We all encounter minor or major issues with the WLAN on a daily basis. There may be issues with a specific application performance, or slow connections. To fix these issues we involve Network Engineers who live and breathe troubleshooting.
To be an effective troubleshooter, one has to follow a step-by-step method to get to the root cause of the issue. CWNP recommend the following Industry best practices in a 4 step approach:
- Identify the issue
- Find the primary cause of the issue
- Fix the issue
- Document the resolution
In the first step, which is more of an information gathering phase, a troubleshooter needs to understand the real problem. To do this, he/she will need to gather information (what, when and why) from the user/s experiencing the problem and all other helpful resources (Help desk for ex.). There may be times when you will encounter other problems while fixing the one at hand.
In the 2nd step, the main troubleshooting begins. Here the goal is to find the underlying issue. To get there an engineer will need to have or follow a strategic approach. For example, He may start from the physical layer and go up the OSI 7 layer ladder, also called the bottoms up approach or he may start from the application layer and come down each layer, also called Top down approach. Remember, WLAN issues are mostly at the bottom two layers of the OSI stack so bottoms up may be more helpful.
Once we identify the cause, we go on to fix it. It may be a simple thing that could be be fixed instantly or may require more effort and money to fix such as increasing the coverage area that may require installation of more Access Points.
Last, but not the least, DO NOT forget to document the issue and its resolution. This will help cut down the troubleshooting time, next time the same or similar issues arises. Documentation will also help in case the troubleshooting resource leaves the job for some reason as you will not have to recreate the wheel.
Examples of Some Common Problems:
Connection Problems
RF Interference
AP failure
Incompatible WiFi Radios
Misconfiguration of WiFi devices
Firmware issues
Improper Antenna installations