Get Off Your Butt and Go for A Walk!

One of the key points I occasionally make when teaching, presenting or writing, is that sometimes you need to stop looking at your red light/green light monitoring system, stop pinging, and please stop rebooting equipment! Nothing replaces getting out there and physically looking at the problem.

In my 30+ years of troubleshooting, I can not tell you how many times the problem looked obvious when I physically got out there to investigate the problem. I've seen a ladder leaned up against a breaker, cables pressed up against power buttons, equipment hanging in a bag that was powered on
causing the bag to melt around it, excess cabling wrapped around an arc welder, cables pinched in doors, cables spliced and wrapped in electrical tape, trust me, the list goes on.

In this case, some wireless equipment had a poor signal and the technicians were rebooting it, checking for noise, etc. I then found out that the signal went out of wack after a wind storm, so I climbed up (why I'm huffing and puffing a bit) and sure enough the bolts on the bracket that stabilizes the tower had come loose.

Before you comment that "sometimes its not possible to go out everywhere", i simply counter that argument with "use your tech" use Zoom, facetime, or ask someone there to take photos/videos. Trust me, its better than nothing.

SNMP DISCOVERY & INVENTORY

 

The most common question I get asked is “When troubleshooting, where do you start?”.

Other than the "client interview", the answer is simple, “start with an inventory”. When I say “Inventory” it is an all-encompassing term. It covers the physical equipment, connectivity, layer 2, 3, and any other layer it takes to get from point a to point b. Many times we can get a 'visual' from the client interview but other times we need more info, or have to confirm what they believe is out there.

“Its Dead Jim” Looking into a SSID Issue With My NetAlly Aircheck G2

When troubleshooting WiFi issues, the last thing I want to do is worry about having issues with my laptop and trying to figure out how to do specific things.

For example, if you have 5 access points with the same SSID, can you connect to a specific BSSID using your Windows, Linux, Android or MAC for testing?

Wireshark Windows Vs Linux

I have always enjoyed testing tools in my lab. For those of you who have followed me over the years, know that I always say that you should ‘know your tools’. I know this sounds obvious but trust me, it is anything but obvious.

For example, you have a relatively new laptop with 8 GB or RAM, i7 processor and 1 Gb Ethernet adapter. So, you would think that you should be able to capture traffic up to 1 Gbps, right? Wrong!!

Packet Capture Accuracy

This is a great example of ‘knowing your tool’ or ‘tool calibration’. Regardless of what you want to call it, it is important that you test your tools to ensure their accuracy.

In most cases analysts are turning to their laptops with either Windows, Linux or MAC OS as a tool of choice since laptops are might lighter, have increased battery life, more powerful and convenient to store results.

Unfortunately, convenience might come at a price. A good example would be to ask yourself if your laptop capture packets at various rates and packet sizes. Along with this question, should be a follow up to investigate how accurate your tool of choice is.