Microsoft Windows XP Professional Resource Kit 2003
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2005
Pages: 338
Pages: 338
Many factors affect network performance and reliability, including remote connections, hardware configuration (network adapters or the physical network connection), and device drivers. Quite often, network difficulties are related to protocol configuration errors. For example, use of incorrect settings in TCP/IP-based networks can affect IP addressing, routing, and IP security.
Windows XP Professional provides a collection of useful troubleshooting tools that allow you to monitor network performance across a variety of connections, including analog and ISDN modems, and broadband connections such as xDSL and cable. Table D-18 is an alphabetical list of tools useful for diagnosing network and protocol configuration issues.
| Tool | Function | Tool Type, Interface |
|---|---|---|
| GetMac (Getmac.exe) | Displaying media access control (MAC) control information for network adapters and protocols installed on a computer. | Built-in, command-line |
| IP Configuration (Ipconfig.exe) | Displaying the current configuration of the installed IP stack on a networked computer by using TCP/IP. | Built-in, command-line |
| IP Security Monitor | Confirming that secured communications are successfully established by displaying the active security associations on local or remote computers. | Built-in, GUI |
| NetBT Statistics (Nbtstat.exe) | Displaying protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections by using NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT), including NetBIOS name resolution to IP addresses. | Built-in, command-line |
| Netsh(Netsh.exe) | Viewing or modifying TCP/IP network configuration for a computer. Netsh also provides scripting features. | Built-in, command-line |
| Network Connectivity Tester (NetDiag.exe) | Viewing network-client health by running a wide range of connectivity tests. | Support Tool, Command-line |
| Netstat | Displaying protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections. | Built-in, command-line |
| Network Diagnostics | Viewing network-related information such as network adapter status, and IP addresses for DHCP and Domain Name System (DNS) servers. | Built-in, GUI |
| Network Monitor Capture Utility (Netcap.exe) | Monitoring network traffic and capturing information to a log file. | Support Tool, command-line |
| Nslookup.exe | Performing DNS queries and examining content zone files on local and remote servers. | Built-in, command-line |
| Path Ping (Pathping.exe) | Obtaining network performance statistics. Path Ping displays information for the destination computer and all routers along the way. | Built-in, command-line |
For more detailed information about configuring hardware resources for network adapters, see Managing Devices in this book.
For more information about preceding tools and configuring and troubleshooting networks, see Configuring TCP/IP and Configuring IP Addressing and Name Resolution in this book. Also, see the TCP/IP Core Networking Guide or the Internetworking Guide of the Microsoft Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit.
GetMac (Getmac.exe) is a command-line tool that enables you to obtain the media access control (MAC) address for all network adapters and network protocols installed on your computer.
For more information about using GetMac, click Tools in Help and Support Center.
IP Config (Ipconfig.exe) is a command-line tool that displays the current configuration of the installed IP stack on networked computers that are using the TCP/IP network protocol. You can use Ipconfig.exe to:
Produce a detailed configuration report for all network interfaces.
Release or renew IP addresses for specified adapters.
Remove all entries from, or display the contents of, the Domain Name System (DNS) Resolver Cache.
Refresh all DHCP leases and reregister DNS names.
Display or modify the DHCP class IDs that are allowed for specified adapters.
| Warning | Incorrect use of IP Config can cause network connectivity issues. Unless you are familiar with IP Config, use this tool without command-line parameters or by using only the /all parameter. |
For more information about IP Config, see Windows XP Professional Help and Support Center. Also, see Configuring TCP/IP and Configuring IP Addressing and Name Resolution in this book.
You can use the Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) Monitor snap-in to verify the security IPSec communications. IP Security Monitor displays security information, such as the quantity of packets that you sent by using the Authentication Header (AH) or Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) security protocols, and the number of security associations and keys generated since the computer was started.
IP Security Monitor monitors the local computer unless you specify a different computer. You can specify a different computer by right-clicking IP Security Monitor in the console tree, and then clicking Add Computer.
IP Security Monitor shows only active security associations. For a log of successful and unsuccessful security associations, search the Security log for Netlogon events.
For more information about IPSec, see Configuring TCP/IP in this book and Internet Protocol Security in the TCP/IP Core Networking Guide in the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit. Also see article Q231587, Using the IP Security Monitor Tool to View IPSec Communications, in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. To find this article, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base link on the Web Resources page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources
NetBT Statistics (Nbtstat.exe) is a command-line tool for troubleshooting network NetBIOS names over TCP/IP (NetBT) resolution problems. It displays protocol statistics and current TCP/IP connections that are using NetBT.
When a network is functioning, NetBT resolves NetBIOS names to IP addresses. It uses several options for NetBIOS name resolution, including local cache lookup, WINS server query, broadcast, Lmhosts and Hosts file lookup, and DNS server query. The output of the NetBT Statistics tool is in tabular format.
For more information about using NetBT, see Configuring TCP/IP and Configuring IP Addressing and Name Resolution in this book and Tools in Help and Support Center.
The Netsh command-line tool (Netsh.exe) enables you to access other tools that you can use to view and modify local network interface TCP/IP configurations. Using the Netsh tool, you can perform a wide variety of tasks, such as:
Displaying and configuring network interface parameters for local and remote computers.
Configuring routers including routing protocols and routes.
Configuring Windows XP Professional remote access routers that are running the Routing and Remote Access service.
Using the scripting feature to run a series of commands in batch mode against a specified computer or router.
Netsh works by directing your command to an appropriate helper network component by using entry points called contexts. Helpers are dynamic-link library (DLL) files that extend the functionality of Netsh by enabling access to their network routines. A helper can also extend the capabilities of other helpers.
For more information about Netsh, see Configuring TCP/IP in this book and Tools in Help and Support Center.
Netstat (Netstat.exe) is a command-line tool that displays TCP/IP protocol statistics and active connections to and from your computer. Netstat also provides an option to display the number of bytes sent and received, as well as network packets dropped (if any). You can use this tool to quickly verify that your computer can send and receive information over the network.
For more information about Netstat, click Tools in Help and Support Center.
Network Connectivity Tester (Netdiag.exe) is a command-line Support Tool that helps to identify network-related problems. Network Connectivity Tester runs several network-related tests to determine client connectivity health. Network Connectivity Tester displays information for each network adapter and marks each connectivity test as Passed, Failed, or Skipped, allowing you to quickly isolate problem areas.
For more information about Network Connectivity Tester, click Tools in Help and Support Center, and then click Windows Support Tools.
Network Diagnostics enables you to view software and hardware network component information from a central location.
To start Network Diagnostics
In Help and Support Center, under Pick a task, click Use Tools to view your computer information and diagnose problems.
In Tools, click Network Diagnostics, and then click Scan your system.
The results page includes options to expand or collapse the network data gathered. You can also save the results to a file for later reference. Network Diagnostics organizes information into the categories listed in Table D-19.
| Name of Log | Overview |
|---|---|
| Internet Service | Displays information about Internet Explorer Web Proxy and Microsoft Outlook Express mail and news configuration. |
| Computer Information | Displays information such as computer name, hardware state and capabilities, as well as operating system name and version information. |
| Modems and Network Adapters | Displays network hardware and software information, including domain, media access control (MAC) address, IP address, and subnet information. |
For more information about Network Diagnostics, click Tools in Help and Support Center.
Network Monitor Capture Utility (Netcap.exe) is a command-line Support Tool that allows a system administrator to monitor network packets and save the information to a capture (.cap) file. On first use, Network Monitor Capture Utility installs the Network Monitor Driver.
You can use information gathered by using Network Monitor Capture Utility to analyze network use patterns and diagnose specific network problems.
For more information about Network Monitor Capture Utility, click Tools in Help and Support Center, and then click Windows Support Tools.
This diagnostic tool displays information about Domain Name System (DNS) servers. To use NSLookup, you must first install the TCP/IP network protocol.
For more information about Nslookup and DNS, see Windows XP Professional Help and Support Center. Also, see Windows 2000 DNS in the TCP/IP Core Networking Guide of the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit and Active Directory Diagnostics, Troubleshooting, and Recovery in the Distributed Systems Guide of the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit.
You can use PathPing (Pathping.exe) to troubleshoot IP connectivity issues. PathPing is a command-line tool that traces network routes. It combines features of Ping (Ping.exe) and Trace Route (Tracert.exe) with features not found in either tool. PathPing sends network packets to each router on the way to a final network destination IP address, and then reports information as the packets travel from one router to another. (This point-to-point travel is also referred to as a hop). Because PathPing shows the degree of packet loss across router segments or links, you can use it to identify routers or links that might be congested and cause network problems.
PathPing first displays the IP addresses of the destination and each router that it crosses. When the packets reach their destination, PathPing computes and displays a summary of network hop statistics. In the example below, the loss rate is displayed as the percentage value at the far right, preceding the | symbol.
The following is a PathPing report.
Tracing route to rly-wxp-pro [7.54.1.196]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
0 rly-srv [172.16.87.35]
1 tstroute1 [172.16.87.218]
2 tstroute2 [192.168.52.1]
3 tstroute3 [192.168.80.1]
4 tstroute4 [7.54.247.14]
5 rly-wxp-pro [7.54.1.196]
Computing statistics for 125 seconds...
Source to Here This Node/Link
Hop RTT Lost/Sent = Pct Lost/Sent = Pct Address
0 rly-srv [172.16.87.35]
0/ 100 = 0% |
1 41ms 0/ 100 = 0% 0/100 = 0% tstroute1 [172.16.87.218]
13/ 100 = 13% |
2 22ms 16/ 100 = 16% 3/100 = 3% tstroute2 [192.168.52.1]
0/ 100 = 0% |
3 24ms 13/ 100 = 13% 0/100 = 0% tstroute3 [192.168.80.1]
0/ 100 = 0% |
4 21ms 14/ 100 = 14% 1/100 = 1% tstroute4 [7.54.247.14]
0/ 100 = 0% |
5 24ms 13/ 100 = 13% 0/100 = 0% rly-wxp-pro [7.54.1.196]
Trace complete.
Analyzing the preceding PathPing report, the link between 172.16.87.218 (hop 1) and 192.168.52.1 (hop 2) has a 13 percent drop-packet rate. Dropped packets represent data that needs to be retransmitted, which adversely affects data throughput. All other links appear to be functioning normally with 0 percent packet-loss rates. Packet loss between the first and second hops could indicate heavy network traffic, congested routers, or slow links.
For information about PathPing (as well as the related Ping and Trace Route tools), see Configuring TCP/IP and Configuring IP Addressing and Name Resolution in this book, and Windows XP Professional Help and Support Center. Also, see the TCP/IP Core Networking Guide of the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit.