Networking Self-Teaching Guide: OSI, TCP/IP, LANs, MANs, WANs, Implementation, Management, and Maintenance

Chapter 16. Troubleshooting

	Difficulties exist to be surmounted.
	--Ralph Waldo Emerson

We complete this book with a topic that we all hope we never need to worry about, but all need to know. It is nearly impossible to run a LAN full time with nothing ever going wrong. Even the most carefully designed networks experience "issues." As a matter of fact, when designing your network, you decided on your acceptable level of risk for such issues. Now that your network is operational, it's your actions, both proactive and reactive, that are going to get you out of trouble quickly when problems occur within the LAN.

No two LANs are alike. Even if they are alike in design, operationally they are their own entities. There is no one fix-all for any particular issue within the LAN. The complexities of today's networks (high-speed data transfer, complex end-user application, etc.)^[478] complicate the troubleshooting process even more. This is why we find ourselves (us writing and you reading) with this chapter. It's not a troubleshooting bible, but it is a guide that you can use to help you get a feel for 1) what is out there, and 2) a little of what you can expect. We hope it gives you the upper hand when you first approach troubleshooting and serves as a useful reference for you in the future.

The quote used for this section, "Difficulties exist to be surmounted," seemed like a perfect thing to remember when taking on the challenge of an issue that has reared its ugly head. The more that we ...