Cisco announced the Packet Tracer 8 which is the latest version on 28 January 2021. The Cisco Packet Tracer is a network simulation tool that is supported by Windows, Linux, MacOSX, Android, iOS. Cisco Packet Tracer provided as 32-bit and 64-bit for most of the supported operating systems.
Download Cisco Packet Tracer 8
The Cisco Packet Tracer is provided without a fee and can be downloaded from the NetCad web site or from other download sites. The previous versions can be downloaded easily from NetCad websites and other download sites but the most recent version Cisco Packet Tracer 8 can be only downloaded from the NetCad website recently. But I hope Cisco Packet Tracer 8 will be available for download sites in the near future. You can check The FileHorse page from the following URL for the Cisco Packet Tracer 8.
https://www.filehorse.com/download-cisco-packet-tracer-64/
If you allready have NetCad account use the following link to download Cisco Packet Tracer 8.
https://www.netcat.com/portal/resources/packet-tracer
Cisco Packet Tracer 8 New Features
The new major version of the Cisco Packet tracer provides two big new features which are like below.
- Enhanced Physical Mode
- Network Controller
Enhanced Physical Mode
Cabling is an important part of Physical networking. By using the Enhanced Physical Mode cables can be created in a more detailed way like specifying the cable color etc. Also, the ports cable connection can be precisely specified in each device physically.
Another useful new feature is the coverage area of the wireless signals. The Physical Mode shows the coverage of the wireless signals in the building plan and displays the signal strength in a color gradient way.
The wireless signal coverage range can be also set in meters via the Dot11Radio interface of the access point like below.
Network Controller
Network Controller provides centralized management of the devices via the web interface which can be accessed via 127.0.0.1:58000 port. We can see that information like routers, Switches, Hosts, Health PErcentage, Health Ratio, etc. provided via this screen.
You can use the dashboard to view the network state and check the problems or troubleshoot issues and push changes to all network devices by using the configuration server like below.
