Scenario: Troubleshooting Network Connectivity with Network Watcher

Imagine you're a network administrator for a medium-sized company, and employees are reporting issues with accessing the company's internal servers and resources. You need to identify and resolve the network connectivity problem using Network Watcher, a tool provided by Azure (Microsoft's cloud platform) to monitor and diagnose network-related issues.

1. Issue Description: Employees complain that they can't access certain servers or websites, and some applications are running slow.

2. Using Network Watcher:

   • Topology Visualization: Open Network Watcher and use its topology visualization feature. It shows you a map of your network resources and connections, helping you identify any unexpected or incorrect connections that might be causing the issue.

   • Traffic Analytics: Use the traffic analytics feature of Network Watcher to see the flow of network traffic. This can help you identify patterns, unusual spikes in traffic, or bottlenecks that could be causing the slowdown.

   • Diagnostic Tools: Network Watcher provides diagnostic tools like "Packet Capture" and "Connection Monitor." Use Packet Capture to capture network traffic between the affected user's machine and the server. This can help you identify whether there are any packet drops or anomalies that might be causing the connectivity issues. Connection Monitor can give you insights into the health and availability of network connections.

3. Identifying the Problem:

   • Packet Analysis: Analyze the captured packets using Network Watcher's packet capture feature. You might discover that there are frequent packet drops or delays, which could indicate a network configuration issue or hardware problem.

   • Connection Monitor: Using Connection Monitor, you find that connections to the affected servers are intermittently failing or experiencing high latency. This suggests there might be a problem with the server's availability or the network path to the server.

4. Resolution:

   • Network Path Analysis: Network Watcher's "Connection Troubleshoot" tool can help you pinpoint where the network path is breaking down. This might involve analyzing hops between different network devices to identify the point of failure.

   • Configuration Check: With the help of Network Watcher's topology visualization, you might discover that a router's configuration is incorrect, causing traffic to take an inefficient route. Adjusting the router's settings could resolve the issue.

   • Server Health: If the problem is related to server health, you can use Network Watcher to analyze the server's metrics and logs to identify any issues impacting its performance.

5. Verification: After making the necessary changes, you can use Network Watcher to monitor the network again. Ensure that packet drops are reduced, latency is improved, and connections are stable. If the problem is resolved, inform the users about the resolution.

In this scenario, Network Watcher played a crucial role in diagnosing and resolving the network connectivity issues by providing visibility into the network's topology, traffic patterns, and the health of connections and devices. It helped the administrator identify the root cause of the problem and take appropriate actions to restore proper network functionality.