MODULE 5

What is Network Troubleshooting?

Network troubleshooting is the collective measures and
processes used to identify, diagnose and resolve problems
and issues within a computer network. It is a systematic
process that aims to resolve problems and restore normal
network operations within the network.
Network troubleshooting is primarily done by network engineers
or administrators to repair or optimize a network. It is
generally done to recover and establish network or Internet
connections on end nodes/devices.
 Command-line Interface Tools
• The command line interface (CLI) is a mechanism for interacting with a
computer operating system or software by typing commands to perform
specific tasks.
• CLI interface is used to perform several tasks, such as system
maintenance, configuration and diagnostic tasks.
• Commands like ping, tracert, ntslookup are important diagnostic
software tools used to encapsulate common management functions.
• A CLI is a user interface to a computer’s OS in which a user types
commands on a specified line and gets a response back from the system
with respect to those commands.
• An example for CLI is MS-DOS prompt application in Windows OS.
Nowadays, users prefer graphical user interface (GUI) rather than the
CLI provided by OSs like Windows, MAC OS, UNIX, etc.
A difference between command line interface and Windows application is that
the Windows application uses GUI whereas CLI does not use graphical
display; instead, it uses command prompt window where a user can write
commands.
These command lines instruct Windows to perform a particular task.
Each command line begins with the name of the program that the user
wants to run followed by the arguments which represent the additional
information.
These arguments tell the program about the operation to be performed.
For example, Ping is a widely used command line tool.
This network utility provides a quick and easy way to check whether a site or
service user system is online.
Most network administrators use ping command line tool when they are faced
with a network-related problem. Ping is generally used to find the source of
the problem.
How to use Ping:
To use this command, simply open a command prompt and type ping
followed by the domain name or IP address of the host that has to be
checked. For example: Ping www.google.co.in
Advantages of using command line
• Users can check an individual item and isolate
all the factors causing the problems.
• Users can use script to automate the process.
• Use of the command line leads to more
alternative options, so that users can check
the system in depth.
• Users can perform batch processes with a
single command
 Some of the command line tools used to
solve network problems:
•Ping
• Ipconfig
• Netstat
• Nslookup
• Nbtstat
• Tracer
 Ping
• Ping is a network utility used to test basic connectivity
between the source host (requesting host) and a
destination host.
• Internet control message protocol(ICMP) is used to
perform this task which has the ability to send a packet
to a destination host and has a mechanism to listen for
a response from the host.
• Ping command can be useful for troubleshooting
problems with remote hosts.
• Ping indicates whether the host can be reached and
how long it takes for the host to send a return message
 Traceroute/Tracert
• Tracert in Windows (TRACEROUTE in UNIX system) is short for
“trace route”.
• It traces the route for communication between two
computers.
• Tracert enables users to check the route/path to the
destination IP address that a user wants to reach to record the
results.
• It uses TRACERT hostname command to execute, where
hostname refers to the name or IP address of the user system.
• Trace route shows the route that is taken while connecting
two computers over the Internet.
• Trace route helps to analyse whether it is an ISP problem
(local problem) or other issues, when a system cannot
connect to a certain system or site in a network.
 ipconfig
• Ipconfig is a network utility, used to get the
network settings that is currently being
assigned and set by a network.
• This tool generally helps to check a network
connection and also to verify system network
settings
• Nslookup: A name server lookup (nslookup) is a
command-line administrative tool for testing and
troubleshooting DNS servers. It will look up the IP
addresses associated with a domain name. For example:
In command line, type nslookup www.google.co.in to
get the IP address associated with this domain name.
• Netstat: “netstat” stands for network statistics. This
command is used to get information about incoming and
outgoing network connections and also other network
information. netstat shows network status by giving the
contents of various network-related data structure in
different formats. It displays protocol statistics and
current TCP/IP network connections. The format
depends on which parameters are used.
• Nbtstat: Nbtstat is a diagnostic tool for
NetBIOS over TCP/IP. It is designed to
troubleshoot NetBIOS name resolution
problems. There are various commands in
Nbtstat that allow options such as local cache
lookup, WINS server query, broadcast,
LMHOSTS lookup and Hosts lookup.
 Network and Internet Troubleshooting
• There are some network problems which occur while a user
is working on the networked environment or the Internet.
• For example, while trying to view a web site, pages may
load slowly or not at all. When this occurs, it is useful to
define where the problem is occurring
• (For example, Network connection problems, web server
experiencing issues, etc.).
• To troubleshoot such network problems, a user can use
various tools. Most of these tools run from the command
line. Online versions of these tools are also available and a
user can use these in a different web browse
The basic network troubleshooting techniques and tools
used to fix network problems using command line.

1. How to troubleshoot network Internet

problem- Internet is not working
2. Resetting Winsock catalog and solving a
network problem
3. Determine the quality of Internet connection
 How to troubleshoot network Internet problem- Internet is not
working
• If the Internet is not working, then perform the
following task in the Windows command line and
execute it:
• ping google.com
• When the above command line is run, a user will get a
reply from Google. This reply indicates that the Internet
is working; problem is with the web browser that is
used to browse the Internet. Then try to use alternative
web browsers. If there is no reply from Google, then it
indicates that the modem or router is not reaching the
Internet. Ensure that the router has DHCP enabled and
there should be proper IP address for the WAN.
Resetting winsock catalog and solving a network problem

Netsh winsock reset is a useful command, which can

be used to reset winsock catalog to clean state or
back to default setting. This tool can be used to
analyse the following network problems:
• Internet connection problems after removing all
kind of threats
• Loss of network connection after installing
antivirus software
• Problem while accessing web pages
• No network connectivity due to registry errors
• Network problem related to DNS lookup
 Determine the quality of Internet connection
The speedtest.net and pingtest.net are examples of
websites which provide tools that are used to
determine the quality of the Internet and availability of
bandwidth to a specific host.
The speedtest.net website provides a good tool that
helps to recognize the amount of bandwidth available
to a specific host at a specific point in time.
The pingtest.net website is used to find out the quality of
the Internet connection. Tool provided by this website
measures the ping response and jitter amounts over a
small time period and based on that result, determines
the quality of the Internet connection
 Hardware Troubleshooting Tools
• Troubleshooting a hardware problem is not a
difficult task. It generally involves various
procedures, methods and includes baselining
and performance monitoring. The key to
determine the failure of a hardware network
is to know what devices are used on a network
and functions of each device in that network