Chapter 8

Network Troubleshooting
Part II

CCNA4-1 Chapter 8-2

 Network Troubleshooting

Review of WAN Communications

CCNA4-2 Chapter 8-2

 WAN Communications

• Function at the lower three layers of the OSI model.

• A communications provider normally owns the data links.
• Made available to subscribers for a fee.
• Used to interconnect
LANs or connect to
remote networks.
• Bandwidth is
considerably slower
than the LAN.
• The charges are the
major cost element.
• Implementation must aim to provide maximum bandwidth at
acceptable cost.
CCNA4-3 Chapter 8-2
 Steps in WAN Design

End Point Connections

Traffic type source and

destination.

Availability, alternate
paths, load balancing

Traffic susceptible to
latency and jitter.

Suitable Technology

Installation and
operational costs
CCNA4-4 Chapter 8-2
 WAN Traffic Considerations

• Wide variety of traffic types and their varying requirements of

bandwidth, latency, and jitter that WAN links are required to
carry.

Jitter is the variation in the time between packets arriving,

caused by network congestion, timing drift, or route changes
CCNA4-5 Chapter 8-2
 WAN Traffic Considerations

• To determine traffic flow conditions and timing of a WAN link,

you need to analyze the traffic characteristics specific to each
LAN that is connected to the WAN.

CCNA4-6 Chapter 8-2

 WAN Topology Considerations

• Designing a WAN topology consists of the following:

I. Selecting an interconnection pattern or layout for the
links between the various locations.
II. Selecting the technologies for those links to meet the
enterprise requirements at an acceptable cost.
III. More links increase the cost of the network services,
but having multiple paths between destinations
increases reliability.
IV. Adding more network devices to the data path
increases latency and decreases reliability.

CCNA4-7 Chapter 8-2

 WAN Topology Considerations

• Many WANs use a Star Topology.

• As the enterprise grows and new branches are added,
the branches are connected back to the head office,
producing a traditional star topology.

CCNA4-8 Chapter 8-2

 WAN Topology Considerations

• When many locations must be joined, a hierarchical solution

is recommended.
• A mesh network is clearly not feasible because there would
be hundreds of thousands of links.
• A three-layer hierarchy
is often useful when the
network traffic mirrors
the enterprise branch
structure and is divided
into regions, areas, and To WAN
Backbone
branches.

CCNA4-9 Chapter 8-2

 WAN Topology Considerations

• Many enterprise WANs have connections to the Internet.

• Although the Internet may pose a security problem it does
provides an alternative for inter-branch traffic.
• Part of the
traffic that
must be
considered
during design
is going to or
coming from
the Internet.

CCNA4-10 Chapter 8-2

 WAN Connection Technologies

• A typical private WAN uses a combination of technologies

that are usually chosen based on traffic type and volume.

CCNA4-11
Individual branches to an area. Chapter 8-2
 WAN Connection Technologies

• A typical private WAN uses a combination of technologies

that are usually chosen based on traffic type and volume.

CCNA4-12
External areas to the backbone. Chapter 8-2
 WAN Connection Technologies

• A typical private WAN uses a combination of technologies

that are usually chosen based on traffic type and volume.

CCNA4-13
Form the backbone. Chapter 8-2
 WAN Connection Technologies

• Frame Relay and ATM are examples of shared networks.

Because several customers are sharing the link, the cost
to each is generally less than the cost of a direct link of
the same capacity.
• Frame Relay may also be used for delay-sensitive traffic,
often using QoS mechanisms to give priority to the more
sensitive data.
• ATM has been designed to produce minimal latency and
jitter through high-speed internal links sending easily
manageable units of data, called cells.
• ATM cells have a fixed length of 53 bytes, 48 bytes for
data and 5 bytes for the header. ATM is widely used
for carrying delay-sensitive traffic.
CCNA4-14 Chapter 8-2
 WAN Bandwidth Considerations

• Many companies rely on the high-speed transfer of data

between remote locations.
• Consequently, higher bandwidth is crucial because it
allows more data to be transmitted in a given time.
• When bandwidth
is inadequate,
competition
between various
types of traffic
causes response
times to increase,
which reduces employee productivity and slows down
critical web-based business processes.
CCNA4-15 Chapter 8-2
 Common WAN Implementation Issues

CCNA4-16 Chapter 8-2

 Network Troubleshooting

Network Troubleshooting

CCNA4-17 Chapter 8-2

 Network Troubleshooting

• Interpreting Network Diagrams:

• Physical Topology shows the physical layout of the
devices connected to the network.
• Device Type.
• Model and
manufacturer.
• OS Version.
• Cable type and
identifier.
• Cable Spec.
• Connector Type.
• Cabling Endpoints.
CCNA4-18 Chapter 8-2
 Network Troubleshooting

• Interpreting Network Diagrams:

• Logical Topology shows how data is transferred on the
network.
• Device IDs.
• IP Address and
subnet mask.
• Interface IDs.
• DLCI for PVCs.
• VPNs.
• Routing Protocols.
• Static Routes.
• Data Link protocols and WAN Technologies.
CCNA4-19 Chapter 8-2
 Physical Layer Troubleshooting

• Symptoms of Physical Layer Problems:

CCNA4-20 Chapter 8-2

 Physical Layer Troubleshooting

• Causes of Physical Layer Problems:

CCNA4-21 Chapter 8-2

 Physical Layer Troubleshooting

• Isolating Problems at the Physical Layer:

CCNA4-22 Chapter 8-2

 Data Link Layer Troubleshooting

• Symptoms of Data Link Layer Problems:

CCNA4-23 Chapter 8-2

 Data Link Layer Troubleshooting

• Causes of Data Link Layer Problems:

CCNA4-24 Chapter 8-2

 Data Link Layer Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting Layer 2: PPP

• Most PPP problems involve link negotiation.

CCNA4-25 Chapter 8-2

 Data Link Layer Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting Layer 2: PPP

• Most PPP problems involve link negotiation.

CCNA4-26 Chapter 8-2

 Data Link Layer Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting Layer 2: PPP

• Most PPP problems involve link negotiation.

CCNA4-27 Chapter 8-2

 Data Link Layer Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting Layer 2: Frame Relay

CCNA4-28 Chapter 8-2

 Data Link Layer Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting Layer 2: STP Loops

• Step 1. Identify that an STP loop
is occurring.
• Symptoms:
• Loss of connectivity.
• High CPU utilization on routers.
• High link utilization (often 100 percent).
• High switch backplane utilization.
• Hot Standby, Router Protocol, Duplicate IP Address
Syslog messages indicate packet looping.
• Syslog messages that indicate constant address
relearning or MAC address flapping messages.
CCNA4-29 Chapter 8-2
 Data Link Layer Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting Layer 2: STP Loops

• Step 2. Discover the topology
(scope) of the loop.
• The highest priority is to stop
the loop and restore network
operation.
• To stop the loop, you must know which ports are
involved.
• Look at the ports with the highest link utilization
(packets per second).
• Use the show interface command to display the
utilization for each interface and record this
information before proceeding to the next step.
CCNA4-30 Chapter 8-2
 Data Link Layer Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting Layer 2: STP Loops

• Step 3. Break the loop.
• Shut down or disconnect
the involved ports one at a
time.
• After you disable or disconnect each port, check
whether the switch backplane utilization is back to a
normal level.
• Document your findings.

CCNA4-31 Chapter 8-2

 Data Link Layer Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting Layer 2: STP Loops

• Step 4. Find and fix the cause of
the loop.
• Investigate the topology
diagram to find a redundant
path.
• For every switch on the redundant path:
• Does the switch know the correct STP root?
• Is the root port identified correctly?
• Are BPDUs received regularly on the root port and
on ports that are supposed to be blocking?
• Are BPDUs sent regularly on non-root, designated
CCNA4-32
ports? Chapter 8-2
 Data Link Layer Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting Layer 2: STP Loops

• Step 5. Restore the redundancy.
• After the device or link that
is causing the loop has been
found and the problem has
been resolved, restore the
redundant links that were disconnected.
• We have only touched lightly on the subject of
troubleshooting STP loops.
• For More Information:
http://cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk389/tk621
/technologies_tech_note09186a0080136673.shtml

CCNA4-33 Chapter 8-2

 Network Layer Troubleshooting

• Symptoms of Network Layer Problems:

CCNA4-34 Chapter 8-2

 Network Layer Troubleshooting

• Symptoms of Network Layer Problems:

• Network layer problems include any problem that
involves a Layer 3 protocol.
• Both routed and routing protocols.
• Network Failure:
• The network is nearly or completely nonfunctional.
• These failures are usually noticed quickly by users
and network administrators (Yah Think?).
• Obviously critical to the productivity of a company.

CCNA4-35 Chapter 8-2

 Network Layer Troubleshooting

• Symptoms of Network Layer Problems:

• Network layer problems include any problem that
involves a Layer 3 protocol.
• Both routed and routing protocols.
• Network optimization problems:
• Usually involve a subset of users, applications,
destinations, or a particular type of traffic.
• Optimization issues in general can be more difficult to
detect and even harder to isolate and diagnose.
• They usually involve multiple layers or the host
computer itself.
• Determining that the problem is a Network layer
CCNA4-36
problem can take time. Chapter 8-2
 Network Layer Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting
Network Layer
Problems:

Has anything Is anyone

been changed? working on the
infrastructure?

CCNA4-37 Chapter 8-2

 Transport Layer Troubleshooting

• Symptoms of Transport Layer Problems:

• We will discuss ACLs and NAT, the most commonly
implemented Layer 4 security technologies.

CCNA4-38 Chapter 8-2

 Transport Layer Troubleshooting

• Common Access Control List (ACL) Issues:

CCNA4-39
Useful command: The log keyword on ACL entries.
Chapter 8-2
 Transport Layer Troubleshooting

• Common Network Address Translation (NAT) Issues:

Inbound and
Outbound traffic.

BOOTP, DHCP, DNS,

SNMP, Tunneling,
Encryption

CCNA4-40 Chapter 8-2

 Application Layer Troubleshooting

• Application Layer Overview:

CCNA4-41 Chapter 8-2

 Application Layer Troubleshooting

• Application Protocols and Ports:

Application Protocol Transport Port

WWW Browser HTTP TCP 80
File Transfer FTP TCP 20, 21
Terminal Emulation Telnet TCP 23
POP3 TCP 100
Electronic Mail SMTP TCP 25
IMAP4 TCP 143
Network Management SNMP UDP 161
X-Windows UDP 6000-6063
Distributed File Service
NFS, XDR, RPC UDP 111

CCNA4-42 Chapter 8-2

 Application Layer Troubleshooting

• Symptoms of Application Layer Problems:

CCNA4-43 Chapter 8-2

 Application Layer Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting
Application Layer
Problems:
show ip nat
show access-list translations
clear access-list clear ip nat
counters translations
debug ip nat
Are the inside and
outside interfaces
properly defined?

CCNA4-44 Chapter 8-2

 Application Layer Troubleshooting

• Correcting Application Layer Problems:

CCNA4-45 Chapter 8-2