Introduction to the world of

FILIUS
1

Author: Daniel Garmann ([email protected]), Gymnasium Odenthal (www.gymnasium-odenthal.de)

Translated into English by: Lukas Herbert ([email protected])

Date: December, 2015


1 All pictures are taken from the software Filius. All rights are reserved by it’s developers.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !1

Table of Contents
Preliminary Remark......................................................................................................2
Design Of FILIUS .........................................................................................................2
The Design Mode .........................................................................................................3
Components in FILIUS .............................................................................................3
Components Computer and Notebook .................................................................3
Component Cable .................................................................................................4
Component Switch ................................................................................................4
Component Router................................................................................................4
Component Modem ..............................................................................................5
The Simulation Mode ...................................................................................................5
Network Applications in FILIUS ................................................................................7
System Applications in FILIUS ..............................................................................7
Client Applications in FILIUS.................................................................................7
Server Applications in FILIUS ...............................................................................8
The Documentation Mode ............................................................................................8
Possible Ways Of Documentation ............................................................................8
Designing and Testing Networks in FILIUS ..................................................................8
Direct Link.................................................................................................................9
Connecting Computers Using a Switch ..................................................................11
Connecting two Networks Using a Router ..............................................................13
Simulation of the World Wide Web .........................................................................14
Email Service in Your Network ...............................................................................18
Prospect .....................................................................................................................22
Virtual Networks and Physical Networks ................................................................22
Exchanging Files via Peer-To-Peer ........................................................................24
Setting Up a DHCP Server .....................................................................................25
Creating and Implementing Your Own Software.....................................................27
Routing Through Several Computers (Manual Routing) ........................................28
Further Material A: IP Addresses ...............................................................................31
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !2

Preliminary Remark
2FILIUS was initially developed by the University Siegen, Germany, to provide a tool
for enhancing computer science lessons on networks. The main target group are
students of secondary schools but with its wide range of applications it can be
interesting for learners of any age. The software especially promotes explorative
learning and is very helpful to teach students about the internet and its various
applications.
This script is intended to show you as a teacher the possible ways of using FILIUS in
the classroom. The different descriptions are always followed by example exercises
with corresponding solutions available for download on the FILIUS website.

Design Of FILIUS
After the initial launch of the program (filius.exe or filius.jar) you are prompted with
the option to choose the program language, which will be permanently saved3. From
now on the program will appear in the following look:

!
The program decides between three different modes of work, the design mode, the
simulation mode and the documentation mode:

To change to design mode, simply click the hammer (! ) symbol in the toolbar on
top. This mode is used to construct a network or apply changes to it. After the start of
the program, FILIUS will always be in design mode.

2FILIUS stands for Free Interactive Learning Environment for Internetworking of the University
Siegen.
3 This preference can be found in the user directory in the folder .filius, which can be deleted for reset.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !3

To start simulation mode, click the green arrow (! ) in the toolbar. This mode is used
for testing the network you built, installing different network applications on the
computers and running these.

To reach the documentation mode, select the pencil (! ) in the toolbar on top. This
mode provides the option to add your own annotations to the network and group
certain parts of the network for better understanding.
Before starting to build the first network, here is a brief introduction to the essential
parts of a network in FILIUS.

The Design Mode

Before building your first network, this chapter will make you familiar with the way the
different components work in FILIUS. After that, we will use the various components
to build and test networks, starting with some easy examples and increasing the
complexity step by step.

Components in FILIUS
Filius provides a range of different components in the toolbar on the left hand side.
These can be positioned, connected, modified and deleted in the workspace. To
create a new component, use drag and drop to move the component anywhere in the
white workspace. To connect two devices with a cable, select the cable in the toolbar
and click on the components you want to link. Connections remain even when
components are repositioned. Using a right click, you can delete any cable or
component again. Now, we will learn about the basic functions of the different
components and a deeper explanation will follow in the chapter on designing and
testing networks in FILIUS.

Components Computer and Notebook

In the toolbar on the left hand side, FILIUS provides two different types of computers
to be used in our virtual networks. Both computers are identical in the way they work
and provide the same function but it makes sense to keep a logical distinction
between the two. For a computer serving the task of a client, it is advised to use a

Notebook (! ), whereas for a computer serving the task of a server, we will use a

regular computer (! ). The components can be added by dragging them to the

workspace, using the left mouse button. The configuration of a computer can be seen
by using a double-click on the image or right click and select configure. The picture
displayed underneath will appear and provide you the option to modify the name of
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !4

the computer, its IP address, its net mask and other settings. The standard
configuration of a computer is displayed in the following picture.

If you and your students are not familiar with the function of an IP address or subnet
mask, please read the appendix A for a short description first.

Component Cable

Two computers can be connected using a cable (! ). After selecting the cable
from the toolbar, you can first click on one and then the other component that you
want to connect in your workspace, to establish a link between the two.

Component Switch
If you want to connect more than two computers with each other, you need a central

hub. The easiest way of doing so is using a switch (! ). For a switch, the
configuration can also be modified by double-clicking on the icon.
A switch remembers all connected components after the first request is sent in the
network and redirects signals to their recipients. However, a switch can only connect
computers of a single network.

Component Router

To send a network signal from one network to another one we need a router (! )
to connect the two. In order for the router to work properly, all connected components
have to lie in different networks. This also applies to single computers that may be
directly connected to it.
After initialising a router, FILIUS asks how many NICs (Network Internet Card) it
should have, that means how many interfaces to networks it should provide. This
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !5

configuration can later be changed in the configuration panel of the router, selecting
the ‘Manage Connections’ option.

In the preferences panel you can also find a dedicated tab for each interface with the
configuration of the NIC and its network. Modify the IP address according to the
connected network, so that a signal can be rerouted correctly (usually the first IP
address of the network). In addition, a gateway has to be added for every computer
in the network. The exact preferences will be explained in detail in a later example.

Component Modem
FILIUS also provides the option to link several FILIUS-Programs running on different
computers in a physically existing network, such as in a classroom. It is important to
ensure that your firewall allows such connections. To use this features, all FLIIUS-

Programs need to include a modem (! ) in their virtual network. The modem in

one of the virtual networks needs to be set as recipient, which can be done by ticking
the box that says “Wait for incoming connection request”, and then then clicking the
button “Activate” to start accepting incoming requests.

All modems of the other virtual networks can now establish a physically existing
network connection by using the real network IP of the receiving modem. All modems
will indicate a successful connection with a small green dot.

The Simulation Mode

Simulation mode is used to install software to the computers, remove it or start it. To

change to simulation mode click the green arrow in the top hand toolbar (! ).
FILIUS’ main goal is to display network activity on the different layers of the OSI
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !6

model to the user and thereby enhance the understanding of the functionality of
networks.
To modify the speed in which the simulation will be displayed, use the control panel
on top ! .This will adjust the speed of the display of signals in cables as
well as in the OSI layers model, which can be seen by right clicking on any computer.

But before you will be able to see any network activity, it is necessary to install

software to the computers. Using a double click or right click on a computer will
provide you with the desktop the selected device:
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !7

By clicking on the symbol for software installation (! ), you can install (! ) and

uninstall (! ) software on that computer. Following is a brief description of the

functions of the different pieces of software.

Network Applications in FILIUS

FILIUS has three different types of applications: client applications, server
applications and system applications. These will be briefly explained according to
their group.

System Applications in FILIUS

File Explorer ! : This applications enables you to copy actual existing files from
your computer’s hard drive on to a virtual computer in FILUS.

Command Line ! : The command line let’s you manage the computer by using
certain commands that will be displayed on startup of the terminal.

Text Editor ! : Using the text editor, you can create simple text files, for example
HTML, and modify them. You can also modify files that you previously imported using
the file explorer.

Firewall ! : The firewall can be used to open or close certain ports within the
network.

Image Viewer ! : With this program you can open and view images.

Client Applications in FILIUS

Email program ! : This piece of software let’s you virtually send and receive
Emails.

Webbrowser ! : The web browser enables you to view websites. It can handle all
basic html commands.

Generic Client ! : The client is used to connect to a server. It can be used to test
whether the network is properly connected.

Gnutella ! : Gnutella is a peer-to-peer application which allows you to share files

within a virtual network.
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Server Applications in FILIUS

DNS Server ! : The DNS server is used to simulate the translation of symbolic
URLs into their according IPs.

Email Server ! : Using an Email server, you can create different Email accounts
which can then be used by the Email program on a client computer.

Webserver ! : This application transforms a computer into a web server, that

enables clients to view a website stored on the server, using the web browser. The
default website is defined by the file index.html in the virtual directory root/webserver.

Echo server ! : Once started, the echo server replies to all requests of clients by
sending back the received message.

The Documentation Mode

Since version 1.6.0, FILIUS allows the user to document network structures and
group them symbolically. To start documentation mode click on the icon displaying a

pencil (! ).

Possible Ways Of Documentation

FILIUS provides two different ways of documentation in this mode, which will be
briefly explained. From here on, the script will not focus on using the documentation
mode any more but it is up to the user to meaningfully label or group their virtual
networks.

Using text fields (! ), the user can add information regarding the virtual network.
Text fields have no influence on the behaviour of the network in design mode or on
the network activity in simulation mode.

The same is true for structure fields (! ). They can be used to symbolically group
single components of a network in a meaningful way. The field can be dragged to the
right size and will appear in the background upon exiting the documentation mode.

By using the export button (! ), your virtual network can be saved as a portable
network graphic (PNG-file).

Designing and Testing Networks in FILIUS

In the following chapter, we will design and test different networks of, starting with
easy examples and rising in complexity. Therefore, a constant switching between
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !9

design and simulation mode is necessary. The symbol on the left of each exercise

indicates whether it is to be done in design (! ) - or simulation (! ) mode.

Direct Link
The simplest way of connecting to computers is through a direct link using only a
network cable. This is called a peer-to-peer connection. With this type of connection,
computers can be connected using a twisted pair cable to enable the transfer of data
between the two.

Exercise 1:
 Create a simple network with two linked computers, serving as
clients. Configure the computers with the below shown names and
!
the IP addresses 192.168.0.10 and 192.168.0.11. Using the subnet
mask 255.255.255.0 ensures that both computers are part of the
same network.

Note: If you don’t want to manually name each computers, use the
option “Use IP address as Name” to let FILIUS automatically set the
computer’s name as its IP address.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !10

Exercise 2a:
 Select the computer with IP address ending with 0.10 and install the
command line on it. Start the command line and test the connection
!
to computer 0.11 using the command ping 192.168.0.11.
Inspect the network activity by displaying the exchanged data of
computer 0.10 in the OSI model.

The command line shows that the computer sends four requests (ping command) to
the other computer and each time, waits for a response (pong command). This data
exchange can also be displayed in the data exchange window. Here, the first two
lines belong to the address resolution protocol, which is used to find out the physical
address of the other computer. The following eight lines stand for the exchange of the
ping-pong commands, where always two lines form a pair. They belong to the
internet control message protocol, which is part of the internet protocol IPv4.

We can also observe that the network activity reaches only to the internet layer. The
higher and more complex layers of the OSI model are not yet needed. By selecting
one of the lines in the data exchange window, it is possible to view information on the
lower layers of the OSI model as well as more detailed information on the layers in
use.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !11

Exercise 2b:
 Also try out other commands using the command line, such as
ipconfig,host localhost or dir. The use of the host command will
!
become clear in a later example including a DNS Server.

Connecting Computers Using a Switch

If you want to connect more than two computers to a network in FILIUS, it is
necessary to use a switch, to which any desired number of computers can be
connected. After the first use in simulation mode, a switch remembers the MAC
addresses according to the IP addresses of all computers so that it can forward data
packages faster. We will now use this component to connect three computers with
one another.

Exercise 3:
 Now, expand your network with a third computers, a server, with the
name displayed below and the IP address 192.168.0.12. Remember
!

to use the ! symbol for the purpose of a server. Then connect all
three computers using a switch.

Exercise 4:
 Next, open the desktop of server 0.12, install an echo server to it
and start it on the preset port 55555. Use one of the notebooks to
!
install a generic client and connect it to the server. Try sending
some text messages from the client to the server and observe the
outcome. Also take a look at the network activity in the data
exchange window of the notebook.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !12

The data exchange window shows that in this example, the transport layer is needed
for the first time. Establishing the connection between client and server already uses
three layers in the OSI model. The first two lines are again used to determine the
MAC address, belonging to the IP of the server.
As soon as you send a message from client to
server, the fourth layer, called application layer,
comes into play. The application, which is the
generic client, first of all uses the application layer,
then the transport layer, the internet layer and
finally the network layer. All this information will be
displayed upon clicking on the first dark blue line
in the data exchange model, which will display the
image on the right.
In the following exercises, keep in mind to have a
look at the data exchange window from time to
time to get an idea what kind of information is
being transmitted within the network. You will for example notice the huge amount of
data that has to be transmitted while sending Emails.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !13

Connecting two Networks Using a Router

Before installing and testing more software on the computers, we want to expand our
existing network with three more computers.

Exercise 5:
 Create a second network with three new computers as displayed
below. We want the three new computers to be in a logically
!
different network for which we will use IPs 192.168.1.10 to
192.168.1.12. Finally, connect the two networks using a router and
configure the two network interface cards with IPs 192.168.0.1 and
192.168.1.1.
Finally, test the connection between computers 0.10 and 1.10 using
!
the ping command.

If you did everything as described above, FILIUS will display the following message
in the command prompt:

The reason for this response is, that the message would have to leave the local
network. However, we haven’t yet configured a gateway for the different computers,
which would determine where messages that have to leave the network are
forwarded to.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !14

Exercise 6:
 The router has a network interface card with the address
192.168.0.1 which you will configure as a gateway for the three
!
computers on the left hand side. Set the gateway for the three
notebooks on the right hand side to 192.168.1.1 accordingly.
Now try the same connection again and it should work properly.
!

When taking a look at the data exchange window, you can observe that the first
request takes a lot longer then the following three. This is because the routing table
of the two switches is empty at the beginning and is then created after the first
request.

Exercise 7:
 Now try and test your network with a generic client and an echo
server. Use Notebook 1.10 to install a generic client and connect it
!
to server 0.12.

Simulation of the World Wide Web

The most important task of the internet today is surely the world wide web. Using
FILIUS, you can simulate and analyse the basic processes involved in the
communication between a web browser and a remote web server.
The network we have created in exercise 6 is sufficient for this task. We will use
Server 0.12 as our web server and Notebook 1.10 as our client and web browser. But
let’s first set up our web server.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !15

Exercise 8:
 Use Server 0.12 to install a web server and a text editor. Take the
text editor to open the file index.html which can be found in the
!
virtual directory root/webserver. Now you can modify the file in order
to portray the information you like. Also create a new page with the
name contact.html which you will link to from the first side.

Exercise 9:
 On the desktop of your web server, start the application
“Webserver” using a double click. Then start the virtual web server
!
clicking the button Start. (left picture)

After that, switch to Notebook 1.10 to install a web browser. Start

the browser and try to establish a connection to the web server by
typing the URL http://192.168.0.12 into the address field of your web
browser. (right picture)
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !16

We established a connection but this is not the way we usually communicate with
other web servers. Normally, we contact a website by typing its URL and not the IP
address of the web server. The resolution between URL and the according IP
address is done by a Domain Name Server, also called DNS server, which we will
now configure.
Exercise 10:
 Create a new server with the IP address 192.168.2.10 and the
gateway set to 192.168.2.1. Change the number of interfaces of
!
your router to three by navigating to the “General” tab of its
configuration and select the button “Manage Connections”. Now
move to the tab of the new network interface card and modify the
information of the IP address to 192.168.2.1 and the subnet mask to
255.255.255.0. Finally connect the new server to the router with a
cable.

To enable all computers to use the service of the DNS server, we need to add the IP
address of the DNS server to the configuration of every Notebook.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !17

Exercise 11:
 Add the IP address of the DNS server 192.168.2.10 to the
configuration of every Notebook.
!

Lastly, we need to give our web server a suitable URL and add it to the DNS server’s
reference table so that we can reach it through its name.

Exercise Select Server 2.10, install the application “DNS server” and start it
12a:
 with a double click. As Domain Name type in www.filius.com and
below the IP address 192.168.0.12, belonging to our server. Then
!
click the Add button to add the entry to the DNS server’s reference
table. Finally start the DNS server by clicking the “Start” button (left
picture) and test the connection by using your web browser on a
Notebook and searching for the URL http://www.filius.com (right
picture).

If the web browser returns the message “Server does not exist!”, the reason is most
likely that you haven’t yet started the DNS server or you asked for a URL that you
haven’t yet added to the reference table of your DNS server.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !18

Exercise At the beginning of our tutorial, we learned about the host command
12b:
 in the terminal. Now try again to use the host command with the
URL www.filius.com. Now you will see that the DNS server does its
!
job and returns the IP of the web server.

Email Service in Your Network

FILIUS provides the feature of simulating the work of different Email servers and the
way they interact. At first, we will configure a single Email server and use a Notebook
with an Email Programm installed to use the Email service. Later we will install
several Email servers that are linked to each other.

Exercise 13:
 Select Server 0.12 to install the application “Email server” and start
it by using a double click. Create a new account with username
!
“bob” and password “bob” (left image). See how your new account
appears in the account list. Then start the server using the start
button.

Next, we need to set up our DNS server to make it accept the new mail domain.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !19

Exercise 14:
 Start the application “DNS server” on Server 2.10. Add a new mail
exchange with the mail domain filius.com and the mail server
!
domain name www.filius.com. Then restart the server.

Finally we need to install the Email program to one of our notebooks and configure
it.4

Exercise 15:
 Select Notebook 0.10 to install the new application “Email program”
and launch it. Click on the button “Account” to create a new account
!
and configure it with the following information of your Email server
(left picture):

Name: bob 

Email address: [email protected]

POP3 server: www.filius.com

POP3 port: 110

SMTP server: www.filius.com

SMTP port: 25

Username: bob

Password: bob

After that, send an Email to [email protected] (that means to yourself)

and then retrieve your mails (right picture).

4 The function for sending a mail did not work on my Mac so there is the picture of the German version
running FILIUS on Windows. I hope it works for you and the problem will be solved soon.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !20

Exercise 16:
 Next, add another Email address to the Email server with the name
[email protected]. Also set up an Email programm on Notebook 0.11
!
so that Bob and Bert can send emails to each other.

Lastly, we will set up a second Email server, which we want to add to the right side of
our network (192.168.1.0).

Exercise 17:
 Add another server with the name Server 1.13 to the right side of
your network and install a mailserver with the mail domain filia.com
!
on it. Finally add an account with the name [email protected] to the
server.

Also extend the mail exchange table of your DNS server, so that the
new mail domain will be excepted.

Take Notebook 1.10 to install an Email programm and configure it

for the account [email protected].

Lastly, try sending Email between the two accounts [email protected]

and [email protected].
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Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !22

Prospect
If you followed the tutorial up to here, you have mastered all the basic functions of
FILIUS. From here on, I will give a little prospect of further possibilities of FILIUS. In
how far these can be integrated into your teaching plans depends on the strength of
your students and the configuration of your classroom network.

Virtual Networks and Physical Networks

In the chapter on the components of FILIUS we already talked about the modem as
providing the possibility to leave the virtual network and send signals over a
physically existing network. A premise for this is, of course, a physically existing
network of at least two computers running FILIUS, and a local firewall that is
configured not to block FILIUS’ signals.
You can get an impression of this setup through the following example, where only
one Notebook is able to communicate with the physically existing network via a
modem.

Exercise 18:
 Create the network structure displayed below on two (physically)
different computers (let’s call them Computer A and Computer B)
!
with different computer IPs that are part of a physical network. On
computer A, set the modem to accept incoming requests, ticking the
box “Wait for incoming connection request”, and click the button
“Activate”.

On Computer B, configure the modem so that it connects to

Computer A. For this purpose, insert the physical IP of Computer A
in the field named IP address and press the button “Connect”. (If
you want to try this on one computer, simply write ‘localhost’ as the
IP address and choose any port.)

Both modems will show a green light if connected successfully.

Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !23

If connecting the two modems worked, you can now set up the two virtual notebooks
for network communication. You can for example install and echo server on the
virtual notebook on Computer A and a generic client on the virtual notebook on
Computer B. After starting the echo server, the virtual notebook on Computer B
should be able to communicate with it over the physical network.

Exercise 19:
 Install an echo server and a generic client to the virtual notebooks
on Computers A and B. Then start the echo server and connect and
!
test the generic client.

Now you can also test other applications on the virtual computers.
Also have a look at the data exchange between the both.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !24

Exchanging Files via Peer-To-Peer

FILIUS offers the option to connect several computers to a peer-to-peer network and
share files throughout the network using the application Gnutella. All computers in
such kind of network serve the function of a client and can connect to all other
computers of the network, which is why we use a notebook for this exercise.

Exercise 20:
 Create the network as displayed above, connecting three laptops
using a switch to a peer-to-peer network.
!
Then, install the application “Gnutella” to all three computers and
!
additionally a “File explorer” to Notebook 0.10.
Start the file explorer and copy the file “index.html” from the
directory “webserver” to the directory “peer2peer”, using a right
click.
Next, launch the application “Gnutella” on Notebook 0.12 and join
the network of Notebook 0.10 (IP address 192.168.0.10). The list of
connected neighbours should refresh automatically (left picture).
Now you can search the peer-to-peer network for files named
“index.html” and download them (right picture).
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !25

Setting Up a DHCP Server

Especially in large networks it is practical to set up a DHCP server which takes over
the function of assigning IP addresses to the computers automatically. FILIUS
provides the possibility to simulate just that. In the following exercise we will
implement a DHCP server to our network of the previous exercise.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !26

Exercise Implement a DHCP server into your existing network and rename all
21a:
 notebooks in order to suggest that the IP address assignment now
works automatically.
!
Configure the new server with the IP address 10.0.0.10 and then set
it up as a DHCP server by clicking the button as shown in the
picture below.

Now, a dialogue box will pop up

that asks you to enter the DHCP
server settings. Select the IP
address range from 10.0.0.100 to
10.0.0.200 and activate DHCP by
ticking the box “Active DHCP”.

Exercise Next, for each computer, tick the box “Use DHCP for configuration”
21b:
 to use the DHCP server for IP address assignment. You will notice
that you will not be able to manually change the configurations
!
anymore.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !27

As soon as you switch to simulation mode, the clients will be

!
assigned an IP address by the DHCP server. All wires will blink for a
short time to set up the new configurations. (If this does not happen,
FILIUS might still have old settings stored to the switch and you will
have to restart the application.)
Now start each computer and install a command line to it. Then test
which IP address the computers have been assigned by the DHCP
server by using the ipconfig command.

Creating and Implementing Your Own Software

FILIUS even provides the option to create your own software and install it to the

virtual computers. With the magic wand symbol (! ) you can reach a 3 step
assistant which enables you to integrate your own software, for example a chat
server and client application. FILIUS holds some code outlines in Java in the second
step, which are unfortunately not yet translated to English. Maybe this feature will
follow soon or you can figure out how to write applications within FILIUS by yourself.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !28

Routing Through Several Computers (Manual Routing)

In the chapter on connecting two networks using a router we restricted the traffic to
flow through only one router. In reality, things look a little bit different, because the
internet is a vast web of uncountable switches and numerous possible ways for a
data package to go. It can never be determine which way it will take. Let’s have a
look at the following, still simple, example:

Exercise Create the network displayed above. Configure Router I so that it is

22a:
 connected to Router II in network 2.0.0.x and to Router III in
network 3.0.0.x. Configure Router I with the first addresses of each
!
network.

Then, configure Router II to be connected to Route rII in network

1.0.0.x and with the second IP address of each network.

Finally, configure Router III with the third IP of each network.

Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !29

All together the new network will look like this5:

Lan A,
Netz-IP:
192.168.0.x
Router I Router II

192.168.0.1 192.168.1.1
Lan B,
Netz: 2.0.0.x Netz-IP:
2.0.0.1 2.0.0.2
192.168.1.x
3.0.0.1 1.0.0.2

Netz: 3.0.0.x Netz: 1.0.0.x

Router III

1.0.0.3

3.0.0.3

192.168.2.1
Lan C,
Netz-IP:
192.168.2.x

!
Now we are still missing the settings for packet forwarding. First of all, configure the
gateways for the computers of the different networks:

Exercise Set the gateway of Notebook 0.10 in Lan A to 192.168.0.1, so that

22b:
 Router I will be used as its gateway. Then, set the gateway of
Notebook 1.10 from Lan B to 192.168.1.1 and the gateway of
!
Notebook 2.10 from Lan C to 192.168.2.1 accordingly.

Since version 1.4.5 of FILIUS routers are able to run routing automatically. For using
this option simply tick the box “Automatic Routing” in the configuration of each router
and the routing information protocol will do the job of finding the shortest way within
the network.

5The diagram is taken from the German version of this script, that is why “Netz” should be read as
network by speakers of English.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !30

For a better understanding of how routing actually works, it is still possible to

manually configure the routing in FILIUS. Every router has its own forwarding table
which describes how incoming data packets are to be forwarded. The following three
tables are the result of the network shown above:

Router I:

!
Router II:

!
und Router III:

Exercise Configure the forwarding tables of the three routers according to the
22c:
 representations given above. Unselect the box saying “Show all
entries” for a clearer view.
!
Install an Echo server to Server 2.10 and a Generic client to Laptop
!
0.10. Connect server and client and see how the packages are
forwarded. It is easier to observe when you lower the speed down
to about 50%.
Now modify the forwarding table so that messages sent from LAN A
!
to LAN B are rerouted to run through LAN C as well. Observe the
network activity.
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !31

Further Material A: IP Addresses

IP addresses according to the most commonly used IP version 4 (IPv4) are
comprised of 32 Bits, split into 4 blocks of 8 Bit each. This gives a total range of IP
addresses from 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255. For a better understanding of the
process of routing it is helpful to translate the numbers from decimal system to binary
system.

Exercise A1:
 Wiederholen Sie die Umrechung zwischen dem Binärsystem und
dem Dezimalsystem. Wandeln anschließend in das jeweils andere
Stellenwertsystem um.
Practice the translation between binary and decimal system.
Translate your result back to the other system to check yourself.

a) 1101 11102 b) 0011 11112 c) 1111 11012 d) 0101 10102
e) 9610 f) 25410 g) 1710 h) 12710

A subnet mask in IPv4 is another 32 bit number that splits the IP address into
network prefix and the host identifier. Through AND operations between IP address
and subnet mask, the network prefix can be extracted. Through AND operations
between IP address and the inverted subnet mask, the host identifier will show.The
smallest address of the network is used to reference the network itself and the
highest IP is reserved for broadcasting.

Example:
IP address: 192.145.96.201 = 11000000.10010001.01100000.11001001
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.240 = 11111111.11111111.11111111.11110000

AND operation reveals the

network prefix: 192.145.96.192 = 11000000.10010001.01100000.11000000

AND operations with the inverted subnet mask reveals the

host identifier: 0.0.0.9 = 00000000.00000000.00000000.00001001

The highest IP address is reserved for broadcasting.

Broadcast: 192.145.96.207 = 11000000.10010001.01100000.11001111
Introduction to the world of FILIUS Page !32

available range of addresses within the network:

Default Gateway: 192.145.96.193 = 11000000.10010001.01100000.11000001
to 192.145.96.206 = 11000000.10010001.01100000.11001110

The network prefix is also used as the network address.

Exercise A2: Complete the following table.

IP Subnet mask Network Host Broadca Default max

address identifier st Gatewa number
y of IPs in
network
192.168.213. 255.255.255.1
15 92
172.16.5.254 255.255.255.0
172.254.13.8 255.255.248.0
10.38.133.5 255.255.0.0
10.0.0.15 255.0.0.0

Exercise A3: A message is sent from a computer holding the IP address

192.168.203.15 lying in the network with the subnet mask
255.255.248.0 to a computer with the IP address 192.168.200.65.
Does the message remain within the network or does it have to
leave it and be sent over the internet?