To Network Engineers out there, those four simple words evolve into the worst statement ever. My email is not emailing, it’s a network problem; the internet is slow, it’s a network problem; the actors/actresses are not sexy enough in this movie, it’s a network problem…
When is it ever not a network problem??? It’s seems like it’s the easiest area to blame all problems on, right?…probably because it’s this space filled with questions, raised eyebrows and higher grade terminology used deliberately to confuse the weak and befuddle the brave…
Well, I hope to, in this journey you are about to take with me, de-mystify the world of networks for you…at least I hope to try…
What is a network?
A network in the simplest of terms is a group of connected thingymajiggy’s (well known as electronic devices) that share common resources and information. The electronic device can be a laptop, a pc, a printer, a mobile phone, a television, and yes even your fridge. If you haven’t already realised it, you are using the biggest network in the world right now, reading this piece…yes we all love it and call it affectionately “The Internet” / “the world wide web”/ “The Net”.
To hone in the understanding of networks, let us take a smaller look at networking and break this down a bit further.
Let us paint the scenario, shall we…
It’s assignment season…You are armed with your sturdy laptop and you have just finished typing your final year assignment. You click “save”. The little hour glass icon dances around for a bit and bam…just like that, your hard earned effort is loaded into the matrix. But wait, you realise that your lecturer is pretty old school and likes things printed…(i know what you’re thinking, does he recycle? I DON’T KNOW!), either way, you need to print your assignment before its too late to submit. Your printer is connected via cable to your home router (the little box in your house with a couple of cables connected to it and flashing lights). Your laptop is connected to the Home Wifi . Holding breath, dramatic pause…The moment… The assignment needs to get from your laptop to the printer. You click the “print” button….and you slowly turn your gaze onto the printer….and then….silence….that awkward moment when you may very well have a network problem…eeek!
Let us take a break from the scenario to explain the purpose of why networks exist. Computers were invented to capture information, process information and store information. Networks were then invented to share information between the various computers that stored this information. Getting information from one computer/device to another was and still is the sole purpose for the existence of networks till this very day. Information is converted into, what the tech industry calls binary, which is then turned into electrical signals that travel on various types of media like copper cables, fibre cables and no cables (wireless) from one device to the next.
In order to achieve this objective, each device needs to know of the existence of the next device. This is achieved by each device telling every device about its physical address (also known as the MAC or media access control address). The MAC address is essential for information to flow from device to device in a local area network (LAN). When we move beyond the local area network we start getting into the topic of logical addresses also famously known as the IP Address (Internet Protocol Address).
A Local Area Network can be defined as a group of electronic devices connected to the same wired network device or same wireless network name. These network devices have evolved over the years to become more and more intelligent in the way it moves information from one device to another… But that’s another topic for another day…
So when someone says it’s a network problem, I always, this is important, start to grin ever so slightly and respond with the following kind questions:
- What is the objective that you are trying to achieve here?
- What in your opinion is not happening correctly?
These very simple questions will often at a 99.9 % success rate always arm the Network Engineer with two very valuable pieces of information, namely:
- The Source device and
- The Destination device
It’s all very easy from there, if you are the actual network administrator for the network in question. Although, If you don’t already administer the network where the problem occurs, and in most scenarios, this is the case, you may need to follow up those questions with a few more questions, like (Oh, by the way this is when that family member comes to you with their technology problem because they think you know the answer):
- Is the device you are trying to connect too switched on?
- Are both the source and destination devices connected to the network?
- Can you see the lights flashing on the network device?
- What are the IP addresses of the source and destination devices?
There is one important point to take away from this story, which is, there is a very urgent need to separate facts from assumptions and then vitally important to build your understanding of the situation from only the facts of the story. With a keen eye on Networking basics and a clear understanding of the “network problem”, solving it becomes a walk in the park.
I will cover a few network troubleshooting techniques in my next post…stay connected…