Network Troubleshooting Tools

Chapter 11. Miscellaneous Tools

This chapter contains odds and ends that don’t really fit any of the categories described in previous chapters. Most of the software presented here isn’t really designed with network troubleshooting in mind, but it is, nonetheless, quite useful. These are tools that will make your life easier. With a few notable exceptions, you should already be familiar with most of the tools described here. Consequently, the descriptions of the tools are, for the most part, fairly brief. Feel free to jump around in this chapter as needed.

Communications Tools

If you are going to effectively administer remote systems, you will need to log on remotely. Even with small networks, it isn’t reasonable to jump up and run to the remote system every time you need to do this. This section has three subsections. First, a quick review of techniques you can use to record or log your activities when using familiar tools like telnet, rlogin, and X Windows. Next comes a discussion of vnc, a tool that allows you to view a computer’s graphical display remotely. Then I briefly discuss security concerns for these tools including a short description of ssh.

Automating Documentation

This book has assumed that you are familiar with tools like telnet, rlogin, and X Windows. To use these tools effectively, you’ll want to be able to record or log your activities from time to time. Arguably, one reason documentation is so often flawed is that it is usually written after the fact. This is ...