This blog article is a culmination of my years of experience in the networking and computing worlds. Over those years, where I began as a bench and field technician, I have had a number of classes that my employers sent me to to teach troubleshooting skills. Usually termed with the words “logical troubleshooting” or something similar, these classes focused on how to troubleshoot certain products, or processes associated with certain products, and their functions in the network. It was clear to me then, and it remains clear to me now, that networking and computing are very closely related. Most networking devices (switches/routers, etc.) are themselves really built for purpose computers.
My goal in this article is to share my troubleshooting experience that I have developed over my career. You, the reader/student, have to digest this information, take from it what works for you and your mind, organize it into a process that helps you to troubleshoot more effectively, more completely, with a higher level of positive impact and success.
A side note: I often travel with a “go bag” full of my favorite troubleshooting tools. You can find that list here.
One of the things that drove me crazy (and still does), and I mean crazy – like I can’t sleep well – is when I can’t fix something right the first time. When I worked on a bench, this meant items would be returned after being “repaired”. When I was in Field Service operations this was termed “call backs”. If anything required more than swing at troubleshooting and fixing a problem, it meant that I had failed, that everything I had done in the first swing was probably wrong. I took this as not only a personal failure, but also a failure in whatever troubleshooting process I had used. If you are like me in this regard, then I understand your desire to be better, and why you are probably reading this article. If you are not like me in this regard, I am very jealous, and I am so pleased that even though you aren’t as sensitive to the issue of call-backs or returns, you have decided to take on this article anyway.
All that said, the overall process I discuss should be applicable to any networking or computing problem in general. Obviously, I cannot go into specific products and so forth. For that I leave it to you the reader/student to adapt what is provided to your specific product, or network, or function. However, I just watched a video on YouTube about troubleshooting and after investing nearly 30 minutes, I really had not learned anything. So I want to provide some detail as to the troubleshooting steps in several scenarios that you can take away, modify, customize, and then use them in your job function.
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