Your networking toolbox

Whether you are a server administrator, a network administrator, or a combination of the two, there are a number of tools that are useful for testing and monitoring network connections within the Windows Server world. Some of these tools are baked right into the operating system and can be used from the Command Prompt or PowerShell, and others are more expansive graphical interfaces that require installation before running. The following are the built-in Windows network tools that we are going to look at:

• ping
• tracert
• pathping
• Test-Connection
• telnet
• Test-NetConnection

All of these tools are free and included out of the box, so you have no excuse to delay getting acquainted with these helpful utilities.

ping

Even the newest IT pros are usually familiar with this one. ping is a command that you can utilize from a Command Prompt or PowerShell, and it is simply used to query a DNS name and/or IP address to find out whether it responds. ping is, and has always been...