TCP/IP in Windows 2000 Professional

Many network troubleshooting tools are available to assist in diagnosing TCP/IP problems for Windows 2000 Professional. This section summarizes the most common and most helpful tools included with the operating system, and provides an organized approach for deploying them.

Assess the situation.    After assessing the TCP/IP problem, create a plan to determine the true nature of the problem: IP addressing and routing, host name resolution, NetBIOS name resolution, or IP security. A flowchart is provided to assist you in this task in Figures 22.24 through 22.26. See TCP/IP Troubleshooting Overview in this chapter.

Determine and obtain required troubleshooting tools.    After you have determined the possible source of the problem, obtain the tools that you need to prove your hypothesis and resolve the problem. See TCP/IP Troubleshooting Tools in this chapter.

Determine and resolve name resolution problems.    First, determine whether the error condition was caused by a failure in host (for example, www.reskit.com) or NetBIOS (for example, \\computername) name resolution. Use the tools to determine the nature of the IP-to-name resolution problem. See Troubleshooting Name Resolution in this chapter.

Determine and resolve IP addressing problems.    If name resolution is not the nature of the TCP/IP problem, verify that IP addressing, routing, IP security and filtering have been correctly configured on the Windows 2000 Professional– based client. Additionally, confirm that the route to the remote computer is properly configured and available. See Troubleshooting IP Addressing in this chapter.

Determine and resolve IP routing problems.    If the nature of the TCP/IP problem occurs outside the current subnet, or is related to access of a remote host or router, verify the configuration of the routing table gateways, and check the status of routers along the route path. See Troubleshooting Routing in this chapter.