Workshop

Is It a Virus, Doc?
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After getting a cup of coffee, you briefly think about the possibility of one of those viruses that “go off”
at 8:00 a.m. on a certain day, but you dismiss it—you have pretty good virus protection. What’s more,
you used a different workstation that you’re sure is virus free when you tested the different segment.
Good guess, because things like this have happened—even viruses that don’t do anything until a certain
day at a certain time in the morning can interfere with system operations every day while it checks to see
if it’s the “right” day to ruin you.
So, it’s back to the drawing board.
Getting a Consultation
This is the crucial part, because you’re frustrated, and you think you can’t possibly solve this problem.
It’s tempting to give up. Guess what? Pros feel that way, too. The difference, however, is that the
successful troubleshooter takes a break and looks at the facts again. Then, much like a doctor, the
troubleshooter might “get a consultation” and go right back at it.
Do you have to get a consultation from a pro? Not necessarily. You get a consultation because you’re too
close to the problem, and you already have preconceptions as to what’s going on. Let’s say you ask
somebody—anybody—what goes on at 8:00 a.m. every day. The answer is going to be “everybody turns
their PCs on” or “everybody gets into work” or some variation on this. That turns on a light bulb for
you—because everybody is turning their PCs on and logging in at 8:00, might this be the computer
equivalent of rush hour on the network?
The answer, of course, is yes, there is a network rush hour. How do you verify this? Well, it’s sort of
tough. There are two ways:
• Actual measurement (relatively difficult unless you’ve already read Hour 21, “Tell Me About
Your Network”)
• Changing the situation (moving the workstation to a place where traffic will be quieter)
Even though you’ve already moved the workstation to a different segment, you hadn’t considered that
the segment you were moving to might also be problematic. You can think of this as the equivalent of
moving from the Long Island Expressway to the Grand Central Parkway—it doesn’t do you a lot of good
at rush hour (you’ve been treating the situation as though there was construction or an accident on one
but not the other). Now, your SOAP looks like this: