E T H E R N E T N E T W O R K S & S W I T C H E S
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WheatNet-IP
/ Apr 2009
Network Troubleshooting
A variety of free software based tools can be effective in verifying, maintaining and
troubleshooting network performance and configuration. Some rudimentary network
testing may be done from the Command line in a DOS window using standard Internet
Control Message Protocol (ICMP) commands built into Windows shell. A freeware or
full blown network analysis program can be valuable when troubleshooting medium to
large installations. Many managed switches include built in port traffic analysis using
a web interface to the hardware.
Useful ICMP Commands
• Ping - Use this command to confirm that a device at a specific IP address is actually
“talking” on the network. At the C:\> prompt in a command window type ping
xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx where the x's are the IP address of the device.
• TraceRoute - Use this command to find the path a PC takes to get from point a to
b. At the C:\> prompt in a command window type tracert xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx where
the x's are the IP address of the destination you are tracing.
• Ipconfig - this is actually a console application in Windows that will display the
network parameters configured for any network interface card installed on the PC.
Software Tools
• WheatNet-IP GUI & Web Interface - These Wheatstone applications access
configuration, status messaging, and error logging of all connected WheatNet-IP
hardware.
• WireShark - This freeware (GNU) Network Protocol analyzer offers a compre-
hensive look at network traffic down to the packet payload level.
• Telnet - Used to open a Debug portal on a BLADE or surface. Use the built in
Windows Telnet client or any third party client.
• FTP - Used to transfer files to and from surfaces. We recommend using a third party
FTP client like Mozilla's Filezilla.
• SNMP - Third party software can monitor the devices using SNMP. The MIBs
created for the BLADE will allow users to monitor things like last boot time,
Internal Temperature, Network Traffic, etc.
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
SNMP forms a part of the internet protocol suite defined by the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Network management systems use SNMP to monitor network
attached devices such as BLADEs for conditions that may require action by the end user.
SNMP uses a manager/agent model that presents the information to the end user. A
software component called the agent runs on the network device and sends the
management information to the managing system. The managing system is the appli-
cation that the end user needs to organize the information. The manager and the agent
use a Management Information Base (MIB) and a small command set to exchange
information.
