How to install Cisco Packet Tracer in Linux

How to install Cisco Packet Tracer in Linux

What is Packet Tracer?

Packet Tracer is a Network Simulator, developed by Cisco. Packet Tracer is just a Network Simulator and is not meant to replace physical Cisco networking devices, whose functionalities it doesn’t match 100 per cent. Therefore, Packet Tracer is limited in application, but is perfect for; people interested in networking with or without prior networking knowledge, students of the Cisco Networking Academy studying and sharpening their skills for Certification examinations, and also Professionals testing network topologies.

 

Downloading Cisco Packet Tracer!

There is only one official place that you will get Packet Tracer, the Cisco Networking Academy. All other sources, (not affiliated with Cisco), hosting the software are unofficial, and could therefore be potential threats to your computer. Why would you risk malware, data corruption, privacy, etc, by downloading Packet Tracer from unofficial sources, while Cisco offers it for FREE?

NOTE:// Downloading software from unofficial sources could cause data corruption, malware infection, data loss, etc.

This is the link to getting your copy of the Packet Tracer, but note that you will have to Log in (if you have an account), or Sign up (if you do not have an account), to Cisco Networking Academy first, before proceeding to the download; https://www.netacad.com/portal/resources/packet-tracer!

Alternatively, Log in to your Learning portal and navigate to; ‘Resources‘ > ‘Download Packet Tracer‘!

 

Packet Tracer is available for Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS and Android platforms. For Windows, there are 2 options; 32-bit or 64-bit installation packages!

NOTE:// For the Mobile versions of Packet Tracer on Apple store and Google store, there is a July 1, 2021 EoL (End-of-Life) notice, and users are advised to adopt the desktop versions of Packet Tracer!

NOTE:// During the publishing of this article, the latest release of Packet Tracer was version 8.0.0!

To get the most of the Packet Tracer, I recommend creating a Free account with the Cisco Networking Academy and using it to login to the software after launching it, because using the Guest mode available on the software limits your ability to save your projects to three times.

Installing Packet Tracer!

This is the main subject of this article. Before moving to installation in Linux, those using Windows, Android and iOS can download the software and directly install using the executable file for the respective platforms. For these three platforms, installation is as easy as downloading the executable and installing it by clicking on the file. With Linux, things get a little more involving, but of course not difficult or impossible!

NOTE:// This installation procedure applies to several Linux-based operating systems, which are based on the Debian Project, including but not limited to; Debian, Kali Linux and Ubuntu. For purposes of demonstration, the following installation steps were done on a Kali Machine.

 

Step 1: Downloading the Installation Package!

Follow the “Downloading Cisco Packet Tracer” information to have your Linux installation package, which is a *.deb file, offline.
The file, in my case was, “PacketTracer_800_amd64_build212_final.deb“!

Step 2: Open Terminal!

Terminal is what we will use for all the steps. You can either open Terminal and change directory to where your package is, or you could just open the directory where you saved your package and open Terminal there.

Step 3: Install the package using DPKG!

Now at the offline Packet Tracer package location in Terminal, use dpkg to install it.

NOTE:// Before installation starts, you will be prompted to consent to Cisco and Supplemental End User License Agreements, EULA & SEULA. You must accept the agreement to proceed with the installation!

root@kali:~# dpkg -i PacketTracer_800_amd64_build212_final.deb

or

root@kali:~# dpkg –install PacketTracer_800_amd64_build212_final.deb

NOTE:// This process will most likely generate dependency errors, but the package should be installed in your system. The next steps guide on how to fix the errors. If your installation at this point went smoothly, lucky you! You can run Packet Installer from your Applications or from Terminal (See the last step).

Step 4: Package installation confirmation.

If the package generated errors, we will definitely fix them and get you Packet Tracer running! First we need to know if the package was installed on your system using “apt”!

root@kali:~# apt show packettracer

Step 5: Check for broken dependencies!

If your installation on step 3 went through without errors, running this command should produce zero errors! Else, the output of the command will contain the missing dependencies.

root@kali:~# apt-get check packettracer

Step 6: Fixing Broken Dependencies!

To fix the missing dependencies, run the following command;

root@kali:~# apt-get –fix-broken install

Step 7: Confirming Broken Dependencies were Fixed!
Now, we need to run the “apt check” command to confirm that the broken dependencies we noted before were fixed.

root@kali:~# apt-get check packettracer

Step 8: Running Packet Tracer!

Now that all is well, we of course want to verify that Packet Tracer is not only installable but also usable (or why on earth would you go through all the trouble of installation, and not use packet Tracer?)!

There are two methods that you can run Packet Tracer on your computer;

1. Running Packet Tracer from Applications

Navigate to your computer’s Applications and find & launch “Packet Tracer {version}”, like, “Packet Tracer 8.0.0”!

2. Running Packet Tracer from Terminal

Because Packet Tracer is installed system-wide, it is also possible to run it directly from Terminal (for Terminal ‘addicts’ or if the first method, for some reason, did not launch the software).
As you have already noted, Cisco’s Packet Tracer is known by the system as “packettracer“, or “PacketTracer“. this is exactly what you need to enter in Terminal and hit Enter/Return key.

root@kali:/# sudo packettracer

NOTE:// You can successfully accomplish all the first 7 steps as ROOT or non-prvileged user, BUT you should run Packet Tracer only as a NON-ROOT user. If you run it as root, it will most likely not launch! As a non-root user you will of course need to add the SUDO privillege escalator prefix command!

 

How to install Cisco Packet Tracer in Linux
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