Layered troubleshooting from the user's computer
Work up the stack from the user's PC (link, IP settings, gateway, beyond the gateway, DNS, the application port, proxy and sign-in) to find exactly where connectivity breaks.
- Level
- Beginner
- Length
- About 45 minutes
- Contents
- 3 lessons · 1 video · final exam
- Status
- Published · updated 1 Oct 2026
Skills you'll practise
- Test connectivity layer by layer from a Windows client in a logical order
- Use divide and conquer to decide which half of the path is faulty
- Explain what each result (success or failure) rules in and rules out
- Name the next test after each result
Course outline
- 1.Layered troubleshooting from the user's computerVideo · 5 min
- 2.The client-side ladderLesson · 14 min
- 3.Divide and conquer, and what each result meansLesson · 12 min
- 4.When test results disagreeLesson · 13 min
- 5.Layered troubleshooting from the user's computer: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 16 questions
- 6.Layered troubleshooting from the user's computer: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
- 7.Reaches servers by IP but not by nameScenario
- 8.Final exam7 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out
Sources it draws on
The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.
- RFC 1122: Requirements for Internet Hosts: Communication Layers
- Microsoft Learn: Troubleshoot TCP/IP connectivity
- OSI reference model (ISO/IEC 7498-1)
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