HowtoMatrix

In this Internet-connected world it is an essential skill to know how to troubleshoot network problems. High-quality software suites exist to do the job but can easily cost in excess of tens of thousands of dollars. With a handful of absolutely free open source tools you can do it yourself – on any computer anywhere in the world.

Sound thinking says you should use the best tool for the job, and the best tool may well be a commercial solution. Yet, open source lets you "trial" an app, without restriction and without any time limit. If it doesn’t work for you, you haven’t spent a cent. Additionally, you can use open source utilities and give them up if something better comes along. Often, spending money on a bad product makes you feel emotionally compelled to keep using that product simply because of the financial investment you made.

And, something that money can’t buy is a third very good reason to learn open source apps: they can be used anywhere, on any machine. If you have to resolve a problem on your brother’s ancient clunking computer, you are assured ping will always be there. If you are stuck in a remote office without your laptop you can always download tcpdump. So long as you have access to a working web browser, unrestricted utilities are always at hand.

What’s great is most all of these come bundled with your favourite Linux distro. But even if you’re still stuck in the Windows world, you’ll find the majority can still be downloaded and used making them even more versatile and worthwhile. Or, even better, make yourself a Live Linux CD or USB stick and boot it up on any system to perform all your faultfinding in a known, secure environment.

The five tools we’ll cover here are ping, traceroute, netstat, tcpdump and MRTG.
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