Download Chapter 19: Troubleshooting Network Problems Using TCP/IP Utilities Overview

Chapter 19: Troubleshooting Network Problems Using TCP/IP Utilities
Overview
This chapter discusses utilities that are commonly used to troubleshoot problems that occur in a network
running the TCP/IP protocol.
Teaching Suggestions
This chapter contains a lot of information about utilities and the myriad of switches that are used with each.
Although the students do not need to know every switch, they should know those that are the most common or
most widely used. For example, they should be able to display the contents of the ARP cache (arp –a). They
should also know how to make a host continuously PING another host until manually interrupted (ping –t).
The best way I have found to teach this chapter is to explain the purpose of each utility. I then demonstrate the
utility and show students the type of results they should expect. If they don’t get the desired results, they must
be able to figure out why. For example, if they are unable to PING a host or Web site by name, they should
know to try to PING it by IP address.
Once I have demonstrated the utilities, I then present the students with problems or scenarios and have them tell
me which utility (and switches, when appropriate) should be used.
Finally, I strongly suggest allowing them to sit in front of a computer and try out each utility and switch, so they
can see the results of each. You might mix this activity with the paragraph above. That is, present them with a
problem and have them resolve it while sitting in front of the computer and using the utility.
Hardware and Software Requirements
Each student should have access to a personal computer. The computer should be running a Windows-based
operating system. You might also have one or more UNIX- or Linux-based computers for testing the
IFCONFIG and Nslookup utilities.