In this article, you will find information about basic network troubleshooting concepts.
Every one of us faced problems with websites when the page won’t load or will load but very slowly. In moments like this, it is important to be able to figure out where the problem is coming from. It can be the webserver experiencing issues, or the network connection between your computer and the server is unstable, or maybe it is your computer that has some sort of issue.
There are quite a few tools out there that can help you do the basic network troubleshooting. You can find some of those tools in the command line, while others are presented in an online version on special websites.
Troubleshooting network connectivity
Sometimes you just want to know if your computer can reach a remote host. In order to test the network connectivity, you can try using ping tool. With its’ help, you can determine whether or not a remote host is available. That’s why it is the first any website administrator does when troubleshooting network issues. The ping program works by sending a special type of packet to the host and then waiting for a response back. If the program received a response, it establishes that there is basic network connectivity between your computer and the remote host.
The traceroute (or tracert on Microsoft Windows) tool enables you to view the complete route network packets take from your computer to a remote host. While ping only determines if the remote host is active, traceroute provides a lot of details about the actual route packets follow from one host to another. For example, traceroute can help you determine if (and where) there is a bottleneck in the network connection between your computer and a remote host.
Troubleshooting DNS
In case you need to troubleshoot Domain Name Server (DNS) issues, there are accessible tools like nslookup and dig. With the help of those tools, you can do detailed DNS lookups for a given host. For instance, you will be able to determine the IP address associated with a given domain name or confirm a domain's mail server settings.
