Basic Networking

[Alphatronix]

Hi everyone! long time no type.. So i got a new job networking company. my boss knows that im a system admin not a network guy but he wants me to learn it. I pretty much got the whole jist down, everything from dynamic ip to static, to tcp/ip, subnets, pinging and other stuff but my problem isnt understanding but actually hands on trouble shooting.. so im going to give a few examples of network issues and i would really like a quick run down of procedure to fix these issues. keep in mind that all problems relate to a small business running a hybrid ring bus topology. 10 nodes connected to a switchboard connected to a router and not all problems are single workstation related.

1. My network printer isnt printing.

2. I have no internet availability.

3. my work station isnt working but the guy next to me surfing the net.

4. whole network not working.

5. power surges..

I understand that most of theses issues have a common protocol regarding troubleshooting. I just trying to get the basics down like pinging and ipconfig options and dns problems..

I learning this stuff hardcore but it would be nice to have a general troubleshooting protocol. IF there is a post like this, im sorry. link me 2 it.. if not, then this should be a perfect example of a sticky moderators..

thanx again guys,

 

[AE7]

Hi everyone! long time no type.. So i got a new job networking company. my boss knows that im a system admin not a network guy but he wants me to learn it. I pretty much got the whole jist down, everything from dynamic ip to static, to tcp/ip, subnets, pinging and other stuff but my problem isnt understanding but actually hands on trouble shooting.. so im going to give a few examples of network issues and i would really like a quick run down of procedure to fix these issues. keep in mind that all problems relate to a small business running a hybrid ring bus topology. 10 nodes connected to a switchboard connected to a router and not all problems are single workstation related.

1. My network printer isnt printing.

2. I have no internet availability.

3. my work station isnt working but the guy next to me surfing the net.

4. whole network not working.

5. power surges..

I understand that most of theses issues have a common protocol regarding troubleshooting. I just trying to get the basics down like pinging and ipconfig options and dns problems..

I learning this stuff hardcore but it would be nice to have a general troubleshooting protocol. IF there is a post like this, im sorry. link me 2 it.. if not, then this should be a perfect example of a sticky moderators..

thanx again guys,

My network printer isn't printing.

• Print server up?
• Got link lights on the printer?
• Ping the IP address of the printer. If able to ping, run "ping -t 0.0.0.0", where 0.0.0.0 is the IP address of the printer. Run this for a few minutes in your CLI, then stop it to see results and check for packet loss

I have no internet availability.

• Check your workstation first, before telling anyone the network is flawed, this is so you do not incite panic. Run "ipconfig /all", check for appropriate addressing as well as DNS servers. If you feel the problem is in DNS, meaning that you cannot ping google.com, but you can ping their IP address, try "ipconfig /renew".
• If not on the client-side, and is a widespread outage, start checking/rebooting hardware, all the way from the edge switches to the core routers and firewalls. If you have dedicated DHCP/DNS appliances, restart them, they can be temperamental.

My work station isn't working but the guy next to me surfing the net.

• Same as above, but try rebooting your workstation, and checking for link lights. Renew the DHCP lease with "ipconfig /renew".
• Have you installed any problematic software lately? I've seen VirtualBox and VMware cause trouble with network drivers on Windows machines.

Whole network not working.

• A good network engineer will have left a black book in a safe or other locked location that contains information about IP addresses and network topology. Along with a few passwords.
• Check with the ISP and make sure it's not their fault.
• In this case, I'd start at the core hardware, checking core router, switches, and firewalls. Make sure they have link lights. Depending on network configuration, the engineer may have left open jacks for diagnostic purposes. Use the information about IP addresses in the black book to do a straight connection from the router or other hardware straight to the external network. Then move from it, down to lower hardware(firewalls, switches, etc.)
• Make sure you don't have a faulty UPS box. Most APC UPSs will make horrendous beeps when they go bad. But sometimes the problems are not obvious because they will let the power sag on equipment, forcing reboots and shut downs.

Power surges...

• Keep all network equipment(including servers) on a UPS. This keeps the power to the equipment stable and sufficient should a power sag/surge occur.
• Other equipment needs to be put on at least a surge protector. Depending on your facility, you may have green/blue/red power outlets throughout the facility. If available, these are best for equipment/computers. Green is something with hospitals, meaning that the wiring is more reliable. Blue is surge suppressed. Red is battery/generator backup.
• In the case of a power surge(lightning strike) that has caused equipment to malfunction, remove the hard disk/s to make a copy of all the data on the disk/s. Secondly, if the equipment is serviceable, inspect the power supply and internals of the equipment and deem whether it would be safe to replace the power supply or not.

 

[Alphatronix]

So ipconfig resets dns and dhcp, i know that.. How do I do manually if possible... sometimes /release /renew doesnt work.

 

[boxxy]

So ipconfig resets dns and dhcp, i know that.. How do I do manually if possible... sometimes /release /renew doesnt work.

Your employed as a system admin yet don't know any of this basic computer networking related stuff?

Like is your company hiring or anything because I'm just amazed on the lack of knowledge in this whole thread and that the fact that your a system admin.

OK anyway I'm probably gonna get banned for this or something but whatever....

Are they hiring? I'm sorry I can't help you because I would expect to get paid for helping somebody that should already know this.

 

[Alphatronix]

Your employed as a system admin yet don't know any of this basic computer networking related stuff?

Like is your company hiring or anything because I'm just amazed on the lack of knowledge in this whole thread and that the fact that your a system admin.

OK anyway I'm probably gonna get banned for this or something but whatever....

Are they hiring? I'm sorry I can't help you because I would expect to get paid for helping somebody that should already know this.

____________________________________
no you cant be hired because you don't read carefully. Im a system admin, my boss hired me to as net tech admin because that's what the potion name is, my lack of network experience doesnt hurt my ability to figure things out because i have a wide range of OS admin knowledge. instead of reading for countless hours about troubleshooting problems, ill ask here, im sorry if your illiterate. That doesnt give you a reason to put people down. No wonder your unemployed.

 

[techno_workers]

Your employed as a system admin yet don't know any of this basic computer networking related stuff?

Like is your company hiring or anything because I'm just amazed on the lack of knowledge in this whole thread and that the fact that your a system admin.

OK anyway I'm probably gonna get banned for this or something but whatever....

Are they hiring? I'm sorry I can't help you because I would expect to get paid for helping somebody that should already know this.

hallo im soryy coz interrupting u guys but i does'nt nice to say like that to alphatronix he dont know about network so he just asking, i agree with ae 7

 

[lucasbytegenius]

hallo im soryy coz interrupting u guys but i does'nt nice to say like that to alphatronix he dont know about network so he just asking, i agree with ae 7

Um ok.

Your employed as a system admin yet don't know any of this basic computer networking related stuff?

Like is your company hiring or anything because I'm just amazed on the lack of knowledge in this whole thread and that the fact that your a system admin.

OK anyway I'm probably gonna get banned for this or something but whatever....

Are they hiring? I'm sorry I can't help you because I would expect to get paid for helping somebody that should already know this.

boxxy you are one mean dude. Back off. He's asking legitimate questions, either contribute to this thread or go elsewhere

 

[AE7]

So ipconfig resets dns and dhcp, i know that.. How do I do manually if possible... sometimes /release /renew doesnt work.

Sorry for a late reply...college.....

When the release and renew options aren't working, there's a network configuration that prevents clients from renewing leases. Sometimes a network admin will have set something like that in order to prevent someone from, basically, constantly renewing their DHCP lease, this is said to be a denial of service(DoS) attack. Which would have to be distributed among multiple clients, so it would be called a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS).

Any network admin with brains knows that they are causing helpdesk people trouble when they configure DHCP servers to not allow client lease renewals. I have put together DHCP/DNS servers at work myself and I allow clients to renew, I don't really care for IPAM(IP Address Management) appliances. I'd like to create a simple daemon for my DHCP/DNS boxes to make sure I don't have any idiots on my network who are continuously sending DHCP discover and request messages.

Boxxy, just chill out.

 

[Platinum]

This sounds like interview questions for a job.