Purpose

In this lab, we used Cisco Packet Tracer to build and configure a small enterprise network for a community healthcare facility.

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Pre-Lab

Before doing the lab, we edited the settings for auto file backup intervals in Packet Tracer.

In Packet Tracer, navigate to Options > Preferences > Miscellaneous and set the Auto File Backup Interval to 1 minute.

Then save your workspace before starting Auto File Backup.

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Network Design

In the case of this lab, the following subnet table was created to outline the configurations for the network.

Then we designed this network in Packet Tracer.

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Network Build

Hospital Router

Next, we built the network by first configuring the hospital router. The VLANs were established to start.

Then we enabled routing and added the IP addresses to the VLAN interfaces.

Finally, we configured the ports connecting to the Core switches as trunk ports.

North Wing

Next, we configured the North Wing Core switch by first adding the VLANs.

Then, we configured the trunk ports connected to the router and the North Wing Edge switch.

Then we configured the North Wing Edge switch by also first adding the VLANs.

Next, we assigned 6 ports to the Clinic VLAN, 4 ports to the Visitor VLAN, and 6 ports to the Office VLAN. Finally, we configured the trunk port connected to the North Wing Core switch on FastEthernet0/1.

Data Center

For the Data Center Core switch, only VLAN 1 was used to minimize configurations. Then the switch was connected to the router as an access port for VLAN 1. The first screenshot shows the switch's port connected to the router, while the second screenshot shows the router's port connected to the switch on FastEthernet0/2.

DHCP Server

The next step was to configure the DHCP server. First, the proper address was assigned in relation to the default VLAN.

We also created DHCP pools for the client VLANs (Clinic, Visitor, Office, and Counseling).

Then we connected the server to the Data Center Core switch.

Lastly, we enabled DHCP on the router and assigned the IP helper address for each VLAN. In this case, the IP address of the DHCP server was 10.21.7.2.

If configured successfully, a client connected to the router should be able to request a proper DHCP address. The screenshot below shows a client assigned to the Clinic VLAN.

To further test connectivity, another client was added to the North Wing Edge switch on a port that was assigned to the Visitor VLAN. The screenshots below show the Visitor client requesting a proper DHCP address and pinging with the Clinic client.

South Wing

For the South Wing equipment, the same processes for all of the North Wing equipment were repeated.

• Adding the VLANs.
• Configuring the trunk ports to connect to the router and Edge switch.
• Assigning 6 ports to the Clinic VLAN.
• Assigning 4 ports to the Visitor VLAN.
• Assigning 6 ports to the Office VLAN.
• Configuring the trunk port to connect to the Core switch.

To test connectivity, the Clinic-01 workstation from the North Wing pinged the Clinic-07 workstation from the South Wing and vise versa, both of which were assigned to vlan 10.

Here is a glimpse of the appearance of the network itself with the North Wing and South Wing equipment configured.

DNS Server

Next, we configured the DNS server in the network to assign to clients and enable DNS resolution.

First, we set up the IP information for the DNS server itself.

Next, we enabled DNS services on the server and created type A Records for the two servers (DHCP and DNS). An IP address of 10.21.7.3 was used for the DNS server and record while the DHCP IP address was copied over (10.21.7.2).

The DNS server was then connected to the Data Center Core switch like the DHCP server.

Then we added the DNS server to the DHCP server so the former can be assigned to clients.

To verify that clients can resolve the DNS server when configured via DHCP, the Clinic-06 workstation was re-assigned. The DNS server should now be there if configured correctly.

Counseling Center

After configuring the above equipment, we configured the interfaces for the Counseling Center. First, we connected the Counseling Center Edge switch to the Counseling-01 and Counseling-02 workstations on the ports FastEthernet0/2 and FastEthernet0/3, respectively.

Then we added vlan 40 (Counseling) to the switch and assigned it to the two workstations.

If configured correctly, both workstations should be able to request DHCP addresses that include the DNS server.

Completed Workspace

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Troubleshooting

There was an issue with the default vlan 1 being turned off which was preventing IP addresses from being assigned to clients using DHCP. By running the following commands in the router CLI, I was able to enable vlan 1 and properly obtain IP addresses using DHCP.