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Information Systems Department
Discover IS

IT Networking

IT Networking consists of connecting multiple devices(computers, smart phones, smart watches…etc.) onto a single interconnected framework. Networks are how information is transmitted to one device to another. They are run and maintained by Network administrators.

In the following activities, you will learn two techniques that are used by Network Administrators to determine wi-fi signal strength and to troubleshoot(identify problems) in a network.

Network Setup
Network Troubleshooting

For this exercise you will be learning how to heat map a computer network. What does that mean? For this exercise, heatmapping is a way to graphically represent the signal strengths of a network at different location in a building.

For example, have you ever noticed that you can’t connect to the wireless for the buildings on campus until you get close? With a heat map, you can visually see how close you need to be to the building to receive wireless signal.

For this exercise do the following.

  1. Download and install Ekahau HeatMapper
  2. Download a copy of the Tanner Buildings floor plan
  3. Go to the Tanner Building and stand outside of room 110
  4. Open Ekahau HeatMapper and click “I have a map image” and select the floor layout image you downloaded in step 2
  5. As you walk through the tanner building, click on your location. Ekahau HeatMapper will provide you with a Map of the wireless strength in the building signal

How do you read a heat map?

The general rule of thumb is the more “green” a spot is on the map, the stronger your wifi signal is. Likewise, the more “red” the worse it is. Network Administrators can use these maps to determine where they should physically place the computers and routers for a business to ensure everyone can access the internet.

This exercise requires a little more technical understanding to do. Have no fear, we will explain it all.

The internet is made up of millions of devices connected in a giant network. Information is passed between these devices in “chunks” called packets. For this activity we are going to see what devices a packet has to go through in order to reach google.com

Note, the instructions for this activity is for Windows Operating Systems. However the instructions to execute the commands found in this exercise can be found here.

Do the following to finish the exercise.

  1. Press the Windows Key and type “cmd”
  2. Click “Command Prompt”
  3. You should see a page that looks like this(Click the image for full screen)
  4. Type tracert google.com and hit enter. Wait until you see the message “Trace complete”
  5. You should see an image like the following(Click the image for full screen)

What am I looking at?

The tracert command is used to “trace” the path a packet(information) takes as it goes from one node(computer/device) to another. Each line of the output you are seeing represents a device. The first line is your router. The last line is the goolge.com server.

Okay, but what does this have to do with network troubleshooting?

In this case, not a lot. But the tracert command can be a helpful tool for determine which device(s) between your computer an another device are making your network connection slow.

For example, see all of the numbers with the letters “ms” next to them? They represent the time needed to travel to that device and back. If they are ever above 150ms it means that the device on that line is probably causing network slowness.

In the Information systems program, you will learn more about what tracert can tell you as well as many other commands. You will also learn how information is passed from one device/network to another and how it’s possible to access information over the internet.