Lab-14-1-Johnson

Objective: Solve common network issues following an organized approach that incorporates some or all of the 6 troubleshooting methodologies.

Goals:

  • Practice implementing the 6 troubleshooting methodologies to solve network issues

  • Analyze the approach taken and explain the methods used

  • Review network principles learned during the course including layer 2 and 3, routing, VLANs

Troubleshooting Process:

  1. Gathering information

  2. Analyzing information

  3. Eliminating possible causes

  4. Formulating a hypothesis

  5. Testing the hypothesis

  6. Solving the problem

Troubleshooting Methods

  1. The top-down approach

  2. The bottom-up approach

  3. The divide-and-conquer approach

  4. The follow-the-path approach

  5. The spot-the-differences approach

  6. The move-the-problem approach

Lab:

Below are 5 Packet Tracer files that are related to labs we have done throughout the course. There is something "broken" in each of the files. The goal is to use your troubleshooting skills and solve the problem.

TIPS!

  • Don't start changing things without a plan and a good hypothesis on what is wrong

    • It is easy to make the situation worse!

  • In these examples, there is really only one thing wrong in each case

  • Take good notes to demonstrate your approach and the steps you took. That is most of the grade for the lab.

  • Follow a plan!

This is an independent lab - do not help your classmates by providing solutions

Challenge 1: NET-150-Lab 14-1 Troubleshooting Challenge 1.pkt

Download NET-150-Lab 14-1 Troubleshooting Challenge 1.pkt

Foster Laptop should be able to ping Skiff Laptop - but something is wrong!

Pick one of the Troubleshooting Methods to start troubleshooting.

Take notes of what you try

Solve the problem

Submission for Challenge 1:

  • Screenshot of successful ping between Foster Laptop and Skiff Laptop (1 Point)

  • Description of Troubleshooting Approach you started with and the steps your took (1 Point)

The first step I took in troubleshooting the network was using the mail packet simulator option in packet tracer. I checked the connection of the systems to the router and back left to right. Checking the connection between the Router and Skiff Laptop it failed. This is when I started diagnosing the issue. The first thing I check for is the default gateway and if the connection on the port is up. Since the connection was up I checked the default gateway and found that it was not configured correctly.

  • Description of any issues you encountered, mistakes you made, whether another approach would have been better and/or did you combine methods (1 Point)

Not many issues

Challenge 2: NET-150-Lab 14-1 Troubleshooting Challenge 2.pkt

Download NET-150-Lab 14-1 Troubleshooting Challenge 2.pkt

Once again - Foster Laptop should be able to ping Skiff Laptop - but something different is wrong!

Pick one of the Troubleshooting Methods to start troubleshooting.

Take notes of what you try

Solve the problem

Submission for Challenge 2:

  • Screenshot of successful ping between Foster Laptop and Skiff Laptop (1 Point)

  • Description of Troubleshooting Approach you started with and the steps your took (1 Point)

The first step I took was to fix the clear red connection between the router and the switch on the right side of the network. I checked the default gateway on the pc and it was configured. I then configured the router F0/1 to have the right default gateway address 192.168.1.1.

  • Description of any issues you encountered, mistakes you made, whether another approach would have been better and/or did you combine methods (1 Point)

Not many issues

Challenge 3: NET-150-Lab 14-1 Troubleshooting Challenge 3.pkt

Download NET-150-Lab 14-1 Troubleshooting Challenge 3.pkt

PC0, PC1, PC2, PC3 should all be able to pin PC4

Pick one of the Troubleshooting Methods to start troubleshooting.

Take notes of what you try

Solve the problem

Submission for Challenge 3:

  • Screenshot of successful ping between the 10.10.10.0/24 and 20.20.20.0/24 network PC's (1 Point)

  • Description of Troubleshooting Approach you started with and the steps your took (1 Point)

In this challenge, I again used the packet replication feature in packet tracer to check connections from the bottom up of the network. The connection from a PC in the 10.10.10.0/24 network could not connect to the router and this was also the case for network 20.20.20.0/24. I first checked to make sure the default gateways were properly assigned on the gateway for the corresponding port for each network. I then found the ports and default gateways were mismatched and I resolved the issue.

  • Description of any issues you encountered, mistakes you made, whether another approach would have been better and/or did you combine methods (1 Point)

Not many issues

Challenge 4: NET-150-Lab 14-1 Troubleshooting Challenge 4.pkt

Download NET-150-Lab 14-1 Troubleshooting Challenge 4.pkt

PC0, PC1 should be able to ping PC2

Pick one of the Troubleshooting Methods to start troubleshooting.

Take notes of what you try

Solve the problem

Submission for Challenge 4:

  • Screenshot of successful ping between PC1 and PC2 (1 Point)

  • Description of Troubleshooting Approach you started with and the steps your took (1 Point)

The troubleshooting steps I took started with simulating packets in packet tracer from left to right of the network. I noticed packets would fail to get past router 3. I made a hypothesis that this was caused by improper routing configuration. Pinging the routers from each system in the network confirmed this. To solve the problem I added the network 192.168.10.0 to the static routing table. After this the I was able to ping from PC 1 to PC 2.

  • Description of any issues you encountered, mistakes you made, whether another approach would have been better and/or did you combine methods (1 Point)

Challenge 5: NET-150-Lab 14-1 Troubleshooting Challenge 5.pkt

Download NET-150-Lab 14-1 Troubleshooting Challenge 5.pkt

All PC's should be able to ping each other - but something is wrong!

Pick one of the Troubleshooting Methods to start troubleshooting.

Take notes of what you try

Solve the problem

Submission for Challenge 5:

  • Screenshot of successful ping between Clinic PC 1 and Guest Laptop 2 (1 Point)

  • Description of Troubleshooting Approach you started with and the steps your took (1 Point)

When opening this lab initially I noticed that there were two different VLANs configured. I then tried to ping systems between that shared VLANS either guest or clinic. The guest VLAN laptop on the bottom could not connect to the top one. With this information I checked the VLAN configuration on the top switch. I noticed that the laptop was on the clinic VLAN and not the guest VLAN so I fixed the issue and was able to ping from pc 1 to laptop 2.

  • Description of any issues you encountered, mistakes you made, whether another approach would have been better and/or did you combine methods (1 Point)

No major issues

15 Points Total: Remember - 10 of the 15 points are based on your descriptions.

Last updated