Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure1-1
General Problem-Solving Model
The following steps detail the problem-solving process outlined in Figure 1-1:
When analyzing a network problem, make a clear problem statement. You should define the problem in
terms of a set of symptoms and potential causes.
To properly analyze the problem, identify the general symptoms and then ascertain what kinds of
problems (causes) could result in these symptoms. For example, hosts might not be responding to service
requests from clients (a symptom). Possible causes might include a misconfigured host, bad interface
cards, or missing router configuration commands.
Step 1
Gather the facts that you need to help isolate possible causes.
Ask questions of affected users, network administrators, managers, and other key people. Collect
information from sources such as network management systems, protocol analyzer traces, output from
router diagnostic commands, or software release notes.
Step 2
Consider possible problems based on the facts that you gathered. Using the facts, you can eliminate some
of the potential problems from your list.
Depending on the data, for example, you might be able to eliminate hardware as a problem so that you
can focus on software problems. At every opportunity, try to narrow the number of potential problems
so that you can create an efficient plan of action.
Step 3
Create an action plan based on the remaining potential problems. Begin with the most likely problem,
and devise a plan in which only one variable is manipulated.
Changing only one variable at a time enables you to reproduce a given solution to a specific problem. If
you alter more than one variable simultaneously, you might solve the problem, but identifying the
specific change that eliminated the symptom becomes far more difficult and will not help you solve the
same problem if it occurs in the future.
Step 4
