Of all the features of gns3 the one i like is to be able to include my real PC in the topology I created. Lets see how we can do this:

Prereq: You have to run gns3 as Administrator for this. How? type 'gns3' in the windows start menu bar, right click on the 'gns3' program, and then 'Run as administrator.'

• Now drag your router in the main window, right click on it start it, then right click choose console. keep it like that.
• In the gns3 main window, click edit, symbol manager, from 'availabe symbols' select computer and click on the '>' the right arrow button. Now on the top right of the symbol manager type name as 'computer' and SELECT TYPE AS 'CLOUD' from the drop down list, then click OK. you should see this computer symbol in the left panel of gns3 main window.
• Drag that computer into the work space, right click on it, choose configure, select 'c0'( this may be c1 or c2 .... ) under the clouds section.
• OK now you should see bunch of tabs, first one is 'NIO ethernet'. In this tab, under "Generic ethernet NIO.. bla bla" choose your network adapter and then click on ADD, Apply, OK.
  

Note: If you have only one network adapter you're fine. But if you have more than one like on my laptop( wireless and lan) you wanna make sure you chose the one that is active.

OK now your router and your real PC is in the picture, lets connect them and test communication:

• In the router console lets configure any of the fastethernet ports first.

1. router>enable
2. router#configure terminal
3. router(config)#interface fastethernet 0/0
4. router(config-if)#no shutdown
5. router(config-if)#ip address 192.168.1.222 255.255.255.0
   
6. NOTE:choose an ip address that would be in the same network as your pc. ex: my pc has 192.168.1.105

Alright, the ethernet is interface is ready on the router and the active network adapter on your pc is ready, now we need a ethernet cable to connect these two.

• click on 'add a link' button on the top front panel, choose manual.
• Now click on the router, it displays a list availabe interfaces, we've configured fastethernet 0/0 so lets choose f0/0.
• Click on the computer, it will show the only availabe interface which is your network adaptor. so, choose that and we are done with connecting the router to your real pc.

Lets check if the connection is working:

• In the command prompt
  
• C:\>ping 192.168.1.222
  
  Pinging 192.168.1.222 with 32 bytes of data:
  Reply from 192.168.1.222: bytes=32 time=63ms TTL=255
  Reply from 192.168.1.222: bytes=32 time=22ms TTL=255
  Reply from 192.168.1.222: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=255
  Reply from 192.168.1.222: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=255
  
  Ping statistics for 192.168.1.222:
  Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
  Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
  Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 63ms, Average = 22ms
  
  
• In the telnet console of your router do the same
  
• Router#ping 192.168.1.105
  
  Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 192.168.1.105, timeout is 2 seconds:
  !!!!!
  Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 4/21/40 ms
  Router#

OK... so that shows we achieved what we wanted! Have fun.

Hello people,

why look around for a pirated packet tracer. download the gns3 all in one, it is very beautiful and works like a charm in Vista. All your CCNA lab practice, building complex topologies and experiments can be done in GNS3 with drag and drop features. GNS3 works with a real cisco IOS image, so you get to practice each and every possible command.

Prereqs:

• ->First get a Cisco IOS image file from any of your friends who own a cisco router.

Install Telnet client:

• ->Open control panel/Programs/programs and feature OR just type "appwiz.cpl" in the RUN window and hit enter, that will open the 'programs and features' window
• ->In this window, on the left panel click on 'Turn windows features on or off'
• ->That will open 'windows features' window, in that tick mark the 'telnet client' and then click OK. It'll take some time to install the telnet client. Done with telnet client.

Now lets make sure if your telnet client is working: (courtesy: www.thundernews.com)

• ->open command prompt.
• ->type "telnet news.thundernews.com 119", hit enter, if you see 'welcome or connected' your telnet client is working.
• -> If that didn't work you can try with these different port no.'s instead of 119, they are 119, 7000, 8000, 9000, 23, 25, 80, or 3128.

Now the stage is set, lets move on to installing GNS3:

1. Download the gns3 all in one here
2. Click on the downloaded file and run it (installation)
   
3. I'd suggest to choose 4 options in the "components to install"
4. After installation, type 'gns3' in windows start menu bar, click on it, opens gns3
5. You get two options, click on 1
6. In the window provide a working directory path, then click on 'test' button, you should see 'dynamips successfully started', then click apply and then ok.
   
7. Now click on button 2, you'll get "IOS images and Hypervisors" window, in 'image file' section provide the path to Cisco IOS image on your computer. Then click OK and then apply. Depending on the IOS version, the platform and model fields gets automatically populated. Take note of the model. we're done.

Now we're at the GNS3 main window, lets make use of it.

• Now, press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open 'windows task manager' and minimise it.
• In the left panel you can see all kinds of network devices. Drag a router model which your IOS supports, right click on it, click start.
• From the 'windows task manager' you'll notice that your CPU usage goes upto 60% or even more. To fix this, right click on your router, click 'idle pc', let it calculate a value, choose any one from the list with '*' mark, see if your CPU usage drops down to somewhere around 10%, if not repeat this until it drops and dont forget to be patient for it is possible!
• After that, right click on your router, choose 'console', that opens a telnet session to your router. This is as good as telnetting any real router so now you can use what you learned or do whatever.

I was in need of getting a couple of passport style photographs. Crazy prices out there exclusively for passport style photos. Here is the list:

Walgreens : $7.99+tax
CVS pharmacy : $7.99+tax
FedEx: : $15.00+tax
PostOffice : $14.??+tax
Walmart : $14.??+tax
Costco : $5.00+tax

Obviously costco is better compared to the rest. If you don't have enough time you can go for costco. If you do not want to spend that much for a couple of pics ( size is 2 * 2") then you wanna do this:
First, requirements for the photo:

• width: 2 inches, height: 2 inches
  
• Front view of the face.
  
• Gotta be bright, plain white background or off-white with no shadows
• For exact requirements go here

Well you can take that picture yourself at home, even with a compact camera or if you have a soft copy already and just need a photo print out, well and good. If you're not a professional it might take a few shots to get the right one. Once when you are done you wanna go to this site: http://www.epassportphoto.com/.
What they basically do is take your picture and prepare a 4 inces by 6 inches photo sheet filled with about 5 of your pictures plus their ad. And they do this for "FREE!"
Now they'll give you the link to download your photosheet after you have gone through the 3 steps on their site. And thats it! ( you can replace their ad with another copy of your picture, you can do this in microsoft paint, so you have total 6 photos ). Example:


I think thats too much of a smile! According to state gov natural expression is preferred :)
Go to a walmart/walgreen/costco/CVS/FedEx - which ever is near by, It will cost you anywhere between 13-29 cents!!! to get a 4*6" photo printout. Take a paper cutter and cut your 6 passport photos from the sheet.

For 6 passport pictures you could've paid - $24+tax
With a little bit of your time you can get that for - $0.20 i.e. 20 cents.

wow!! thats a huge deal for anybody.