Networking Troubleshooting Questions and Answers

Networking Troubleshooting Questions and Answers 

1. What are four tools that can be used to troubleshoot network problems? Briefly define each.


Ans. Four tools can be used to troubleshoot a network:

• Protocol analyser.
    This hardware or software tool can capture and analyze traffic and packets on a network. The Microsoft software version of this tool is called Network Monitor.

 • Digital Volt Meter (DVM).
    This electronic measuring device can be used to check the voltage of cable segments, allowing you to see if there are breaks on a cable, and the resistance of terminators on cable segments.

• Time-Domain Reflectometer (TDR).
   A TDR sends sound waves along a cable to look for imperfections that may be caused by a break or short in the line.

 • Oscilloscope. This device measures the fluctuation in signal voltage to help find faulty or damaged cables.


2. What will a broken or improperly terminated cable in a BUS topology cause?

Ans.On a BUS topology, a broken cable segment or an improperly terminated cable segment will cause all devices on that cable segment to not be able to communicate with one another. See the section titled “Troubleshooting Cables and Connectors.”

3. What is a broadcast storm and what causes it?

Ans. A broadcast storm is a network segment that is being saturated by broadcast packets. Packets that are broadcast are intended for all recipients. A broadcast storm will cause network traffic to slow or even halt traffic on the network segment.

4. What Microsoft utility can be used to detect bottlenecks within a computer? What Microsoft program can be used to detect bottlenecks on the network?

Ans. Microsoft’s Performance Monitor is used to track objects and counters within a computer. Microsoft’s Network Monitor is designed to track packets and traffic outside a computer