Network Troubleshooting Tips
Network troubleshooting involves the timely recognition and diagnosis of numerous networking issues and problems in order to maximize your network’s performance. The most important step involved in network troubleshooting involves insuring that all the network components and devices are connected properly to each other in particular and to the network in general.
A failure in connecting or properly linking any of the network devices may result in an explosion of connectivity problems that result in ineffective end-to-end communications. The following are a few network troubleshooting tips related to common connectivity problems:
Connectivity Loss – This problem arises when the users are not able to access the network as a whole or they have problems connecting to some part of the network. In order to regenerate the connectivity, it is advisable that you immediately check for any broken links or connectivity breaks in the networks and correct them accordingly. For instance, you might be able to detect some physical problems such as hardware failures and loose cable connections. The following course of actions is recommended:
1. Check Your Ethernet Cable
Insert cables into the connector until you feel a slight click. If there are any loose connections then adjust them and restart your computer.
2. Check PCMCIA Card
If you use a PCMCIA Ethernet card, make sure it is firmly plugged into the PC Card slot on your computer.
3. Check Transceiver
The Ethernet transceiver should also be firmly plugged in the USB or other port on your computer.
Intermittent connectivity – This happens when users have network access for some period of time but the service is not continuous and reliable and the user suffers sufficient moments of downtime. This may prove to be a red flag for the network administrator as it may indicate that the network is on the verge of a major breakdown. Hence thorough investigation is needed. There are also various software utilities available that can troubleshoot a network and which include:
ipconfig – used in order to display the current IP configuration information for a host
ping – This command tests the connections to other IP hosts
tracert – used to displays route taken to destination
netstat – used to displays network connections
Troubleshooting a network Using Ipconfig:
The details of IP address, subnet masks and default gateway can be viewed via this utility. In order to display further information such as the MAC address, IP addresses of the default gateway and the DNS servers Ipconfig /all is used.
Troubleshooting a Network Using Ping:
Ping checks if the destination host is reachable or not.
Troubleshooting a Network Using Tracert:
Tracert is used to provide details concerning connectivity and relevant information about the path taken by the packet in order to reach its destination and also the detail of every hop involved.
Troubleshooting a Network Using Netstat:
Netstat is used to verify connections as it typically lists the protocol in use, the state of the connection, the local address and port number and the foreign address and port number.
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