Liberty collage Identifying and Resolving Network Problems
Structured Network Troubleshooting Dependency on network resources has grown tremendously over the past ten years. In today’s world, a company’s success is highly dependent on its network availability. As a result, companies are increasingly less tolerant of network failures. Therefore, network troubleshooting has become a crucial element to many organizations. Not only has the dependency for network grown, but the industry also is moving toward increasingly complex environments, involving multiple media types, multiple protocols, and often interconnection to unknown networks
General Problem-Solving Model When you’re troubleshooting a network environment, a systematic approach works best. An Unsystematic approach to troubleshooting can result in wasting valuable time and resources, and can sometimes make symptoms even worse. Define the specific symptoms, identify all potential problems that could be causing the symptoms, and then systematically eliminate each potential problem (from most likely to least likely) until the symptoms disappear.
General Problem-Solving Model Step 1 . when analyzing a network problem, make a clear problem statement Step 2 . Gather the facts that you need to help isolate possible causes Step 3 . Consider possible problems based on the facts that you gathered. Step 4. Create an action plan based on the remaining potential problem Step 5 . Implement the action plan, performing each step carefully while testing to see whether the symptom disappears. Step 6 . Whenever you change a variable, be sure to gather results Step 7. Analyze the results to determine whether the problem has been resolved. If it has, then the process is complete. Step 8 . If the problem has not been resolved, you must create an action plan based on the next most likely problem in your list. Return to Step 4, change one variable at a time, and repeat the process until the problem is solved.
Documented Network Is Easier to Troubleshoot Some of the important things you should consider as potential candidates for documenting include the following: A logical map of the network A physical map of the network Cabling and patch panel information. Default settings for computers and other devices on the network Listings of applications and the computers or users that make use of them Information about the user accounts, and associated permissions and rights, for the users and user groups on the network A network overview Problem reports. Keep track of problems as they arise, and document the cause and remedy.
THE FIVE MOST COMMON NETWORK PROBLEMS Physical Connectivity Problems Connectivity Problem Excessive Network Collisions Software Problem Duplicate IP Addressing
Primary Address Classes
Subnetting In 1985, RFC 950 defined a standard procedure to support the subnetting , or division, of a single Class A, B, or C network number into smaller pieces. Subnetting was introduced to overcome some of the problems that parts of the Internet were beginning to experience with the classful two-level addressing hierarchy:
Private Address Space There are two types of IP addresses: - public and private. The private address space is used to communicate in a local (Intranet) network where the computers are not visible to the global network (the Internet). Whereas public IP addresses are visible to the Internet. Private IP addresses can be used in any network as long as they are unique in the specific Intranet. Starting Address Ending Address Remark 1 10.0.0.0 10.255.255.255 We can have 2 24 private IP addresses 2 172.16.0.0 172.31.255.255 We can have 2 20 private IP addresses 3 192.168.0.0 192.168.255.255
Subnet Masking Applying a subnet mask to an IP address allows you to identify the network and node parts of the address. Performing a bitwise logical AND operation between the IP address and the subnet mask results in the Network Address or Number. For example, using our test IP address and the default Class B subnet mask, we get: 10001100.10110011.11110000.11001000 140.179.240.200 Class B IP Address 11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000 255.255.000.000 Default Class B Subnet Mask Default subnet masks: Class A - 255.0.0.0 - 11111111.00000000.00000000.00000000 Class B - 255.255.0.0 - 11111111.11111111.00000000.00000000 Class C - 255.255.255.0 - 11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000