Getting Support

Getting Support

You are rarely alone when you are troubleshooting network problems. An important aspect of troubleshooting is knowing where to turn for critical information on your network environment. Many online and offline sources can provide troubleshooting information. Some of these sources (in addition to the online help provided with your operating system), include the following:

Vendor documentation and help lines. Hardware and software vendors often provide troubleshooting tips with the owner’s documentation. Vendors also often provide technical assistance by phone.
Bulletin board services. A number of electronic bulletin boards supply networking information. You can download information on Microsoft network products from the Microsoft Download Library (MSDL). (You can reach the MSDL by dialing 206-936-6735.) Other vendors also have active bulletin board systems, such as Novell’s NetWire BBS. See vendor documentation for more information on how to reach a particular vendor’s official BBS.
The Internet. The major network vendors all sponsor active forums and newsgroups on the Internet, CompuServe, and other online services. See your vendor’s documentation.
CD-ROMs. Several vendors now market CD-ROMs with network and PC hardware information. Windows NT Server’s Books Online (located on the Windows NT Installation CD-ROM) provides an additional layer of documentation that isn’t found with online help. Microsoft’s TechNet contains product information, technical information, articles, and announcements. TechNet is available on a subscription basis through Microsoft (call 800-344-2121). A Microsoft TechNet demo is included on the CD-ROM that accompanies this book. Novell’s NSEPro CD-ROM is a NetWare- oriented encyclopedia of network information. The Micro House Technical Library (MHTL) is another impressive database of technical information. The MHTL addresses such items as BIOS settings for IDE drives and jumper settings for popular peripheral boards. The MHTL comes with a rich collection of informative illustrations.