of 255.0.0.0

Router2 configuration of fastethernet0/1 interface with IP address 40.0.0.1 and subnet mask of 255.0.0.0

Server configuration

Server IP address configuration. The IP address to server0 is 40.0.0.4 while its subnet mask is 255.0.0.0

Server IP address configuration. The IP address to server2 is 30.0.0.4 while its subnet mask is 255.0.0.0

2. Configuration of routing (IP packet forwarding) on router0 and router2

To configure routing between the routers, we enter the command, IP route <network address><subnet mask><next hop address> on each of the routers. The diagram below shows how I provided the route on router2

On router2 configuration of the route is done by providing the network address where PC1 is located, its subnet mask and the hop address for the router where its connected, Therefore the following command is put on router2. IP route 10.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 20.0.0.1.

On router0 the same command is used but this time we put the command twice for the two network addresses for server0 and server2

For the network address on server0 we put the command IP route 40.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 20.0.0.2.

For the network address on server2 we put the command IP route 30.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 20.0.0.2.

The route can be shown by using the show ip route command.

Task 2 - Configuring Network Services

The diagram shows that a packet sent from PC1 is delivered successfully to server2

3. Ping results for the clients own interface, the local router interface, the remote server interface and the server IP address

The diagram above shows the results obtained after pinging PC1 its own IP address. The IP address of PC1 is 10.0.0.4. As you can see from the diagram above, all the packets were sent successfully

Ping results of the local router gateway interface which has an Ip of 10.0.0.1

Ping results of the remote router gateway interface which has an IP of 20.0.0.2

Ping results to server0 which has an Ip of 40.0.0.4

Traceroute results from PC1 to server0

CONFIGURING Network Services

1. DHCPConfiguration of DHCP on the server0

My server0 will be my DHCP server. On the services tab of server0, choose that tab and select the DHCP option. Here a window with text fields will appear where you will insert the range of IP addresses you will want to assign to the server. Put in a pool name of your choice then insert the default gateway for the network address that you want to acquire IP address from the DHCP server. Also you can input the number of hosts that you want to be assigned the IP address from the start Ip address that you specify 

The diagram below shows the client PC has received the DHCP IP address and the subnet mask 

2. WEB Server configuration with URL as  www.myname.csu.edu.au

My server2 will be my DNS server. On the services tab of server2, choose the options tab and select the DNS option. Here a window with text fields will appear where you will insert the URL name and the IP address of that particular machine. In my report the server2 will be my DNS server with IP address 30.0.0.4.

CONFIGURATION OF DNS ON THE CLIENT COMPUTER

On my PC1 I configure the DNS server IP address on it. This is done by assigning the DNS server on the IP configuration tab of PC1.

To test the web server if its working I opened the browser on PC1 and entered the URL I provided on the server2 and the following results appeared indicating that the PC1 and server2 are indeed in communication with each other. Therefore we can say that the By using the IP address of the server2 instead of the URL the same results appear. Therefore the DNS resolves this URL to IP address of WEB Server

Configuration of traffic filtering on the router to block TCP traffic only between the client PC and WEB Servers

PC, Server, and Router interfaces configuration

A firewall is a security system that monitors and controls incoming traffic and also outgoing traffic depending on the rules set. It also prevents unauthorized access to a network by malicious people or programs. Therefore, a firewall acts as a barrier to keep harmful and malicious forces from your property.  Routers and firewalls provide filtering for network traffic, services, packet storms and host access.

To enhance security on a network we can use the router to filter traffic by examining the packets as they pass from one router to another or through a firewall. Cisco provides basic traffic filtering capabilities with access control lists (also referred to as access lists). Configuration of network protocols to filter packets as they pass through a router can be done using an access list. Such protocols include (IP, AppleTalk, and so on). You can configure access lists at your router to control access to a network: access lists can prevent certain traffic from entering or exiting a network. We can filter traffic according to their protocols, the ports through which data is sent, the receiving or sending Ip addresses or the bit value status in the packet. In my network I decided to block the TCP traffic from PC1 to the web server2.  

This is done by the use of access-list. An access list can permit or deny certain protocols, services and IP from passing information through the network.

The diagram below shows denying the host PC1 from communicating through the network. In my command I decided only to block its IP address which is 10.0.0.4

As you can see from the diagram below, by pinging the web server the destination is unreachable. Therefore the host has been blocked from communicating with the web server

References

Cisco Systems Inc. https://www.cisco.com

Jeff Doyle & Jennifer Carroll (2005). CCIE Professional Development: Routing TCP/IP Volume I, Second Edition. ciscopress.com. p. 169. ISBN 9781587052026.

Pritesh K. Jain, Manoj Sindhwani, S. Sachdeva, “Comparative Study of Routing Protocols with Subnetting Implementation in Cisco Packet Tracer”, International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 12, dec. 2014.

Sharat Kaushik, Anita Tomar, Poonam, “Access Control List Implementation in a Private Network”, International Journal of Information & Computation Technology, Vol. 4, No. 14, 2014, pp. 1361-1366.

Pozo, A.J. Varela-Vaca, and R.M. Gasca.,”A quadratic, complete, and minimal consistency diagnosis process for firewall acls”, Advanced Information Networking and Applications (AINA), 24th IEEE International Conference , pages 1037-1046, april 2010.