Connectivity faults.
WHAT TO CHECK IN ORDER
Is the cable connected or the wireless associated? Does the device have an address? Can it reach its gateway? Can it reach an external address by number? Can it resolve a name? Can it reach the specific service?
WHY THAT ORDER
Each depends on the previous one.
WHAT EACH FAILURE INDICATES
No address: local assignment or link
Cannot reach gateway: local configuration
Gateway reachable, nothing beyond: connection or router Number works, name does not: name resolution Name resolves, service does not: that service or a blocked port
WHY TEST BY NUMBER
It separates connectivity from name resolution in a single step.
WHAT TO ESTABLISH
Whether others are affected, and whether wired is affected as well as wireless.
WHY
It distinguishes a device problem from a network problem, and wireless from the connection.
WHAT TOOLS TO USE
Connectivity testing Route tracing Name lookup Port testing
WHAT TO DO ABOUT INTERMITTENT FAULTS
Record occurrences with times, since patterns emerge from records and never from memory.
