Preparatory Steps: Baselining Your Network

Preparatory steps? How can you prepare to troubleshoot? Surely troubleshooting is purely activity, you might be thinking. It can be, but you can do a number of things so that, when problems do arise, you are prepared.

A first step is to prepare a detailed network topology diagram or diagrams. This diagram should include information such as device types, names, addresses, routing protocols, routing protocol autonomous systems, and link types.

You should also gather information including device configurations, software versions (IOS / CatOS), and performance statistics, such as utilization and error rates. Finally, make sure that you have a solid understanding of the technologies and protocols deployed in your network.

Once you have all this information and have a good understanding of your network, you'll be able to spot and troubleshoot network problems much more easily.