11.10 Summary

Every network will have problems. This chapter discusses the tools and techniques that can help you recover from these problems, and the planning and monitoring that can help avoid them. A solution is sometimes obvious if you can just gain enough information about the problem. UNIX provides several built-in software tools that can help you gather information about system configuration, addressing, routing, name service and other vital network components. Gather your tools and learn how to use them before a breakdown occurs.

In the next chapter, we talk about another task that is important to the maintenance of a reliable network: keeping your network secure.