What's new in Packet Tracer 7.3 ?
Cisco Packet Tracer 8.2.2 build 0400 has been released for download ! Have a look at Cisco Packet Tracer 8.2.2 new features.
What's new in Cisco Packet Tracer 7.3 ?
Packet Tracer 7.3 main new feature is the support of the CCNA 7 package which is not compatible with previous Packet Tracer versions. For CCNA 6 (and older versions), Cisco recommends instructors and students to stay with Packet Tracer 7.2.2. Students learning both CCNA 6 and 7 should use Packet Tracer 7.3.0.
Packet Tracer 7.3 workspace improvements :
- New workspace themes
- Aligned workspace objects
- Ability to deploy network devices to a specific rack
- Accessibility update
- Ability to name a physical rack
Protocol and software improvements :
- IP OSPF Point-to-Point on Ethernet interface
- IPv6 OSPF Point-to-Point on Ethernet interface
- Dynamic ARP inspection
- WLC GUI fixes and enhancements
- DHCP snooping fixes and enhancements
- Section output modifier for show commands
- Accessibility, security, and usability enhancements and optimizations for all platforms
- Upgraded PTSA and PTMO support
- Various enhancements to existing protocols
New devices in Packet Tracer 7.3 :
- Cisco 4331 Integrated Services Router
- Cisco Wireless Lan Controller 3504
Cisco Packet Tracer 7.3 added support for Ubuntu 18.04.3 (Bionic Weaver). Previous Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial) version which is no longer supported.
New devices in Packet Tracer 7.3
Cisco 4331 Integrated Services Router
The Cisco ISR 4000 Series contains seven hardware platforms: the 4461 4451, 4431, 4351, 4331, 4321 and 4221 ISRs providing throughput capabilities upto 10Gbps. It supports a wide range of WAN connectivity options such as T1, T3/, serial, 10Gigabit Ethernet, and 4G LTE capabilities. It's network programmability capabilities through NETCONF / YANG model allow operationnal cost savings and makes configuration of a large branch offices number easier. NETCONF / YANG is a topic of the new CCNP Enterprise ENCOR exam.
Cisco ISR 4331 and ISR 4321 are emulated in Cisco Packet Tracer 7.3. They feature Cisco IOS image resilience through secure boot-image and secure boot-config commands. The secure boot-image command copies the IOS image in a write-protected flash device not accessible in EXEC mode (It can be viewed in ROMMON mode.) When turned on for the first time, the running image is secured.
R1(config)# secure boot-image
.Feb 11 25:40:13.170: %IOS_RESILIENCE-5-IMAGE_RESIL_ACTIVE: Successfully secured running image
R1(config)# secure boot-config
.Feb 11 25:42:18.691: %IOS_RESILIENCE-5-CONFIG_RESIL_ACTIVE: Successfully secured config archive [flash:.runcfg-20150211-224218.ar]
Cisco Wireless Lan Controller 3504
Cisco 3504 Wireless Controller is a compact and service-rich wireless LAN controller platform platform that enables next-generation wireless networks for branch office deployments and small to medium businesses; Optimized to enable 802.11ac Wave 2 wireless networks.
The 3504 WLC supports :
- 4-Gbps throughput
- 150 access points
- 3000 clients
- 1x Multigigabit Ethernet interface (up to 5 Gigabit Ethernet), + 4x 1 Gigabit Etherne
- 4096 VLANs
New features in Packet Tracer 7.3
Dynamic ARP Inspection
Based on DHCP snooping, dynamic ARP inspection (DAI) is a security feature rejecting ARP packets in which advertised MAC address does not match any DHCP snooping entry for the switch port on which the ARP packet has been received. This behaviorpreventsman-in-the-middle attacks, where an unfriendly station intercepts traffic for other stations by poisoning the ARP caches of its unsuspecting neighbors.
DAI relies on DHCP snooping switch database. DHCP snooping listens to DHCP message between DHCP clients and DHCP servers. It builds a bindings database of valid tuples (MAC address, IP address, VLAN interface).
A sample Dynamic ARP Inspection lab is provided with Cisco Packet Tracer 7.3
Install Cisco Packet Tracer 7.3
Packet Tracer 7.3 setup on Ubuntu linux distribution
Download Cisco Packet Tracer 7.3 .deb package for Ubuntu 18.04.03 LTS from Netacad website.
As Packet Tracer is now distributed as a Debian .deb package, it can be installed using the dpkg command as any standard Ubuntu package.
sudo dpkg -i PacketTracer_730_amd64.deb