Tracing network issues

It's amazing how important TCP/IP networking is to the world today. Of all the protocols in use in modern computing, it's by far the most widespread. But it's also one of the most annoying situations to figure out when it's not working well. Thankfully, Ubuntu features really handy utilities you can use in order to pinpoint what's going on.

First, let's look at connectivity. After all, if you can't connect to a network, your server is essentially completely useless. In most cases, Ubuntu recognizes just about all network cards without fail, and it will automatically connect your server or workstation to your network if it is within reach of a DHCP server. While troubleshooting, get the obvious stuff out of the way first. The following may seem like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how often one can miss something obvious. I'm going to assume you've already checked to make sure network cables are plugged in tight...