Network Troubleshooting Tools

CPS 411, Essentials: IT Network Practitioners

Darren Dayton [email protected]
Boise State University, Boise, Idaho
Abstract— This paper will attempt to catalogue the author’s picks for the top five
network troubleshooting tools. This will entail a brief introduction to the tool in question,
followed by a listing of features, an overall rating out of five, and a top pick at the end.

Index Terms— Monitoring, Network, Ping, Scan, Tool, Troubleshooting

I. Introduction: different things can be determined, including
exactly how long a round trip takes. This is
This list will obviously be biased, as
what it means in gaming circles when they
“top” or “favorite” are subjective concepts at
speak about “ping”.
best. However, this list will be based on the
most commonly used or the most powerful
tools available to the average user, provided
the author can find authoritative answers on
those questions.
In no particular order, we begin with
the following tools.
II. Tool 1: Ping
Figure 1: What a standard ping looks like.
Ping is one of the most ubiquitous
Verdict: 3.5/5. It could be better, but
tools in existence when it comes to
it more than gets the job done, and is both
networking. It is also one of the most basic,
compact and fairly readable, as well as fairly
but it provides a good amount of
fast. [1]
information quickly and is very easy to
customize as desired. III. Tool 2: Nmap
What it does is similar to a radar Nmap is a network scanning utility
array, where it sends out a signal in an that is like ping in many ways, but upscaled
attempt to determine information based on to scan an entire network, though it can also
the feedback of that signal. Specifically, it be used on a single host at a time.
sends out a packet to a designated host, then
either receives that packet back or does not, Nmap uses packets just like ping
and it can determine multiple things from does, but instead of just establishing
this. communication, it will determine a lot of
information about the network, including
Is there connectivity? Is there a what hosts are on the network, what services
response from the target or not? Is the they offer, what OS they are running, what
destination reachable or not? Etc. Many
filters or firewalls are in use, and much This is a subset of an ipconfig /all
more. scan, as the entire scan is both large and not
terribly helpful in this specific case, since I
As an example, this is a scan of just
don’t have a lot of connected media.
the top 20 ports on my own network:
This scan helps in numerous ways,
as not only does it inform you of your
current network configuration, but it will
also refresh your DNS and DHCP settings.
Just as with nmap and ping, there are
countless different parameters that can be
turned on and off to customize what is
displayed, and what is scanned. Highly
informative and useful.
Verdict: 4/5. Great tool, and it would
have a higher rating if it was a bit easier to
Figure 2: Top port scan via nmap command. use for the average user. [3]

There are, however, many more V. Tool 4: Netstat

options available with the nmap tool.
Just like with the other tools, netstat
Verdict: 4.5/5. Nearly perfect, so is a veritable treasure trove of information
many options, so many possibilities, just a just waiting to be displayed. On its own, the
few wishlist items to make it more user netstat command will display all the active
friendly. [2] TCP connections on the system in question.

IV. Tool 3: Ipconfig However, it can also be used to do so

much more. For instance:
This tool is both simple and
powerful, and often used even when not
working on networks. It is also often used
with other tools, as while it is an important
and useful tool it is limited in what it can do.

Figure 3: Ipconfig /all wireless network. Figure 4: Netstat scan for IP statistics.
 Verdict: 4.5/5. This tool is nearly
perfect as far as I’m concerned. It only loses
a bit because of the one feature that the last
tool has over all the others listed: a GUI.
VI. Tool 5: Wireshark
Wireshark is kind of a strange tool,
in that it’s very much the Thanos of
networking: regardless of what part of the
industry you work in, it seems to be Figure 5: Wireshark capture filtered for IP.
inevitable. You will use Wireshark.
Verdict: 5/5. This tool can do so
It is touted as a packet capture many things, and it’s both easy to use and
program, and it does that. But it also does so easy to understand. [5]
much more. While it can be run from the
command line if properly configured, it also VII. Conclusion:
has a handy modern feature: a desktop My overall choice would be
shortcut. Wireshark, as it can give nearly all the
information the other commands can, though
it takes some digging. However, each tool
has a specific task that it excels at, and my
personal favorite tool of all of these is
netstat.

It also has a GUI, which is great as it

allows both packet capture, filtering, and
visualization.
 VIII. References:
[1] SolarWinds, “What Is Ping? - IT Glossary | SolarWinds,” www.solarwinds.com.
https://www.solarwinds.com/resources/it-glossary/ping (accessed Oct. 05, 2024).

[2] Nmap.org, “Chapter 1. Getting Started with Nmap | Nmap Network Scanning,”
nmap.org. https://nmap.org/book/intro.html (accessed Oct. 05, 2024).

[3] Gerend, J. “Ipconfig,” learn.microsoft.com, Mar. 02, 2023.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-
commands/ipconfig (accessed Oct. 05, 2024).

[4] Gerend, J. “Netstat,” learn.microsoft.com, Feb. 03, 2023.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-
commands/netstat (accessed Oct. 05, 2024).

[5] CompTIA, “What Is Wireshark and How to Use It,” CompTIA, 2024.
https://www.comptia.org/content/articles/what-is-wireshark-and-how-to-use-it
(accessed Oct. 05, 2024).