Small Office Network Setup - Packet Tracer
Small Office Network Setup - Packet Tracer
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Brief
Brief
I set myself the challenge of designing and configuring a simple small office/home office (SOHO) network in Cisco Packet Tracer. The requirements were:
Provide connectivity for 3 PCs on the same subnet
Configure DHCP so that PCs automatically receive IP addresses
Ensure the router provides the default gateway for the network
IP range to be 192.168.50.0/24, with the router as .1 and DHCP handing out addresses starting from .100
Fig. 01 - Initial topography sketch/design
Initial Setup
Initial Setup
At first I overthought the setup and included a separate DHCP server in the design. After reviewing the requirements, I realised this added unnecessary complexity and backtracked, choosing instead to configure DHCP directly on the router. This simplified the design and reduced cost, matching a realistic small office/home office scenario.
Final setup
1. Devices used: 1 Wireless Router, 1 Switch, 3 PCs.
2. Router interface configured as 192.168.50.1/24.
3. Router DHCP service enabled with pool 192.168.50.100–192.168.50.150.
4. PCs set to DHCP and successfully pulled addresses in the correct range.
5. Connectivity tested with pings between PCs and router.
Fig. 02 - Router DHCP service configured
Fig. 03 - Final network topology with PC DHCP lease
Reflection
When I first approached this task I over-engineered the network topology by including a separate DHCP server. While this would have worked in practise, it actually added unnecessary cost and admin requirements for a SOHO environment. Using the router to deal with DHCP requirements made the setup more efficient, cost-effective and realistic.
Through this process I’ve learnt
Start simple - meeting requirements doesn’t mean complex. Simple can be most effective. What’s the minimum amount of hardware and setup I need to make this work?
Iterate and improve. Starting big and pairing it down is also okay - it isn’t wasted time, it shows a process and helps enforce understanding.
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