ITL351: Computer Networks Lab (Spring 2026)

Lab Timings: Section A: Wednesday (2 - 3:40 pm)  and Section B: Tuesday (2 - 3:40 pm) 

Venue: IT Lab 2 (Seminar Hall)

Piazza page: ITL355/home 

Grading Policy:

• Semester Project - 50%

• Lab Work - 30%

• Final viva/demo - 20%

Semester Project: Develop a network simulator implementing the entire protocol stack. 

Maximum group of three (3) students allowed. This is an open-ended assignment where you're free to choose any programming language, input/output representation, formats, etc., but all these should be specified in a proper specification document (duly typed in LaTeX), which should be regularly updated with each submission.

Expected submissions:

1. Submission 1 (Due date: 25 March): Physical layer and Data Link layer functionalities. Check the assignment statement.

2. Submission 2 (Due date: 18 25 May): Network layer functionalities. Check the Assignment statement.

3. Submission 3 (Due date: 25 May): Transport and Application layer functionalities. Check the Assignment statement.

Softwares:

• WIRESHARK: For all

• Cisco Packet Tracer: For all

Here are the topics we covered in the lab and the reference material we used.

1. Lab 1 (Feb 17, 18): Introduction to the lab and its policies. Study and implement basic network utilities. Try Lab 1 Assignment.

2. Lab 2 (Feb 24, 25): Devices found at different TCP/IP Model layers. 

3. Lab 3 (Mar 10, 11): Introduction to Ethernet, its types, specifications, UTP standards, and different cable constructions: straight-through, crossover, and rollover. Practical demonstration of creating a straight-through cable.

4.  Lab 4 (Mar 17, 18): Introduction to Wireshark. Try Lab 4 Assignment.

5. Lab 5 (Mar 24, 25): Introduction to Cisco Packet Tracer. Create a LAN using hubs and switches and understand their working, address learning in a switch. 

6. Demo 1 (Apr 1, 2): Project submission 1 demos held.

7. Lab 6 (Apr 21, 22): Router configuration in Cisco Packet Tracer - introduction to various router CLI Modes, classful IP address assignment to end-devices and router interfaces. Assignment: Classless IP addressing.

8. Lab 7 (Apr 28, 29): Configuring static routing on a network. Assignment: Default routing.

9. Lab 8 (May 7):  Configuring Dynamic routing on a network: Distance vector routing via RIP, Link-state routing via EIGRP. Assignment: RIP and EIGRP configuration on a given network. 

10. Lab 9 (May 12):  Configuring traffic filtering on routers via standard access lists (block full network, single host) and extended access-list (block only HTTP port of a server). Assignment: Implement an extended access-list where a full network gets the HTTP port of a server blocked.

11. Lab 10 (May 13): Configuring VLAN using switches.

This is all for this lab. All the best for the Major exams!