Title: Common TCP/IP Commands
Course: 2016FA-MCO-110-401 > Section: Module 9: Networking

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As with any complex network of machines, there will come a time when performance is impacted and an you must do some troubleshooting. To do this, there are basic commands that are included in all operating systems for use in basic command line shells. Some of these commands and their purposes are as follows:

PING – This command tests the connection between two hosts using ICMP to determine if the remote machine can receive the test packet and reply. Results are reported in milliseconds, giving a measure of how fast the packet was sent and a reply received. This is a great indicator of network path health.

TRACERT – Commonly known as trace route, this command displays the pathway taken by a packet to reach a destination. This command returns the name/IP of each hop used to reach a destination. This can be used to determine the point of failure during a transmission.

NETSTAT – This provides a view of the Network Statistics: network connections (both inbound and outbound), routing tables, as well as specific information about the amount of inbound/outbound traffic.

IPCONFIG – This command provides information about the current network configuration on a host machine.  Sub-functions of this command can be utilized to modify and reset current network parameters. This is one of the most useful commands when performing initial troubleshooting of a localized network issue.

ARP –This command allows a host terminal to view a table of locally resolved hardware, or MAC, addresses on a network. This would be used when trying to resolve an address resolution issue. This table is updated as you access different remote hosts and the ARP command allows you to review a listing of recently resolved addresses as well as clear the table should an address have been reconfigured. This will allow the host terminal to learn the new address and update its ARP database for future requests.

Objectives met:
- C9
- 9.7