Tap Tool setup for Multi-trace Analysis

When working with clients troubleshooting, training, or whatever they need, the topic of multi-trace analysis comes up. In some cases, the client suspects a device is dropping packets, wants to measure the latency across a device or link, or lastly wants to take a baseline measurement for their network management system.

As you well know, there are many ways to accomplish this but in this case, I am usually asked within the context of packet analysis or using multi-traces.

Offloading and Wireshark

I was troubleshooting with a client and they noticed that the client was sending 6k frames and seeing a lot of TCP ack errors. They asked me to look into it.

I immediately recognized what was going on and explained that most current network interfaces support offloading. This is basically where the protocol driver offloads processing to the network controller.

Wi-Fi Survey Basics

Based on your feedback, I’ve been putting together various videos explaining how to test and survey Wi-Fi.

Then I thought, why not get off my butt 😉 and go for a walk to show you some of the tips and tricks instead. I thought it was a fun and different way to convey some info.

Industrial Network Infrastructure

The industrial business sector is evolving, for this reason, organizations need to upgrade their network infrastructure and connectivity between industrial assets, local, central applications, and systems. As they adapt, challenges arise from multiple domains, such as traffic visibility, network security, and performance.

Ethernet Cable Troubleshooting: Why a Gigabit Link Was Only Running at 100 Mbps

A network connection that should be running at 1 Gbps but consistently negotiates at 100 Mbps is a classic physical-layer troubleshooting problem. The switches may both support Gigabit Ethernet, the configuration may look correct, and yet the link refuses to operate at the expected speed. That's exactly what happened during this troubleshooting job. Rather than immediately replacing the switches or changing configuration settings, I started at the physical layer and worked through the cable path. The investigation eventually uncovered a hidden Ethernet connection that was the likely cause of the problem.