Need some advice on learning networking

[KenB]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

Can someone here pro vs con running windows 10 in a virtually. Vs from a windows terminal server environment...???

I'm not sure, but I think at least some of the newer Fieries that are Windows based are actually running Windows on a Linux based VM, but don't hold me to it.

I recall seeing on the startup screens (they move by very quickly) that a Linux session was starting, then quickly Windoze kicked in.

I'd be very interested to hear other thoughts on that. I may be out in left field here; it wouldn't be the first time.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

I want to start off this thread by thanking everyone that helped educate me on networking a copier. I really started off understanding very little. While I don't claim to be an expert I do feel like I have a solid foundation to build on.

Here's what I learned:


There are many different ways to network a copier.

You can use DHCP.

You can reserve IP addresses for DHCP.

You can set the DHCP range.

I learned about resolving the hostname to an IP address.

I learned about DNS cache and time to live. I learned about flushing DNS and how it sometimes needs to be done.

I learned how to use command prompt for troubleshooting network problems.

I even learned about A-records.

You can print using the hostname instead of an IP address.

I learned about the firewall settings and virus protection programs blocking Scan to SMB. And other things that can block scan to SMB.

There's a lot of other things that I learned but the list is getting too long. It was a lot of work understanding this stuff.

But at the end of the day I believe that the best way to network a copier is by using a dedicated IP address.

[bsm2]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

[n25an]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

I find all of this stuff highly interesting. My problem is trying to prioritize all of this stuff. I feel like Ive learned a lot, yet i know I still have a long ways to go. I think my next purchase will be a Windows Server. Probably a Dell.

I tried buying the server too but it really didn't help... what you really need to do is get comfortable with setting up the different roles of a server.. get a desktop pc for like $50 to $100 bucks make sure its got 4gig of ram and install additional network card and then install windows server (2003, 2008, 2012, 2016... they all work a bit differently... just pick one... )on it... and then try each role... and get a feel for it... but I warn you... its a rabbit hole... just getting each role right is an ordeal in itself and you really won't find much use for it in connectivity...if anything... try and learn about active directory doing that... that might be useful... as for linux... there are linux servers software out there free... like ubuntu server and the like... but if you know how to install print drivers on linux from the commandline... that should pretty much be good enough... any further and you are venturing into network administrator territory... its good to know but you wont find a use for it in connectivity... and again its a rabbit hole... in other words a world onto itself... and for connectivity you find diminishing returns... I would say this... what might be useful is to learn about managed switches... like getting a cheap citrix managed switch... and learn how to configure it... so that if you are faced with one... you can atleast explain to the it guy whats going on and why he might need to reset the switch or reboot certain ports... but again diminishing returns... in other words... there comes a point that its no longer for work and just for fun and it eventually leads into some wierd time wasters... that leaves you wondering why the heck am I doing this... been there... done that... got the t shirt...

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

How come you guys didn't tell me about "ipconfig/displaydns"?

Now this command is pretty cool and I stumbled across it by accident.

Besides showing you every website that you have visited, it also shows the 'A' records....which is merely another name for the host records.

I've only played around with this for a little while but it seems to me that this is a great troubleshooting resource.

EDIT: Does anyone remember me saying that I made an entry in the 'host file' to resolve the hostname of a printer to an IP address?

I noticed when I ran ipconfig/displaydns that it automatically showed that...even after I flushed the DNS files. So, slim was right....that overrides everything....it's gonna look in there first. But I see a potential problem....what if I change the IP address of the copier? What then? I may have to try it out just to see what happens.

[bsm2]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

How come you guys didn't tell me about "ipconfig/displaydns"?

Now this command is pretty cool and I stumbled across it by accident.

Besides showing you every website that you have visited, it also shows the 'A' records....which is merely another name for the host records.

I've only played around with this for a little while but it seems to me that this is a great troubleshooting resource.

Glad your excited but not really used for copier troubleshooting

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

Glad your excited but not really used for copier troubleshooting

I wish I was more experienced so I could argue with you about this.

On a serious note, I'm not so sure about that.

[bsm2]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

I wish I was more experienced so I could argue with you about this.

On a serious note, I'm not so sure about that.

No worries lots and lots of cmd tools

Ipconfig
Ipconfig /all
ping
ping -t

Have a great day.

[n25an]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

Glad your excited but not really used for copier troubleshooting

I agree I have never used it myself... 15 years... knock on wood...

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

I agree I have never used it myself... 15 years... knock on wood...

Point taken, but one thing it will show is if the hostname is being resolved to an IP address. That seems like a bit of valuable information to me if you're not able to print to a hostname. Could be wrong. Probably am. lol


show dns.JPG

[bsm2]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

Point taken, but one thing it will show is if the hostname is being resolved to an IP address. That seems like a bit of valuable information to me if you're not able to print to a hostname. Could be wrong. Probably am. lol

Only had 1 account print to hostname in all my installs not very common and not the recommend way to to setup to print by any copier manufacturer.
Stick with the best practices there always a goat in there on most installs.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

Only had 1 account print to hostname in all my installs not very common and not the recommend way to to setup to print by any copier manufacturer.
Stick with the best practices there always a goat in there on most installs

Hey, I absolutely agree with you that the best way to network a copier is with static IP address. But that's easy to understand. I'm trying go beyond that and hostnames are used for a lot of other devices and understanding A-records, TTL (time to live), ect., is interesting and if nothing else I've gained a lot of information that I'll never use.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

I've seen several posts on this site complaining about slow printing and often times the recommended troubleshooting method that is suggested is to do a continuous ping. That got me to thinking....

1. When you do a continuous ping you have to sit in front of the computer and how long are we willing to sit there?

2. What if the connection only slows down during certain hours of the day...when there's high network traffic. Are we gonna sit there for hours and monitor continuous ping? I wouldn't think so.

3. I figured there had to be a better way.

4. I ran across several ping tools that are designed to ping an IP address or hostname for the amount of time specified and it provides much more information than continuous ping.

I downloaded EMCO ping monitoring tool. You can run the tool for as long as you want and it will give all kinds of ping statistics and even alert by email when there's a problem.


Has anyone ever used this? What are you thoughts on this? Thanks in advance.

[BillyCarpenter]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

I attached an image that shows SOME of the information given when using EMCO Ping Monitor:


ping stats.JPG

[KenB]

Re: Need some advice on learning networking

I've seen several posts on this site complaining about slow printing and often times the recommended troubleshooting method that is suggested is to do a continuous ping. That got me to thinking....

1. When you do a continuous ping you have to sit in front of the computer and how long are we willing to sit there?

2. What if the connection only slows down during certain hours of the day...when there's high network traffic. Are we gonna sit there for hours and monitor continuous ping? I wouldn't think so.

3. I figured there had to be a better way.

4. I ran across several ping tools that are designed to ping an IP address or hostname for the amount of time specified and it provides much more information than continuous ping.

I downloaded EMCO ping monitoring tool. You can run the tool for as long as you want and it will give all kinds of ping statistics and even alert by email when there's a problem.


Has anyone ever used this? What are you thoughts on this? Thanks in advance.

If you ping with the "-n" switch, you can ping a specified number of times. For example, "ping 192.168.1.10 -n 10" will ping 10 times, then stop.

You can also direct the results to a file. For example: "ping 192.168.1.10 -n >c:\pingtest.txt". You will need to run "cmd" as administrator for this, else you will likely get an "access denied" error. You can then drop the resulting file into Excel and look for high response times or failures.

You would need tools outside of the command line if you want to know the time of the pings.

On a somewhat unrelated note, there are actually some Excel plug ins to work with IP issues, such as KuTools. Not free, but not expensive, and there is is trial version. I have actually used it to sort a long list of IP addresses (about 4,000), as Excel cannot natively sort them due to the periods between octets. You can get crafty with some really painful formulas, text to columns or even some VBA code, but the KuTools utility makes life much simpler. KuTools actually shows you how to do so on their site: How to quickly sort IP address from low to high in Excel?

Note that KuTools will NOT put timestamps on ping results, as it is not a network tool.

BTW...Any coders out there would probably snicker at how easy all this would be to do with a simple app. I figure about an hour in Python or C#.