Little Rant about Pre-Made Labs

Good Memorial Weekend all.

I was sitting here this afternoon Google searching around for ACL Packet Tracer labs in which I found plenty.

Once I had a few downloaded I went to start configureing the ACLS per the indicated directions. What got me was all the extra stuff I had to do just to get to the ACL part which was my intention. My intention was not to have to configure a bunch of interfaces and RIP routing, and then pretty much be limited on some other info I needed to have because all the devices were locked and Telnet was not working.. To cut to the chase I never got to the ACL part due to sitting there trying to interperit the creators directions while trying to jump all the "extra" hurdles..

This has been the case on several labs I have downloaded before.

I know getting the practice is good on all these "extra" goodies, but jeeze...

My question is what do you all think about the pre made labs? Personally at this point I think I rather create my own scanarios than deal with all the hurdles and directions implemented into someone elses mayham lol. When I create my own labs I can focus on ACLs/NAT etc without all fluff.

Have a good weekend all.

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hiddenknight821

sthompson86 wrote: »

Good Memorial Weekend all.

I was sitting here this afternoon Google searching around for ACL Packet Tracer labs in which I found plenty.

Once I had a few downloaded I went to start configureing the ACLS per the indicated directions. What got me was all the extra stuff I had to do just to get to the ACL part which was my intention. My intention was not to have to configure a bunch of interfaces and RIP routing, and then pretty much be limited on some other info I needed to have because all the devices were locked and Telnet was not working.. To cut to the chase I never got to the ACL part due to sitting there trying to interperit the creators directions while trying to jump all the "extra" hurdles..

This has been the case on several labs I have downloaded before.

I know getting the practice is good on all these "extra" goodies, but jeeze...

My question is what do you all think about the pre made labs? Personally at this point I think I rather create my own scanarios than deal with all the hurdles and directions implemented into someone elses mayham lol. When I create my own labs I can focus on ACLs/NAT etc without all fluff.

Have a good weekend all.

Good to know you're progressing toward your CCNA on the ACL stuff as I am too. Even though, I never try searching for template or whatever, but I understand your frustration by having to create each scenario you want to test or practice on in PT. I find myself spending more time creating these, and it can be a pain in the @$$, but hey... Who's doing more labbing? Us Packet Tracer folks or the guys with the real hardwares? I have the actual hardwares, but I don't want to run up the electric bill or anything, and I only have 2 catalyst switches. So I figured PT practice is the best route for me at the moment.

sthompson86

hiddenknight821 wrote: »

Good to know you're progressing toward your CCNA on the ACL stuff as I am too. Even though, I never try searching for template or whatever, but I understand your frustration by having to create each scenario you want to test or practice on in PT. I find myself spending more time creating these, and it can be a pain in the @$$, but hey... Who's doing more labbing? Us Packet Tracer folks or the guys with the real hardwares? I have the actual hardwares, but I don't want to run up the electric bill or anything, and I only have 2 catalyst switches. So I figured PT practice is the best route for me at the moment.

Thanks Hidden. I have real hardware too, but when I want to build a quick scanario to test a couple things, packet tracer is just so much easier.

I go after the pre-made lab templates, for the creator may have incorperated something into it that I have not thought of. The thing that gets me with the templates is all the extra work that needs to be done in most of the ones I have downloaded to get to the actual part I am after like ACL.

My experience with the pre-made templates just has not been working out for me. I worry about making my own because I am not really creating anything I do not already know how to do, but with my own templates I can focus on what I am wanting to focus on.

Thanks again Hidden.

switchrat

Free doesn't mean FREE, good practice

jtdk985

i think your not finding the correct pre-made labs, which might be the issue. im going to upload a set ive been using, its not the only set, but its a decent one. english is not the guys first language it seems, but the point gets across majority of the time, and its directly to the point of which the labs were named.

here you go, give these a shot and tell me what you think

CCNA-Practice-labs.zip

haha now that i look at the ACL lab, this might of been one you worked with? i can understand the want to just get straight to the ACL's, but a little practice on routing is good too!

**edit#2** this is done just with a few commands though, and its only on one router, so yeah.. not sure. give feedback!

sthompson86

jtdk985 wrote: »

i think your not finding the correct pre-made labs, which might be the issue. im going to upload a set ive been using, its not the only set, but its a decent one. english is not the guys first language it seems, but the point gets across majority of the time, and its directly to the point of which the labs were named.

here you go, give these a shot and tell me what you think

CCNA-Practice-labs.zip

haha now that i look at the ACL lab, this might of been one you worked with? i can understand the want to just get straight to the ACL's, but a little practice on routing is good too!

**edit#2** this is done just with a few commands though, and its only on one router, so yeah.. not sure. give feedback!

Thanks JT, and yess that is the same ACL lab I was reffering to.

I did everything up to step 4

"4. Set default route to allow the connection with
internet. "

I had no idea what to do there, and that just added to my frustration. Also, with everything locked down, and having nothing but his notes to guide it got really aggravating. I tried a few things in regards to step 4, but nothing ever worked.

Thank you.

jtdk985

default routes to the internet are normally set using the "ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 exitinterface or next hop ip" command

those labs have you do that a lot, so just keep doing it to memorize it

sthompson86

jtdk985 wrote: »

default routes to the internet are normally set using the "ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 exitinterface or next hop ip" command

those labs have you do that a lot, so just keep doing it to memorize it

The next hop was what I was having trouble figuring out. I tried what would be the next router aka ISP, but it still didnt work. I really didnt spend much time with it on step 4 lol I was already out looking for more to the point type labs.

jtdk985

heh, unless you specifically have to use the next hop IP, which is the next hops INTERFACE IP, its always easier to use the exit interface.

with that one, the default route would either be:

ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 s0/1/0
or
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 203.144.7.253 (use 253 since 254 is the last ip of the subnet, and thats assigned to the exit interface s0/1/0)

hope it helps! default routes are very easy normally, just gotta do it a couple times

i just added the default route using the ip, but it didnt give me the completion %, so it WANTS you to use the exit interface. adding the exit interface gives 6% completion