Network Maintenance and Troubleshooting Guide: Field Tested Solutions for Everyday Problems, Adobe Reader, 2nd Edition

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Network Maintenance and Troubleshooting Guide

Field-Tested Solutions for Everyday Problems, Second Edition

Neal Allen

The 100% practical, real-world guide to anticipating, finding, and solving network problems—fast!

Real-life networks don’t always behave “by the book.” Troubleshooting them requires practical intuition that normally comes only with experience. In this book, Fluke Networks’ Neal Allen brings together all that hard-won, hands-on insight: everything you need to discover what’s really happening in your network, so you can anticipate and fix problems before users even notice them.

Writing for network technicians and administrators at all levels, Allen presents an approach to troubleshooting that has been proven in networks of all kinds, no matter how complex. He introduces indispensable triage and troubleshooting techniques for everything from copper and fiber cabling to IPv6, and presents unparalleled guidance on identifying and resolving problems at the MAC Layer. He illustrates his advice with diagrams, tables, and screen captures from Fluke Networks’ market-leading instruments. Throughout this book, Allen also offers practical summaries of each of today’s core networking technologies, making it an ideal complement to any network certification study guide.

Coverage includes

• Using the OSI model to more efficiently troubleshoot networks layer by layer
• Copper and fiber-optic cabling: theory, operation, and troubleshooting
• Media Access Control (MAC) Layer: Ethernet theory and operation
• Identifying and resolving problems related to IPv4 and IPv6 protocols
• Preventing problems before they occur
• Discovering device behavior
• Troubleshooting switches
• Using a protocol analyzer more successfully
• Creating network documentation that helps you more efficiently prevent and resolve problems

Road tested by thousands of Fluke Networks customers, this book’s first edition became the best-kept secret resource for sysadmins, netadmins, and support technicians fortunate enough to discover it. Now, Allen has thoroughly updated his classic for today’s networks. If you’re responsible for maintaining one of those networks, you’ll find this new Second Edition even more indispensable.

Neal Allen is a senior staff engineer in the Fluke Networks’ Technical Assistance Center (TAC) focusing on escalated problems. He has been involved in designing, installing, and troubleshooting networks for nearly 20 years. Allen has served on Interop’s trade show Network Operations Center (NOC) team since 1993, troubleshooting show-floor problems at the Las Vegas and Atlanta Interop trade shows, and helped support and troubleshoot the network for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. His responsibilities currently include product feature specification and beta testing, remote and onsite problem solving, and providing training and sales support worldwide.

Cover design by Louisa Adair

Cover photography from Image Source / Getty Images

Table of Contents

1. Using the OSI Model
2. Copper Cabling Theory and Operation
3. Fiber Optic Cabling Theory and Operation
4. Media Access Control Layer - Ethernet Theory and Operation
5. Data Link Layer
6. Network Layer - IPv4 and IPv6
7. Preventing Problems and Network Documentation
8. Troubleshooting Theory
9. Troubleshooting Copper and Fiber Optic Media
10. Network Troubleshooting
Appendix A. Copper Test Failure Causes Tables
Appendix B. Auto-Negotiation Field Definitions and Extensions
Appendix C. SNMP Protocol Summary
Appendix D. Optional Labs
Appendix E. Waveform Decoding Exercise - Lecture Notes
Appendix F. Network diagnostic products used in this book