Content

| 2.3 |  | Gathering Symptoms |
| 2.3.3 |  | Gathering symptoms from an end-user: software |

When gathering symptoms for probable software configuration problems, a troubleshooter should start at the last known point where the network functioned correctly. If an end-user station can successfully ping the gateway but not the DNS server on another network segment, then an entire set of potential problems associated with the physical layer at the user-site can be eliminated. Effective questioning techniques can discover this type of information without requiring a trip to the end-user location. The commands shown in the figure can be used to check the status of various devices and be used to determine which configuration aspects to inspect.

The troubleshooter should use effective questioning techniques to document the symptoms of a problem:

- Ask questions that are pertinent to the problem.
- Use each question as a means to either eliminate or discover possible problems.
- Speak at a technical level that the user can understand.
- Ask the user when the problem was first noticed.
- Ask the user to re-create the problem, if possible.
- Determine the sequence of events that took place before the problem happened.
- Match the symptoms that the user describes with common problem causes.