Chapter 1:

Troubleshooting Methods

CCNP TSHOOT: Maintaining and Troubleshooting IP Networks

TSHOOT v7 Chapter 1
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Chapter 1 Objectives
 Troubleshooting principles
 Common troubleshooting approaches
 Troubleshooting example using six different
approaches

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 Troubleshooting Principles
 Troubleshooting is the process that leads to the
diagnosis and, if possible, resolution of a problem.
 Troubleshooting is usually triggered when a person
reports a problem.
 Some people say that a problem does not exist until it
is noticed, perceived as a problem, and reported as a
problem. This implies that you need to differentiate
between a problem, as experienced by the user, and
the actual cause of that problem.
 Reporting user generally equates the problem to the
symptoms, whereas the troubleshooter often equates
the problem to the root cause

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Troubleshooting Approach

Gathering information: Gathering information happens after the problem has

been reported. Usually, the problem report does not contain enough information to
formulate a good hypothesis without first gathering more information.

Analyzing information: After the gathered information has been analyzed, the
troubleshooter compares the symptoms against his knowledge of the system,
processes, and baselines to separate normal behavior from abnormal behavior.

Eliminating possible causes: By comparing the observed behavior against

expected behavior, some of the possible problem causes are eliminated.
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 Troubleshooting Approach

Formulating/proposing a hypothesis: After gathering and analyzing information

and eliminating the possible causes, one or more potential problem causes
remain. The most likely cause is proposed as the hypothetical cause of the
problem.

Testing the hypothesis: The hypothesis must be tested to confirm or deny that it
is the actual cause of the problem.

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Unstructured Troubleshooting Approaches

 Shoot-from-the-Hip

After a very short period of gathering information, taking this approach, the
troubleshooter quickly makes a change to see if it solves the problem.

This technique might be quite effective for the experienced troubleshooter

most times, but it usually does not yield the same results for the
inexperienced troubleshooter.

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 Structured Troubleshooting Approaches
 Top-down

 Bottom-up

 Divide-and-conquer

 Follow-the-path

 Spot-the-differences

 Move-the-problem

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Top-down Approach

 One of the most important characteristics of the OSI model is that each
layer depends on the underlying layers for its operation. This implies that
if you find a layer to be operational, you can safely assume that all
underlying layers are fully operational as well.
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 Bottom-Up Troubleshooting Approach

 In this approach, you work your way layer by layer up toward the
application layer and verify that relevant network elements are operating
correctly. You try to eliminate more and more potential problem causes
so that you can narrow down the scope of the potential problems.
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Divide-and-Conquer Troubleshooting Approach

 The divide-and-conquer troubleshooting approach strikes a balance between

the top-down and bottom-up troubleshooting approaches. If it is not clear
which of the top-down or bottom-up approaches will be more effective for a
particular problem, an alternative is to start in the middle, usually from the
network layer.
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 Follow-the-Path Troubleshooting Approach

 The follow-the-path approach first discovers the actual traffic path all the way
from source to destination. Next, the scope of troubleshooting is reduced to
just the links and devices that are actually in the forwarding path. The
principle of this approach is to eliminate the links and devices that are
irrelevant to the troubleshooting task at hand.
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Compare-Configurations Troubleshooting
Approach

 By comparing configurations, software versions, hardware, or other device

properties between working and nonworking situations and spotting
significant differences between them, this approach attempts to resolve the
problem by changing the nonoperational elements to be consistent with the
working ones.
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 Swap-Components Troubleshooting Approach

 Also called move-the-problem, the swap-components approach is a very

elementary troubleshooting technique that you can use for problem isolation:
You physically swap components and observe whether the problem stays in
place, moves with the component, or disappears entirely.

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Chapter 1 Summary
The fundamental elements of a troubleshooting process are as
follows:
 Defining the problem
 Gathering information
 Analyzing information
 Eliminating possible causes
 Formulating a hypothesis
 Testing the hypothesis
 Solving the problem
Some commonly used troubleshooting approaches are as
follows:
 Top-down
 Bottom-up
 Divide-and-conquer
 Follow-the-path
 Compare-configurations
 Swap-components
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 Discussion
 Troubleshooting Example Using Six Different
Approaches

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 Acknowledgment
• Some of the texts and images are from Troubleshooting and Maintaining Cisco
IP Networks (TSHOOT) Foundation Learning Guide by Amir Ranjbar
(158720455X)
• Copyright © 2015 – 2016 Cisco Systems, Inc.
• Special Thanks to Bruno Silva

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