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Overview of TCP/IP Troubleshooting Tools

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Table 3.1 lists the diagnostic utilities included with Microsoft TCP/IP; they are described in more detail in the following pages. All are useful to identify and resolve TCP/IP networking problems.

Table 3.1 TCP/IP Diagnostic Utilities

Utility

Used to

Arp

View the ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) cache on the interface of the local computer to detect invalid entries.

Hostname

Display the host name of the computer.

Ipconfig

Display current TCP/IP network configuration values, and update or release Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) allocated leases, and display, register, or flush Domain Name System (DNS) names.

Nbtstat

Check the state of current NetBIOS over TCP/IP connections, update the NetBIOS name cache, and determine the registered names and scope ID.

Netstat

Display statistics for current TCP/IP connections.

Netdiag

Check all aspects of the network connection.

Nslookup

Check records, domain host aliases, domain host services, and operating system information by querying Internet domain name servers. Nslookup is discussed in detail in "Windows 2000 DNS" in this book.

Pathping

Trace a path to a remote system and report packet losses at each router along the way.

Ping

Send ICMP Echo Requests to verify that TCP/IP is configured correctly and that a remote TCP/IP system is available.

Route

Display the IP routing table, and add or delete IP routes.

Tracert

Trace a path to a remote system.

For a quick reference chart of these TCP/IP tools, as well as remote administration tools, see the appendix "TCP/IP Remote Utilities" in this book.

In addition to the TCP/IP-specific tools, the following Microsoft® Windows® 2000 tools can also make TCP/IP troubleshooting easier:

  • Microsoft SNMP service — provides statistical information to SNMP management systems.

  • Event Viewer — tracks errors and events.

  • Microsoft Network Monitor—performs in-depth network traces. The full version is part of the Microsoft® Systems Management Server product, and a limited version is included with Windows 2000 Server.

  • System Monitor — analyzes TCP/IP network performance.

  • Registry editors— both Regedit.exe and Regedt32.exe allow viewing and editing of registry parameters.

These tools are discussed in their own chapters of the Windows   2000 Resource Kit .