HM Haider Mustafa Back to portfolio

Network Simulation

Small office network simulation.

A lab for designing and validating a small office topology with core network services and service-verification testing.

Environment Cisco Packet Tracer with a small office topology.
Services DHCP, DNS, HTTP, and AAA authentication.
Focus Connectivity, service validation, and role separation.
Output Topology notes, service checks, and validation steps.

Project view

This project builds a small office network from the ground up and checks that users, services, and authentication all work as expected once the devices are connected.

Project access

Start with the lab notes for the overall design. The topology notes explain the layout, and the validation notes show the checks used to confirm the services were working.

Lab notes PDF Topology PDF Validation PDF

Network flow

How the lab was structured.

01 Topology design

roles and devices laid out

02 Service setup

DHCP, DNS, and HTTP enabled

03 AAA validation

authentication checks performed

04 End-to-end testing

services verified across the network

Basic overview

This lab focuses on a small office setup where users and services need to work reliably across the same environment. The work covers both the design of the topology and the testing needed to confirm that the network behaves as expected.

The aim was to build a realistic service layout, configure the core network pieces, and then validate that addressing, name resolution, authentication, and service access all worked end to end.

What was configured
  • Addressing and device placement across the office topology.
  • DHCP for automatic addressing and DNS for name resolution.
  • HTTP service availability for basic application-layer testing.
  • AAA authentication checks to confirm access control behaviour.
Validation approach
  • Confirmed devices were receiving expected addresses.
  • Tested whether names resolved to the correct hosts.
  • Verified service access over HTTP.
  • Checked that authentication and service access behaved correctly for the intended users.
What it shows

This project shows structured network thinking: design the layout, configure the services, test the behaviour, and write down what passed and what needed further review.