Wide Area Network Integrity

This is not as scary as it sounds. If the wide area network link to the District Office Services is down , then you have only a couple of possibilities.

Phone bill not paid...or the main MPOE cable is disconnected. Check the telephone cable lines from the street to the MDF, and then over to the IDF in the ADMIN building, if the service is disrupted at any point then it should be obvious where the service is down. Use sequential logic to trace the backbone cables and find the break.

With any trouble shooting situation start with the very end and eliminate the possibilties in a widening circle,

This should include checking connectors, cables, power connections first on all distribution devices like switches and patch panels. If there is no apparent problem at the campus side of the WAN, then call Richard to assist you with evaluating the probem.

Backbone/ Local Area Network Integrity

Use common sense here. If a client PC is not connected, check the cable where it's connect to the NIC, then the wall connector. Open Ipconfig and run a renew / release routine to see if the DHCP server is responding. If not , then check the NIC by pinging "colevall.ipowermysql.com" or 127.0.0.1 to determine if the NIC is OK. Are other devices in the same segment able to connect? If so the problem may be local to the PC.

If other devices in the same segment are also offline then go up the chain to determine where the problem lies. Cable, switch, next hop etc. Running a tracert "destination ip address" can reveal much.

Any major problem will likely be noticed by Richard Hardt, so expect the phone to ring before you can call for help. Quite often a top down view of the network is more revealing than a bottom up view.