IDENTIFY &RESOLVE

NETWORKPROBLEM

prepared By
miss’s rediet mamo
 10 network problems with their
solution
Single Workstation Unable to Connect to the
Network
 Local Network is Unable to Connect to
 
If only a single workstation is displaying the “No internet”
message when opening a web browser, we can usually
assume that the rest of the network is healthy and turn our
attention to any hardware and software that is particular to
this system.
The Quick Fix: To resolve this network issue, start by
eliminating the obvious communication barriers such as a
bad cable, poor Wi-Fi signal, failing network card or
incorrect drivers. Ensure that the workstation’s network
adapter is configured with the correct IP, subnet, and DNS
servers.
 
If that doesn’t solve the problem, check any firewall
software on the device to ensure that necessary ports are
open to the external network. Common ports include 80 and
443 for web traffic, plus 25, 587, 465, 110, and 995 for email.
 
The Preventive Measure: It’s usually best to leave all
workstation TCP/IP settings to “Automatically assigned.”
Use a DHCP server to hand out a uniform configuration to
all devices on the network. If a static IP is needed on a
particular workstation or server, most DHCP servers allow
the ability to create static IP mappings.
the internet
 
This situation can either be intermittent or persistent. Often
times, the most difficult aspect of dealing with any external
network problem is finding the company responsible. And
then tasking them to solve the issue, particularly with
intermittent failures that are difficult to trace. It can
sometimes be such a problem that organizations will have
to switch internet providers in order to solve the issue.
The Quick Fix: A router and modem reboot is the first order
of business. The tracer then utility can be used to identify
communication breaks. It will clearly hiccup on the
particular router hop that is causing the problem. Contact
your ISP with your findings, providing screenshots as
necessary.
 
The Preventive Measure: To avoid the finger-pointing that
can prevent rapid resolution of external issues, do some
research to ensure that you procure connectivity only from
local Tier 1 providers. Other ISPs are more than happy to
sell you service, however, they are simply piggybacking the
Tier 1 connection, since they don’t actually own the
infrastructure in your area.

DNS Problems
 
 Errors such as The Network Path Cannot Be Found,
  Wireless networking is a terrific way to make
IP Address Could Not Be Found, or DNS Name
Does Not Exist, can usually be traced to a DNS
configuration issue. The command line utility
nslookup can be used to quickly show a
workstation’s DNS settings.
 The Quick Fix: Workstations and other network
devices can be configured to use their own DNS
servers, ignoring the server assigned by DHCP.
Checking the ‘Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IP)’
settings for your adapter will show if an incorrect
DNS server is specified, so just select “Obtain DNS
server address automatically” instead.
 
 The Prevention Measure: Your local router might be
configured to operate as a DNS Server, creating a
DNS pass-through to your ISPs servers. On busy
networks, this may overload the capabilities of the
router. Change your network’s DHCP settings to
directly access your DNS servers.
Wireless Network Shows
Signal but won't Connect
sure that your employees are able to move
freely while maintaining access to all their
business files.
 However, some notebooks and computers
occasionally show a strong signal from the
wireless router but still don't connect. If you
encounter this problem, try putting the
computer right next to the wireless router and
see if it connects then.
 If it does, then that suggests a problem with
the system hardware. A network card
occasionally receives a strong signal but
doesn't transmit as effectively. Updating the
network card's drivers might solve this
problem, but it is also possible that you may
need to replace the hardware entirely should
this occur.
 Network Outages and
Inaccessible Files
If you experience a high number of
 A common issue business networks
network outages at unpredictable times or
you find your employees unable to access
files they are supposed to have access to,
you might be experiencing a NetBIOS
conflict. This problem tends to be most
common on older systems, particularly
when they use Windows NT, but the issue
exists in other Windows systems as well. If
you have recently upgraded to a new
service pack or received another large
system update, you are more at risk of this
happening than previously. You can bypass
this problem by disabling WINS/NetBT
name resolution unless it is required by a
specific program. You could also rename a
computer or domain to resolve possible
naming issues.
Slow Application
Response
encounter is a slow reaction time for
applications, especially shortly after a
computer starts up or connects to a network.
This is usually a sign of high bandwidth use.
You should perform a time study of your
employees to make sure they aren't viewing
too many videos via streaming or
downloading large files. Enforcing proper
network use may be a good way of keeping
your bandwidth use in hand. If your
employees are already using the network
properly, you might not have the amount of
bandwidth you need to operate your
business. In this case, you should look into
upgrading your network to properly fit your
expanding business needs.
 Slow Internet
Performance Unable to Connect to Local
File or Printer Shares

Slow performance is typically due to congestion, or sometimes poor quality

connections that have corroded or otherwise deteriorated. Congestion may not
  

Sharing problems are among the most difficult network problems to solve, due
to the number of components that need to be configured properly.
be directly related to bandwidth exhaustion, as a single overloaded port on a  Most commonly, sharing problems arise due to conflicts between mixed
switch or router can diminish network performance. security environments. Even different versions of the same operating system
This can be especially true on leased lines where dedicated bandwidth is to be sometimes use slightly different security models, which can make
expected, but speed tests indicate the network is not reaching it’s rated interconnection of workstations difficult. 
potential.  The Quick Fix: We can cure sharing problems most efficiently by drilling down
The Quick Fix: Use speed test websites, conducting tests from geographically through the possibilities in this order:
remote servers. This can pinpoint areas of congestion on the ISP’s network. In Ensure that the required services are running. On Windows systems, the server,
the case of cable internet, the local network is shared amongst your neighbors, TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper, workstation, and computer browser services all need
committing your ISP to a costly bandwidth upgrade when saturation occurs. to be running. On Linux machines, Samba is the primary component required to
Report your findings to your ISP so that they can take steps to resolve the share with Windows systems.
issue.  Check your firewall(s). It’s very common for a workstation’s firewall to be
DNS servers are an often overlooked aspect of internet performance. Using configured to block file and printer sharing traffic, especially if a new antivirus
incorrect DNS servers can result in routing congestion or load balancing package is installed that introduces its own firewall. Firewall issues can also
problems. While you should typically use your ISP’s DNS settings whenever exist at the hardware level, so ensure that routers or managed switches are
possible, they may actually be routing traffic through overloaded web passing share traffic within the subnet. Speaking of subnet….
cacheYou can temporarily adjust your DNS settings to use OpenDNS instead.  Ensure all workstations are on the same subnet. This problem typically only
The Preventive Measure: if internet performance is critical, you’ll need to appears on complex networks, however, even simple networks sometimes have
procure adequate connectivity. While cable internet may be inexpensive, you static-IP equipment with an improperly configured subnet. The result is that
could be setting yourself up for frequent jeers from employees. A local DSL external traffic will move about just fine, while internal traffic will hit
operator may offer improved reliability for a slightly higher cost, but for the unexpected roadblocks.
most consistent performance, you may find that an expensive leased line is a All Windows network adapters will need File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft
requirement for your organization. Networks, Client for Microsoft Networks, and NetBIOS over TCP/IP enabled.
There’s plenty of help out there — use it!  Once the above checks have passed, it’s finally time to check the most likely
The good news is there are a plethora of resources for troubleshooting and culprit, permissions. There are multiple layers of access required, each with
solving network issues, and many of them are free and built into most their own interface within the OS. Check for:
operating systems. Ping, tracert, ip config, nslookup, and speedtest.net should Systems configured with the wrong workgroup or domain.
be in the top drawer of every admin’s toolkit.  Incorrectly configured Home Group.
More advanced utilities such as Wireshark provide a detailed analysis of your Network type set to Public.
network’s potential stumbling points, while wardriving tools can be called Incorrect NTFS permissions.
upon to identify Wi-Fi performance or interference issues.
 Poor or bad cable
If the client PC is able to link to the network,

performance may be poor. The PC may not be
able to connect at all.
In networks today, Gigabit to the desktop is
common. Gigabit requires four pairs of cable, so
anything lower than Category 5 will not work for
Gig. In older buildings this must be taken into
consideration. In addition, any amount of
untwisting of the cable (often near the RJ-45
termination or patch panel) can cause signal loss.
This will result in FCS Errors on the switch ports
or network adapters.
Resolution: In most cases with cable problems,
the cable simply needs to be replaced. If the
problem is because the cable has become
untwisted, re-terminating the cable may resolve
the errors. When supporting new technologies
such as Gigabit or Power over Ethernet, the cable
must be Cat 5 or better.
IP Address Exhaustion
 
To troubleshoot this issue, use the ipconfig command. If
the workstation has assigned itself an IP address that
begins with 169.x.x.x, it means that no IP address was
available from the DHCP server.
The Quick Fix: Some users on cable internet might not have
a local router, in which case IP addresses are assigned on a
limited basis directly from your ISP. You have probably
run out of allowed IP addresses from your ISP. The
solution to this is to purchase either a standalone router or
Wi-Fi access point with an integrated router. This creates
your own local pool of internal addresses, ensuring you
won’t run out.
If you already have a local router with DHCP, the default
address pool might be too small for your network. By
accessing the DHCP settings on the router, you can adjust
the size of the address pool to meet your network’s needs.
 The Preventive Measure: It’s important that any internet-
connected network have a local router in operation with
NAT and DHCP, both for security reasons and to prevent
IP address exhaustion. The router needs to be the only
device connected to the modem, with all other devices
connecting through the router.
 10 network troubleshooting command
with their function
 “lsof -i” – reveal information about your network sockets.
bwm-ng – live network bandwidth monitor.
curl – transferring data with URLs. (or try httpie)
darkstat – captures network traffic, usage statistics.
dhclient – Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Client
ethtool – utility for controlling network drivers and
hardware.
gated – gateway routing daemon.
host – DNS lookup utility.
hping – TCP/IP packet assembler/analyzer.
ibmonitor – shows bandwidth and total data transferred.
ifstat – report network interfaces bandwidth.
iftop – display bandwidth usage.
ip (PDF file) – a command with more features that ifconfig
(nettools).
iproute2 – collection of utilities for controlling TCP/IP.
iptables – take control of network traffic.
mtr – network diagnostic tool. 
net-tools – utilities include: arp, hostname, ifconfig, netstat,
rarp, route, plipconfig, slattach, mii-tool, iptunnel and ipmaddr.
ncat – improved re-implementation of the venerable netcat.
netcat – networking utility for reading/writing network
connections.
nethogs – a small ‘net top’ tool.
Netperf – Network bandwidth Testing.
netsniff-ng – Swiss army knife for daily Linux network
plumbing.
netwatch – monitoring Network Connections.
ngrep – grep applied to the network layer.
nload – display network usage.
nmap – network discovery and security auditing.
nmcli – a command-line tool for controlling Network Manager
and reporting network status.
nmtui – provides a text interface to configure networking by
controlling Network Manager.
nbtstat
MS-DOS utility that displays
protocol statistics and current
TCP/IP connections using NBT.

Tycon
Connects the current local user
session with a session on a
remote computer.

tskill
Ends a process on a remote
computer.
 ETHTOOL Command
ethtool is a replacement of mii-tool. It is to view, setting speed and duplex of your
Network Interface Card (NIC). You can set duplex permanently in /etc/sys
config/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 with ETHTOOL_OPTS variable .
slurm – network load monitor.
snort – Network Intrusion Detection and Prevention System.
smokeping – keeps track of your network latency.
socat – establishes two bidirectional byte streams and transfers data between them.
speedometer – Measure and display the rate of data across a network.


speedtest-cli – test internet bandwidth using speedtest.net
ssh – secure system administration and file transfers over insecure networks.
tcpdump – command-line packet analyzer.
tcptrack – Displays information about tcp connections on a network interface.
telnet – user interface to the TELNET protocol.
tracepath – very similar function to traceroute.
traceroute – print the route packets trace to network host.
vnStat – network traffic monitor.
websocat – Connection forwarder from/to web sockets to/from usual sockets, in style of socat.
wget – retrieving files using HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and FTPS.
Wireless Tools for Linux – includes iwconfig, iwlist, iwspy, iwpriv and ifrename.
Wire shark – network protocol analyzer.
IWCONFIG Command
iwconfig command in Linux is use to configure a wireless network interface. You can
see and set the basic Wi-Fi details like SSID channel and encryption. You can refer
man page of iwconfig to know more.

GUI tool system-config-network

Type system-con fig-network in command prompt to configure network setting and you will get
nice Graphical User Interface (GUI) which may also use to configure IP Address, Gateway, DNS
etc.


DIG Command
Dig (domain information groper) query DNS related information like A Record, CNAME, MX Record etc. This
command mainly use to troubleshoot DNS related query.

HOST Command
host command to find name to IP or IP to name in IPv4 or IPv6 and also query DNS records.
 
# host www.google.com
 
www.google.com has address 173.194.38.180
www.google.com has address 173.194.38.176
www.google.com has address 173.194.38.177