Final Project - Cisco Packer Tracer

This project simulates the network for a small campus/organization with three functional departments — Administration, Finance, and Student — each isolated on its own VLAN for security and broadcast-domain separation. The design follows a two-tier hierarchical model: a router providing routing and DHCP services at the core, a central Layer 2 switch aggregating traffic, and two access-layer switches connecting end-user PCs.

Objectives

Segment the network into VLANs so that Administration, Finance, and Student traffic stay logically separated even though they share the same physical switching infrastructure.
Automate IP address assignment for every VLAN using DHCP services configured directly on the router, removing the need for static addressing on end devices.
Enable communication between VLANs (inter-VLAN routing) using a router-on-a-stick design, since VLANs cannot talk to each other without a Layer 3 device.
Increase uplink bandwidth and resiliency between the core switch and each access switch by bundling two physical links into a single logical EtherChannel, negotiated dynamically with PAgP (Cisco's proprietary channel-negotiation protocol).

Network design summary

Component Role
Router2911 Default gateway for all VLANs (router-on-a-stick) and DHCP server
Core Switch Layer 2 aggregation switch; trunks all VLANs to the router and to both access switches
Access Switch 1 Connects PC1–PC6; VLAN access ports + one EtherChannel uplink
Access Switch 2 Connects PC7–PC12; VLAN access ports + one EtherChannel uplink
VLAN Name Subnet Gateway (Router subinterface)
10 Administration 192.168.10.0/24 192.168.10.1 (G0/0.10)
20 Finance 192.168.20.0/24 192.168.20.1 (G0/0.20)
30 Student 192.168.30.0/24 192.168.30.1 (G0/0.30)

Scope of configuration covered in this document

DHCP server configuration on the router (one pool per VLAN)
VLAN creation and naming on all three switches
Inter-VLAN routing via router subinterfaces (802.1Q trunking)
EtherChannel configuration using PAgP between the core switch and each access switch

Expected outcome: Once configured, PCs in each VLAN should automatically receive an IP address from the correct DHCP pool, be able to ping devices within their own VLAN, and be able to ping devices in other VLANs (and the router) via inter-VLAN routing — while the EtherChannel uplinks provide combined bandwidth and load balancing across the bundled links.

Topology recap

Router2911 (Gig0/0) → Fa0/24 on Core Switch (multilayer/L2 switch, "Switch0")
Core Switch → Fa0/1-2 (EtherChannel 1, PAgP) → Access Switch 1 (2960) → PC1-PC6
Core Switch → Fa0/3-4 (EtherChannel 2, PAgP) → Access Switch 2 (2960) → PC7-PC12
VLAN 10 = 192.168.10.0/24 | VLAN 20 = 192.168.20.0/24 | VLAN 30 = 192.168.30.0/24
Router subinterfaces: G0/0.10, G0/0.20, G0/0.30 (router-on-a-stick does the inter-VLAN routing)
Port mapping on both access switches: Fa0/5-6 → VLAN10, Fa0/7-8 → VLAN20, Fa0/9-10 → VLAN30
VLAN names: VLAN10 = Administration, VLAN20 = Finance, VLAN30 = Student
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1. Router2911 — DHCP + Inter-VLAN Routing
enable
configure terminal
hostname Router

! --- Bring up physical interface ---
interface GigabitEthernet0/0
no shutdown
exit

! --- Router-on-a-stick subinterfaces (Inter-VLAN Routing) ---
interface GigabitEthernet0/0.10
encapsulation dot1Q 10
ip address 192.168.10.1 255.255.255.0
exit

interface GigabitEthernet0/0.20
encapsulation dot1Q 20
ip address 192.168.20.1 255.255.255.0
exit

interface GigabitEthernet0/0.30
encapsulation dot1Q 30
ip address 192.168.30.1 255.255.255.0
exit

! --- DHCP: exclude gateway addresses, then create pools per VLAN ---
ip dhcp excluded-address 192.168.10.1 192.168.10.10
ip dhcp excluded-address 192.168.20.1 192.168.20.10
ip dhcp excluded-address 192.168.30.1 192.168.30.10

ip dhcp pool VLAN10_POOL
network 192.168.10.0 255.255.255.0
default-router 192.168.10.1
dns-server 8.8.8.8
exit

ip dhcp pool VLAN20_POOL
network 192.168.20.0 255.255.255.0
default-router 192.168.20.1
dns-server 8.8.8.8
exit

ip dhcp pool VLAN30_POOL
network 192.168.30.0 255.255.255.0
default-router 192.168.30.1
dns-server 8.8.8.8
exit

end
write memory
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2. Core Switch ("Switch0") — VLANs + Trunk to Router + EtherChannel PAgP
enable
configure terminal
hostname CoreSwitch

! --- VLANs ---
vlan 10
name Administration
exit
vlan 20
name Finance
exit
vlan 30
name Student
exit

! --- Trunk to Router (carries all 3 VLANs for router-on-a-stick) ---
interface FastEthernet0/24
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 10,20,30
exit

! --- EtherChannel 1 (PAgP) to Access Switch 1, Fa0/1-2 ---
interface range FastEthernet0/1-2
channel-group 1 mode desirable
exit

! --- EtherChannel 2 (PAgP) to Access Switch 2, Fa0/3-4 ---
interface range FastEthernet0/3-4
channel-group 2 mode desirable
exit

end
write memory

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3. Access Switch 1 (2960 — PC1 to PC6) — VLANs + EtherChannel PAgP
enable
configure terminal
hostname AccessSwitch1

! --- VLANs ---
vlan 10
name Administration
exit
vlan 20
name Finance
exit
vlan 30
name Student
exit

! --- EtherChannel 1 (PAgP) uplink to Core Switch, Fa0/1-2 ---
interface range FastEthernet0/1-2
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 10,20,30
channel-group 1 mode desirable
exit

! --- Access ports to PCs ---
interface range FastEthernet0/5-6
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 10
no shutdown
exit

interface range FastEthernet0/7-8
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 20
no shutdown
exit

interface range FastEthernet0/9-10
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 30
no shutdown
exit

end
write memory
________________________________________
4. Access Switch 2 (2960 — PC7 to PC12) — VLANs + EtherChannel PAgP
enable
configure terminal
hostname AccessSwitch2

! --- VLANs ---
vlan 10
name Administration
exit
vlan 20
name Finance
exit
vlan 30
name Student
exit

! --- EtherChannel 2 (PAgP) uplink to Core Switch, Fa0/3-4 ---
interface range FastEthernet0/3-4
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 10,20,30
channel-group 2 mode desirable
exit

! --- Access ports to PCs ---
interface range FastEthernet0/5-6
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 10
no shutdown
exit

interface range FastEthernet0/7-8
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 20
no shutdown
exit

interface range FastEthernet0/9-10
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 30
no shutdown
exit

end
write memory
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PCs (PC1–PC12)
Set each PC's IP Configuration to DHCP — they should pull an address from the matching VLAN10/20/30 pool once the trunks and Port-channels are up.
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Verification commands
! On Router
show ip interface brief
show ip dhcp binding

! On CoreSwitch / AccessSwitch1 / AccessSwitch2
show vlan brief
show interfaces trunk
show etherchannel summary

! On a PC
ipconfig /all ! confirm DHCP address in the right VLAN subnet
ping 192.168.10.1 ! (or .20.1 / .30.1) — tests inter-VLAN routing
configure terminal
show etherchannel summary should show SU next to each Port-channel once PAgP has successfully bundled the links.