HARDWARE AND NETWORK

SERVICING
Level III
LEARNING GUIDE # 1
Unit of Competence: Identify and
Resolve Network Problems
Module Title: Identifying and Resolving
Network Problems
 
Module Code :ICT HNS3 07 1110
 Module Title
Identifying and Resolving Network Problems
1.2 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
 problem-solving process
1. Analyzing a network problem
2. Gather the facts that you need to help isolate
possible causes
3. Consider possible problems based on the facts
that you gathered Using the facts, you can eliminate
some of the potential problems from your list.
4. Create an action plan based on the remaining
potential problems.
5. Implement the action plan, performing each step
Networks can be composed of many types
of physical components
• copper wire
• optic cables
• wireless Access Points
• Switch
• Bridge
• Router
• firewall
• network adapters
• protocol
 1.3 net work problem troubleshooting strategies
and documentation
Documented Network Is Easier to Troubleshoot it can
be contained following
1. A logical map of the network
2. A physical map of the network
3. Cabling and patch panel information
4. Default settings for computers and other devices on the
network
5. A logical map of the network shows the relationships
6. A physical map would show the location of each of the
computers, the hub or switch
 1.5 Identifying common network problems

1. Physical Connectivity Problems:

• Configuration is incorrect.
• Cable is faulty or improperly connected.
Cable length
Resistance
Noise
Attenuation
Near-end cross-talk
• Wiring closet cross-connect is faulty or improperly connected.
• Hardware (interface or port) is faulty.
• Interface has too much traffic
2. Connectivity Problem:-is
connectivity problem with one or more devices in a network
can occur after a change is made in configuration

Possible problems include these

• Configuration problem
• DHCP or BOOTP issue
• Physical layer issue
• Duplicate IP address
 3. Excessive Network Collisions:- The problem can occur as a result of bad
.
network setup/plan, a user transferring a lot of information or jabbering network card

A jabbering Network card is a network card that is

stuck in a transmit mode.
Software-Based Analyzers
Because processors have scaled to much greater
speeds and network adapters can capture packets
from the fastest LAN speeds, software analyzers
are now catching up to hardware-based analyzers.
Windows NT 4.0 through Windows 2003 servers
come with a network monitor tool
 4. Software Problem Network problems can
often be traced to software configuration such as
DNS configuration, WINS configuration, the
registry
1. It is possible for IP connectivity to work but for DNS
name resolution to fail. It is used to DNS is resolving the
name of the destination
2. Verify that you can ping the name server using its IP
address. If the ping fails, go to the section to troubleshoot
connectivity between the client and the name server.
3. Verify that you can resolve names within your domain.
(For example, if your host is Host1.test.com, you should be
able to resolve the names of other hosts in the test.com
domain, such as host2.test.com.)
 5. Duplicate IP Addressing A common problem in many
networking environments occurs when two machines try to use the
same IP address. This can result in intermittent communications.

IP Troubleshooting
To efficiently troubleshoot a TCP/IP connectivity
problem, it is necessary to identify a single pair of
source and destination devices that are exhibiting
the connectivity problem
 LO-2: Troubleshoot network
problems
Installing and Configuring a Wired Network
To have network connectivity, you need to have three
things in place:
■ NIC: The physical hardware that connects the
computer system to the network media.
■ Protocol: The language that the computer systems
use to communicate.
■ Network client: The interface that allows the
computer system to speak to the protocol.
 Installing a NIC
.

The NIC is your computer system’s link to the network, and installing
one is the first step required to connect to a network. NICs are
manufactured to operate on specific media and network types, such as
100BaseT Ethernet or 16 Mbps Token Ring. Follow the
manufacturer’s instructions for installation.
 NetBEUI is easy to configure, since no network addresses are
needed. Generally, all you need to establish a connection between
computer systems using
NetBEUI is a NetBIOS computer name
NWLink is a relatively easy protocol to configure. Normally, the
only settings you may need to specify are the internal network number
and frame type (usually, however, the default values are sufficient).
 Which command line tools should I use?
1. I can connect but cannot view websites.
Ping - Trace route - DNS Lookup - Telnet
2. I can browse websites but cannot connect to email.
Ping - Trace route - Telnet
3. I have an intermittent connection problem.
Ping - Netstat - Netshell
3. I think I have a virus problem on my system.
Netstat - DNS Lookup
4. Ping(Packet Internet Groper) - "Can my data
reach you?"
 Continuous Ping

Ping sends four packets of data, which isn't very

good at showing problems that are intermittent. A
continuous Ping can be useful if you think there
might be a problem with cables, as you can see
exactly when connection problems are occurring.
In the command line window type “ping
[destination address] -t" when you want to end
the ping press Control and C together
 Trace route
Trace route - "How does my data reach its
destination?"
Trace route shows you the route your data packets
are taking to reach a destination system. Trace route
results can show:
Problems with the system you are trying to connect
to.
Problems with the network between you and the
destination system.
Problems with your own network setup (Firewall or
router problems).
 Trace route Responses

Destination network unreachable - this means that

a device that the you are sending data to is not
responding, it my down, or there might be a
network fault. This type of problem is usually
outside Plusnet's control.

Destination network unreachable - this means that a device that the you are sending
data to is not responding, it my down, or there might be a network fault. This type of
problem is usually outside Flush control.
IPCONFIG
Windows 2000/XP offer the command-line tool IPCONFIG for a quick balance at
your network settings. Click Start |Run and type CMD to get a command prompt.
From the prompt, type IPCONFIG /ALL to see all of your TCP/IP settings
 Flush DNS Cache

1.In the command line window, type "ipconfig /flushdns"

2. Click Enter.
3. Watch for the flush to complete with the message. "Successfully
flushed the DNS Resolver Cache."
4. Retest to see if you can browse popular websites.
 DNS lookups You can test to see if your DNS is working
properly by doing a DNS lookup, using the command line tool nslookup.
To do a DNS Lookup
1. In the command line window, type"nslookup [Website Address]" for
example "nslookup
2. Click Enter.
3. Check the results to see if an (IP) address is found that corresponds
with the name of the website address. If your DNS is not working
properly, nslookup won't be able to return an IP address.
 DNS Lookup -

"Is my computer DNS (Domain Name System)

turns your user-friendly web addresses into the
numerical IP addresses that are used by computer
systems. If you have a working connection, but can't
view popular websites like BBC or Google, then
faulty DNS settings may be the cause.
data going to the right place?"
 Netstat - "what's my computer connecting to?"
Netstat tells you what your computer is connected. This
makes if useful for seeing if your computer is connected
to servers that you don't know about. If you think that
your computer is infected with "Spyware" or certain
types of virus Netstat may help you find them out.
To run Netstat
1. In the command line window, type "netstat -a"
2.Click Enter
3. View the list of connections on your PC.
 Telnet - "Can I connect to it?"
Telnet is a program that allows you to access and use
other computers remotely. It has lots of uses for testing
problems because it can let you manually test Internet
services as if you were a browser or email program. A
telnet client is included with most versions of Windows,
though in Windows Vista it has to be added as follows:
1. Click Start > Control Panel > Programs
2.Then Turn Windows Features on or off.
3. In the list, scroll down and select Telnet Client.
4. Click OK to start the installation.most example
Problem receiving email - test your mailbox
 Netshell - "One-stop network check"
Netshell is a tool that allows you to check that
Windows is properly setup for networking. It can test
many different aspects of your network connection,
depending on what you have got setup on your system.
To use Netshell
1. In the command line window, type "netsh diag gui".
2. Click Enter.
3. A Network Diagnostics Window will open.
4. Click Scan your system to begin testing, or Set
scanning options to change which things you want
Netshell to test
 Tracert command

The tracert command lists the number of hops

needed to connect to a target computer. Each hop
represents a device that the packets of data must
travel through in order to continue along the
network. On the Internet, this is a usually a router.
When testing in a LAN environment, there is usually
just one hop.
LO-3: Carry out maintenance support on identified problem

Network Protocols Network Addressing, subnetting and

masking
IP(Internet Protocol) Addresses
An IP address is a logical address of a computer which is
expressed as a four 8-bit group of bits (a total of 32 bits)
separated by periods. Each 8-bit group of bits can be
represented by a 3-digit decimal that spans between 0 and 255.
For example 196.27.22.42 is a typical IP address of the DNS
server of the Ethiopian Telecommunication Corporation
(ETC). The total number of distinct addresses one can have
from these 32 bit addressing scheme is 232 = 4,294,967,296.
IP Addressing Class
When IP was first standardized in September 1981, the specification
required that each system attached to an IP-based internet be assigned
a unique, 32-bit Internet address value. Some systems, such as routers
which have interfaces to more than one network, must be assigned a
unique IP address for each network interface.

In recent years, the network-number field has been referred

to as the "network-prefix" because the leading portion of
each IP address identifies the network number
 Primary Address Classes

In order to provide the flexibility required to support

different size networks, the designers decided that
the IP address space should be divided into three
different address classes - Class A, Class B, and Class
C
Table showing the different classes
Class A Networks (/8 Prefixes)
A maximum of 126 (27-2) /8 networks can be defined. The
calculation requires that the 2 is subtracted because the /8 network
0.0.0.0 is reserved
Class B Networks (/16 Prefixes)
 Each Class B network address has a 16-bit network-prefix with the
two highest order bits set to 1-0 and a 14-bit network number,
followed by a 16-bit host-number. Class B networks are now referred
to as"/16s" since they have a 16-bit network-prefix.
Class C Networks (/24 Prefixes)
 Each Class C network address has a 24-bit network-prefix with the
three highest order bits set to 1-1-0 and a 21-bit network number,
followed by an 8-bit host-number. Class C networks are now referred
to as "/24s" since they have a 24-bit network-prefix.
 Other Classes

In addition to the three most popular classes, there are two

additional classes. Class D addresses have their leading
four-bits set to 1-1-1-0 and are used to support IP
Multicasting. Class E addresses have their leading four-
bits set to 1-1-1-1 and are reserved for experimental use.
Dotted-Decimal Notation
To make Internet addresses easier for human users to read
and write, IP addresses are often expressed as four decimal
numbers, each separated by a dot. This format is called
"dotted-decimal notation."
The "xxx" represents the host-number field of the
address which is assigned by the local network
administrator.
The class full A, B, and C octet boundaries were easy to
understand and implement, but they did not foster the
efficient allocation of a finite address space. Problems
resulted from the lack of a network class that was
designed to support medium sized organizations. A /24,
which supports 254 hosts, is too small while a /16, which
supports 65,534 hosts, is too large.
Sub netting
the basic idea of sub netting which is to divide the
standard class full host-number field into two parts - the
subnet-number and the host number on that subnet.
subnet mask are set to 1 if the system examining the
address should treat the corresponding bit in the IP
address as part of the extended network-prefix. The
bits in the mask are set to 0 if the system should
treat the bit as part of the host-number.
The standards describing modern routing protocols often refer to the extended-network prefix-length rather than the subnet mask. This means that specifying the network address 130.5.5.25 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 can also be expressed as 130.5.5.25/24. The /<prefix-length> notation is more compact and easier to
understand than writing out the mask in its traditional dotted-decimal format.
 Private Address Space

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
 Subnet Example #1

An organization has been assigned the network number

193.1.1.0/24 and it needs to define six subnets.
The largest subnet is required to support 25 hostsSince a
network address can only be subnetted along binary
boundaries, subnets must be created in blocks of powers of
two [ 2 (21), 4 (22), 8 (23), 16 (24), etc. ]. Since 8 = 23, three
bits are required to enumerate the eight subnets in the block.
In this example, the organization is subnetting a /24 so it
will need three more bits, or a /27, as the extended-network-
prefix. A 27-bit extended-network-prefix can be expressed
in dotted-decimal notation as 255.255.255.224.
A 27-bit extended-network-prefix leaves 5 bits to
define host addresses on each subnet.
This means that each subnetwork with a
27-bit prefix represents a contiguous block
of 25 (32) individual IP addresses
Defining Each of the Subnet Numbers
The eight subnets will be numbered 0 through 7. In this paper,
the XXX2 notation indicates the binary representation of the
number. The 3-bit binary representation of the decimal values
0 through 7 are: 0 (0002), 1 (0012), 2 (0102), 3 (0112), 4
(1002), 5 (1012), 6 (1102), and 7 (1112).
For example, to define Subnet #6, the
network administrator simply places
the binary representation of 6 (1102)
into the 3-bits of the subnet-number
field
The underlined portion of each address identifies the extended-network-prefix,
while the bold digits identify the 3- bits representing the subnet-number field:

Base Net: 11000001.00000001.00000001 .00000000 = 193.1.1.0/24

Subnet #0: 11000001.00000001.00000001. 000 00000 = 193.1.1.0/27
Subnet #1: 11000001.00000001.00000001. 001 00000 = 193.1.1.32/27
Subnet #2: 11000001.00000001.00000001. 010 00000 = 193.1.1.64/27
Subnet #3: 11000001.00000001.00000001. 011 00000 = 193.1.1.96/27
Subnet #4: 11000001.00000001.00000001. 100 00000 = 193.1.1.128/27
Subnet #5: 11000001.00000001.00000001. 101 00000 = 193.1.1.160/27
Subnet #6: 11000001.00000001.00000001. 110 00000 = 193.1.1.192/27
Subnet #7: 11000001.00000001.00000001. 111 00000 = 193.1.1.224/27
An easy way to check if the subnets are correct is to ensure
that they are all multiples of
the Subnet #1 address. In this case, all subnets are
multiples of 32: 0, 32, 64, 96, ...
 Address Resolution Protocol
In order for devices to communicate, the sending
devices need both, the IP addresses and the MAC
addresses, of the destination devices.
When they try to communicate with devices
whose IP addresses they know, they must determine
the MAC addresses.
 The TCP/IP suite has a protocol, called ARP that
can automatically obtain the MAC address. ARP
enables a computer to find the MAC address of
the computer that is associated with an IP
address
 Subnet Masking

Applying a subnet mask to an IP address allows you to identify the

network and node parts of the address 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
--------------------------------------------------------
10001100.10110011.00000000.00000000 140.179.000.000 Network
Address
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
 More Restrictive Subnet Masks

Additional bits can be added to the default subnet

mask for a given Class to further subnet, or break
down, a network. When a bitwise logical AND
operation is performed between the subnet mask and
IP address, the result defines the Subnet Address.
use the formula (2^n - 2) where n = number of bits
in either field. Multiplying the number of subnets by
the number of nodes available per subnet gives you
the total number of nodes available for your class
and subnet mask
 What Is a Default Gateway?

In computer networking, a default gateway is the

device that passes traffic from the local subnet to
devices on other subnets. The default gateway often
connects a local network to the Internet, although
internal gateways for local networks also exist
Internet default gateways are typically one of two types:
On home or small business networks with a broadband router
to share the Internet connection, the home router serves as the
default gateway.
On home or small business networks without a router, such as
for residences with dialup Internet access, a router at the Internet
Service Provider location serves as the default gateway.
• Either routers or gateway computers can be used
to network local subnets such as those in larger
businesses.
• gateways use two network adapters, one
connected to the local subnet and one to the
outside network
 The TCP/IP Stack and the OSI Model

TCP/IP is a suite of protocols and rules. It allows us

to communicate with other computers and devices
over a connection oriented network. it must interface
with hardware, route data to appropriate places,
provide error control, and much more. The
developers of TCP/IP thankfully designed what we
call a modular design- meaning that the TCP/IP
system can be divided into separate components.
TCP/IP suite into different layers, and then learn
about each layer’s specifics one at a time. Below
you’ll see the TCP/IP model divided into four layers.
Network Access Layer – The Network Access
Layer is fairly self explanatory- it interfaces with
the physical network. It formats data and
addresses data for subnets, based on physical
hardware addresses.
Internet Layer – The Internet Layer provides logical
addressing. More specifically, the internet layer relates
physical addresses from the network access layer to logical
addresses. This can be an IP address, for instance. An
internetwork is simply a greater network of LANs, perhaps
a large company or organization
Transport Layer – The Transport Layer provides flow
control, error control, and serves as an interface for
network applications. An example of the transport layer
would be TCP- a protocol suite that is connection-oriented.
We may also use UDP- a connectionless means of
transporting data.
Application Layer – Lastly, we have the Application Layer. We use this layer for
troubleshooting, file transfer, internet activities, and a slew of other activities. This layer
interacts with many types of applications, such as a database manager, email program, or
Telnet.
The Open System Interconnection Model
The Open System Interconnection Model, more commonly known as simply OSI, is another
model that can help break the TCP/IP suite into modules.
Technically speaking, it is exactly the same as the TCP/IP model, except that it has more
layers.
 Assignment out of 50%
I If statement is correct say True but If statement incorrect say False
1. systematically eliminate each potential problem are possible ?
2. default gateway is the device that passes traffic from the local subnet to devices on
other subnets.
3. The tracert command lists the number of hops needed to connect to a target
computer

II Write short and clear answer by clear hand writing

1_____________ are common problem in many networking environments occurs when two
machines try to use the same IP address.
2. ____________Ping sends four packets of data, which isn't very good at showing problems
that are intermittent.
3.______________ The language that the computer systems use to communicate.
4. list he class of IP address
5.List the network troubleshooting commands there definition.
6.List the physical components of networking? Explain there definitions
7.List the functions of NIC?