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Lab · Computer Networking (CCNA level)

Lab: map your own network

Labbeginner· about 1 hour· 4 steps

The brief

Use four everyday commands on your own laptop or PC to map the network you are on: your IP address, your default gateway, the DNS server that turns names into addresses, and the routers your traffic passes through on the way to a website.

Why it matters

These are the first four commands a help desk or network support engineer runs on any complaint like "the internet is not working". They tell you in two minutes whether the problem is the PC, the Wi-Fi router, DNS or the internet provider, and the same commands work in a hostel, a home, a college lab or a 500-person office.

Skills you practise

  • ipconfig / ip addr
  • private IPv4 addresses
  • default gateway
  • ping and ICMP
  • DNS with nslookup
  • tracert / traceroute

You need

  • Your own Windows, Linux or macOS computer connected to Wi-Fi or a cable (a home, hostel or office network)
  • A command prompt: on Windows press Win+R, type cmd and press Enter; on Linux or macOS open Terminal

What you will have at the end

notes.txt with your IP address, mask, gateway, DNS server and the path to example.com, plus the four outputs in the downloadable summary: a one-page map of your own network.

How it is marked (rubric, 100 points)
Commands run correctlyAll four outputs are real, complete and from the network you use.40
Notes are completenotes.txt has your address, mask, gateway, DNS server and the number of hops.30
Can explain the resultsYou can say what each command tested and which layer it belongs to (ping and tracert use ICMP at the network layer, nslookup uses DNS at the application layer).30

0/4 steps done

Step 1 of 4

Find your IP address

You can see your computer's private IPv4 address on the network you are using.

Every device on a network needs an IP address. At home or in an office it is almost always a private address (10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x to 172.31.x.x, or 192.168.x.x), given out by the Wi-Fi router. On Windows, ipconfig lists each adapter with its IPv4 Address, Subnet Mask and Default Gateway. On Linux, ip -4 addr shows lines like "inet 192.168.1.7/24"; on macOS, ifconfig shows "inet 192.168.1.7 netmask ...".

Paste the whole output. Write your address, mask and gateway in notes.txt: you need the gateway in the next step.

$ ip -4 addr
2: wlp2s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP group default qlen 1000
    inet 192.168.1.7/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute wlp2s0
$ ip route | grep default
default via 192.168.1.1 dev wlp2s0 proto dhcp metric 600
Linux: the /24 is the subnet mask 255.255.255.0 written as a prefix length. Example addresses.
Run this on your machine, then paste the output below
$ ipconfig (Linux: ip -4 addr, macOS: ifconfig)

Also check yourself

Your notes: notes.txt

Write down each command you ran. It goes into your project summary.