There are several tools available to help in the troubleshooting process.
The best time to learn about these tools is not when a problem is encountered
but to explore and learn these tools when the network is functioning correctly.
This way network baselines can be established and recorded. When problems
occur, administrators should refer to the normal baseline to identify
inconsistencies more quickly.
An administrator should be fluent with all
the following tools:
Command line (UNIX, DOS, Cisco IOS)
Windows, UNIX, IOS utilities
Protocol Analyzers
Network Management Systems
System logs
The following section highlights some of the tools available and their
typical use. It is assumed that the reader is proficient with most of these
tools.