Can we formulate a helpful fault finding process for common problems and make them available somewhere (or do we already have this and I need to research better)?
I was thinking about the connection problem I saw recently and wondered how I would check if I had the problem.
Under Windows 10 powershell.
Step 1: Can I ping the IP address? (Test basic connectivity)
> ping 172.30.1.12
Pinging 172.30.1.12 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 172.30.1.12: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=63
...
Ping statistics for 172.30.1.12:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 13ms, Average = 5ms
Step 2: Can I ping the name? (Test DNS resolution)
> ping curlew.acute.local
Pinging curlew.acute.local [172.30.1.12] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 172.30.1.12: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=63
...
Ping statistics for 172.30.1.12:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 3ms, Average = 2ms
Step 3: Is tracert one line? (Test the same LAN segment)
> tracert curlew.acute.local
Tracing route to curlew.acute.local [172.30.1.12]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 3 ms 2 ms 1 ms gw-sand.acute.local [172.30.1.1]
2 3 ms 2 ms 2 ms curlew.acute.local [172.30.1.12]
Trace complete.
So I fail the single segment test and am not getting broadcasts (In my case I don’t want them thanks)
Step 4: Can I connect to the port? (Test for firewall problems)
$ Test-NetConnection curlew.acute.local -Port 55415
ComputerName : curlew.acute.local
RemoteAddress : 172.30.1.12
RemotePort : 55415
InterfaceAlias : beryl_sandhurst
SourceAddress : 172.30.240.100
TcpTestSucceeded : True
This would need a different set of tools on other client platforms (eg linux could use nmap to test the port).
I think I am suggesting we create platform specific trouble shooting FAQs that cause the reader to consider:
- What is my server platform?
- What is my client platform?
- Did I pick up the correct sotware?
- What type of issue do I have?
- What is an overall success indication?
This should take them to a step by step:
- Setting to check and what to look for
- Command to run and what to expect
- Change to try on failure
This should be given a unique name they can quote when saying what they have tried.
Can anyone improve this suggestion?