Good network diagnostic tools

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PopeKevinI

2[H]4U
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Mar 25, 2002
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So I encounter my first major network issue, and it occurs to me that this company is completely devoid of any troubleshooting tools. I don't even have a flippin' cable tester (brought mine from home today).

Can anyone recommend a few basic tools I should have around for the next time I run into this?

A few things I know I could use:

A *good* cable tester. The one I have works, but doesn't do much other than flash a few LEDs to show working pairs. Besides that, I want the company to buy one rather than having to use my own equipment.

I'm pretty sure there's a device that can make a link light blink on a switch, in order to identify what cable/port goes where; I could certainly use this for mapping the network. Problem is, I don't even know what the tool is called.

Is there something (besides a $5,000 Fluke tool or a bulky laptop) that I could use to plug into a hub/switch to verify network connectivity past the switch? It'd help immensely if I could do a port-by-port test just getting DHCP or pinging my domain server.

Any other suggestions welcome, of course.
 
Originally posted by PopeKevinI
So I encounter my first major network issue, and it occurs to me that this company is completely devoid of any troubleshooting tools. I don't even have a flippin' cable tester (brought mine from home today).

Can anyone recommend a few basic tools I should have around for the next time I run into this?

A few things I know I could use:

A *good* cable tester. The one I have works, but doesn't do much other than flash a few LEDs to show working pairs. Besides that, I want the company to buy one rather than having to use my own equipment.

I'm pretty sure there's a device that can make a link light blink on a switch, in order to identify what cable/port goes where; I could certainly use this for mapping the network. Problem is, I don't even know what the tool is called.

Is there something (besides a $5,000 Fluke tool or a bulky laptop) that I could use to plug into a hub/switch to verify network connectivity past the switch? It'd help immensely if I could do a port-by-port test just getting DHCP or pinging my domain server.

Any other suggestions welcome, of course.
Click to expand...

for a *good* cable tester your pretty much stuck with fluke ;)

i know that there are "tone injectors" you can use to find cables... you put this thingie on one end and then you have a little wand that starts to make this really annoying sound when you put it near the cable...

as for a replacement for the $5000 fluke tool... i got an old Fujitsu 2300 from ebay for $300.... they are awesome like 4 hours of battery life... P233Mhz, 192Mb ram, 6gb hd, loaded it up with XP Tablet edition, GFI Languard, Look@Lan, Look@Host, NetStumbler all sorts of great stuff

it cant do some of the crazy shit that the fluke does, but hell, its a lot cheaper :)

and it plays MP3s ;)
 
Originally posted by FLECOM
for a *good* cable tester your pretty much stuck with fluke ;)

i know that there are "tone injectors" you can use to find cables... you put this thingie on one end and then you have a little wand that starts to make this really annoying sound when you put it near the cable...

as for a replacement for the $5000 fluke tool... i got an old Fujitsu 2300 from ebay for $300.... they are awesome like 4 hours of battery life... P233Mhz, 192Mb ram, 6gb hd, loaded it up with XP Tablet edition, GFI Languard, Look@Lan, Look@Host, NetStumbler all sorts of great stuff

it cant do some of the crazy shit that the fluke does, but hell, its a lot cheaper :)

and it plays MP3s ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've used tone injectors, but that won't really do what I need.

The network is already cabled and everything, all I really need to do it figure out which office is connected to which port on the patch panel. The toners I've used in the past didn't do that very well, and I figure it'd be easier to just have something switching the link light on and off than chasing tones on 48 ports.

A lot of my network equipment is 30 feet above a factory floor, I'd rather not have anything bigger than a handheld when I'm up there. I do have a pretty good laptop, but for what I need, it's a lot more troublesome.

I did find this:

Net-Ping Network IP Tester

I think it will suit my needs on connectivity issues (verifying that some remote PC in the plant can talk to the network, and troubleshooting one switch/hub/repeater at a time back to the source)

And this:

MicroScanner

This should cover any cable testing needs.

While I'd love to pick up another Fluke One-Touch (I owned one and sold it, didn't need it at the time) I can't afford it with all the other purchases I'm making right now. Besides that, it does a lot more than I need at the moment.
 
well the fujitsu is great for network troubleshooting i think, and much better than a laptop...

its a tablet im not sure if i said that
 
Nope, you sure didn't mention the tablet thing. I'm hoping to get a tablet/laptop for work soon. It's just a matter of if/when they get around to authorizing the purchase of 60+ PCs.
 
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