Saint Louis University

School of Accountancy, Management. Computing

and Information Studies
1st Semester SY 2021 – 2022

Objectives
1. To become familiar with some of
the commands used
for basic network configuration and
troubleshooting functions on host computers. 2.
To become familiar with some of the
commands used for basic device configuration and troubleshooting.

Part 1: Examining Network Properties Settings

Ipconfig displays all current TCP/IP network configuration values
and refreshes Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Domain
Name System (DNS) settings. Used without parameters, ipconfig
displays the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway for all
adapters. See figure 1.
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\famor>ipconfig

Windows IP Configuration
Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::f5fb:597f:df40:5d4c%10
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Figure 1. ipconfig results

There are several options available with the ipconfig command,

accessible with the command ipconfig/? To show the most information
about the network connections, use the command ipconfig/all. See figure
2.

Part 2: Examining Routes

On host computers, netstat command displays active TCP connections,

ports on which the computer is listening, Ethernet statistics, the IP
routing table, IPv4 statistics (for the IP, ICMP, TCP, and UDP
protocols), and IPv6 statistics (for the IPv6, ICMPv6, TCP over IPv6,
and UDP over IPv6 protocols). Used without parameters, netstat displays
active TCP connections.

There are several options available with the netstat command,

accessible with the command netstat/? . To display the contents of the
IP routing table, use the command netstat –r.

Route command displays and modifies the entries in the local IP routing
table. Used without parameters, route displays help.

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An abbreviated option list for the route command is shown in the table
1.
Table 1 Option list for the route command
route PRINT Prints active routes
route ADD Adds a route: route ADD network mask gateway
route DELETE Deletes a route: route DELETE network
route CHANGE Modifies an existing route

Figure 2. ipconfig /all result

On Cisco routers, show ip route is a common IOS command used to view

the routing table. The route information displayed is much more
detailed than the route information on a host computer. This is to be
expected because the job of a router is to route traffic between
networks. See figure 3.

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Part 3: Testing TCP/IP Network Connectivity
Two tools that are indispensable when testing TCP/IP network
connectivity are ping and tracert.
Ping is a utility for testing IP connectivity between hosts. Ping sends
out requests for responses from a specified host address. Ping uses a
Layer 3 protocol that is a part of the TCP/IP suite called Internet
Control Message Protocol (ICMP). Ping uses an ICMP Echo Request
datagram.

If the host at the specified address receives the Echo request, it

responds with an ICMP Echo Reply datagram. For each packet sent, ping
measures the time required for the reply.

As each response is received, ping provides a display of the time

between the ping being sent and the response received. This is a
measure of network performance. Ping has a timeout value for the
response. If a response is not received within that timeout, ping gives
up and provides a message indicating that a response was not received.

After all the requests are sent, the ping utility provides an output
with a summary of the responses. This output includes the success
rate and average round-trip time to the destination.

Figure 3. show ip route example

Step 1. Access the command prompt

Use the Start menu to open the Command Prompt window. Press Start >
Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt or Start > run > cmd
Step 2. ping the IP address of another computer
In the window, type ping, a space, and the IP address of a computer.

Ping uses the ICMP echo request and echo reply feature to test physical
connectivity. Since ping reports on four attempts, it indicates the
reliability of the connection. Look over the results and verify that
the ping was successful. Is ping successful? If not, perform
appropriate troubleshooting.

Step 3. ping the IP address of the default gateway

Try to ping the IP address of the default gateway. If the ping is
successful, it means there is physical connectivity to the router on
the local network and probably the rest of the world.
Step 4. ping the IP address of a DHCP or DNS server
Try to ping the IP address of any DHCP and/or DNS server.

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Step 5. ping the Loopback IP address of this computer
There are some special testing and verification cases for which we can
use ping. One case is for testing the internal configuration of IP on
the localhost. To perform this test, we ping the special reserve
address of local loopback (127.0.0.1).

A response from 127.0.0.1 indicates that IP is properly installed on

the host. This response comes from the Network layer. This response is
not, however, an indication that the addresses, masks, or gateways are
properly configured. Nor does it indicate anything about the status of
the lower layer of the network stack. This simply tests IP down through
the Network layer of the IP protocol. If we get an error message, it is
an indication that TCP/IP is not operational on the host.

Type the following command: ping 127.0.0.1, was the ping successful?
________

Step 6. ping the hostname of another computer

Try to ping the hostname of the computer of your partner.
Look over the results. Notice that the first line of output shows the
hostname, followed by the IP address. This means the computer was able
to resolve the hostname to an IP address. Without name resolution, the
ping would fail because TCP/IP only understands valid IP addresses, not
names.

If the ping was successful, it means that connectivity and discovery of

IP addresses can be done with only a hostname. This is how many early
networks communicated. If successful, then ping a hostname also shows
that there is probably a WINS server working on the network. WINS
servers or a local “lmhosts” file resolve computer hostnames to IP
addresses. If the ping fails, then chances are there is no NetBIOS name
to IP addresses resolution running.

Step 7. ping the Cisco web site

Type the following command: ping www.cisco.com

Figure 4. Ping result of cisco.com

The first output line shows the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)
followed by the IP address. A Domain Name Service (DNS) server
somewhere in the network was able to resolve the name to an IP address.
DNS servers resolve domain names, not hostnames, to IP addresses. See
figure 4.

Without this name resolution, the ping would have failed because TCP/IP
only understands valid IP addresses. It would not be possible to use
the web browser without this name resolution.

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With DNS, connectivity to computers on the Internet can be verified
using a familiar web address, or domain name, without having to know
the actual IP address. If the nearest DNS server does not know the IP
address, the server asks a DNS server higher in the Internet structure.

Step 8. ping the Microsoft web site

Type the following command: ping www.microsoft.com

Notice that the DNS server was able to resolve the name to an IP
address, but there is no response. Some Microsoft routers are
configured to ignore ping requests. This is a frequently implemented
security measure.

Step 9. Trace the route to the Cisco web site

Type tracert www.cisco.com and press Enter.

tracert is TCP/IP abbreviation for traceroute. tracert uses the same

echo requests and replies as the ping command but in a slightly
different way.

Each router represents a point where one network connects to another

network and the packet was forwarded through.

Step 10. Trace other IP addresses or domain names

Try tracert on other domain names or IP addresses and record the
results. An example is tracert www.msn.de.

Step 11. Trace a local hostname or IP address

Try using the tracert command with a local hostname or IP address. It
should not take long because the trace does not pass through any
routers.
1. Perform a trace for slu.edu.ph. Describe the results.

September 1, 2021
The slu has 14 router to be connected. But in the router number 10
or 11 there is a request time out so meaning that you cant access the
website. Then when we look at the website itself its shows that
connection timeout so therefore you can see here the data path and if
its connected.

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Round Trip Time (RTT)
Using traceroute provides round trip time (RTT) for each hop along the
path and indicates if a hop fails to respond. The round trip time (RTT)
is the time a packet takes to reach the remote host and for the
response from the host to return. An asterisk (*) is used to indicate a
lost packet.

This information can be used to locate a problematic router in the

path. If we get high response times or data losses from a particular
hop, this is an indication that the resources of the router or its
connections may be stressed.

Time to Live (TTL)

Traceroute makes use of a function of the Time to Live (TTL) field in
the Layer 3 header and ICMP Time Exceeded Message. The TTL field is
used to limit the number of hops that a packet can cross. When a packet
enters a router, the TTL field is decremented by 1. When the TTL
reaches zero, a router will not forward the packet and the packet is
dropped.

In addition to dropping the packet, the router normally sends an ICMP

Time Exceeded message addressed to the originating host. This ICMP
message will contain the IP address of the router that responded.

The first sequence of messages sent from traceroute will have a TTL
field of one. This causes the TTL to time out the packet at the first
router. This router then responds with an ICMP message. Traceroute now
has the address of the first hop.

Traceroute then progressively increments the TTL field (2, 3, 4...) for
each sequence of messages. This provides the trace with the address of
each hop as the packets timeout further down the path. The TTL field
continues to be increased until the destination is reached or it is
incremented to a predefined maximum.

Once the final destination is reached, the host responds with either an
ICMP Port Unreachable message or an ICMP Echo Reply message instead of
the ICMP Time Exceeded message.

Step 12. Help for ping and tracert commands

Try tracert -? and then ping -? to see the options available for the
commands used previously.

More importantly, notice the two commands to stop it:

• Control-Break; Control-C
These two-key commands are common for stopping runaway activities. Try
pinging a neighboring computer with the -t option and then try the
Control-Break and Control-C features.

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Activity.

2. When do you use the ping command?

In general idea, ping is for checking the connectivity of the home

computer to the other computer. In other words, ping is used to
troubleshoot the connection of two machines.

3. When do you use the tracert command?

Tracert is does have more information than the ping. This will show
you the path of the connection and how fast this connection can travel
between two machines. This is used to keep track of the path and see if
the machine is working.

4. What is the result of an ipconfig/all command?

This displays all the TCP/IP network config.

5. What is the difference between ipconfig and ifconfig?

Ipconfig can run in windows and the ifconfig is a unix base network
configuration.

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