Network Troubleshooting Commands

Troubleshooting computer network problems is among the most important job descriptions of the network administrators, system administrators, network technicians and the IT consultants. A computer network can have different kinds of problems such as it can be infected with virus and spyware, attacked by hackers, accessed by unauthorized users and may face connectivity failure issues due to the faulty network devices or configurations. See what is a virus?

Following is a list of the basic network troubleshooting commands that are built-in the Windows based operating systems and UNIX etc. The right use of these troubleshooting commands can help a lot in diagnosing and resolving the uncommon network problems. If you would like terms directly related to routers please see  router networking terms.

PING

Ping is the most important troubleshooting command and it checks the connectivity with the other computers. For example your system’s IP address is 10.10.10.10 and your network servers’ IP address is 10.10.10.1 and you can check the connectivity with the server by using the Ping command in following format.

At DOS prompt type Ping 10.10.10.1 and press enter
If you get the reply from the server then the connectivity is ok and if you get the error message like this “Request time out” this means the there is some problem in the connectivity with the server.

IPCONFIG

IPconfig is another important command in Windows. It shows the IP address of the computer and also it shows the DNS, DHCP, Gateway addresses of the network and subnet mask.

At DOS prompt type ipconfig and press enter to see the IP address of your computer.

At DOS prompt type inconfig/all and press enter to see the detailed information.

NSLOOKUP

NSLOOKUP is a TCP/IP based command and it checks domain name aliases, DNS records, operating system information by sending query to the Internet Domain Name Servers. You can resolve the errors with the DNS of your network server

HOSTNAME

Hostname command shows you the computer name.

At DOS prompt type Hostname and press enter

NETSTAT

NETSTAT utility shows the protocols statistics and the current established TCP/IP connections in the computer.

NBTSTAT

NBTSTAT helps to troubleshoot the NETBIOS name resolutions problems.

ARP

ARP displays and modifies IP to Physical address translation table that is used by the ARP protocols.

FINGER

Finger command is used to retrieve the information about a user on a network.

TRACERT

Tracert command is used to determine the path of the remote system. This tool also provides the number of hops and the IP address of each hop. For example if you want to see that how many hops (routers) are involved to reach www.yahoo.com and what’s the IP address of each hop then use the following command.

At command prompt type tracert www.yahoo.com you will see a list of all the hops and their IP addresses.

TRACEROUTE

Traceroute is a very useful network debugging command and it is used in locating the server that is slowing down the transmission on the internet and it also shows the route between the two systems.

ROUTE

Route command allows you to make manual entries in the routing table.

Hopefully the above mentioned commands will help you to diagnose the troubleshooting your computer networking problems.
This article is free for republishing Source: http://www.a1articles.com/article_189109_10.html

B. Bashir manages this website http://www.networktutorials.info and regularly writes articles on various topics such as Computer Networking, Network Troubleshooting Tips Wireless Networking, Computer Hardware, Certifications, How Tos, Network Security Guide and computer tips. http://www.networktutorials.info

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Shami Photos April 18, 2012 at 3:15 pm

but can someone describes the all hopes meanings of teracert command?
2) 25 ms 18 ms 20 ms 119.152.24.1
what is meant by 25 ms
18ms
and 20 ms?

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James November 18, 2010 at 8:34 am

Netstat would have to be the handiest built in windows functionality ever. Big fan :)

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