Pain in the net. (remedies for common network ailments)

Before you hang yourself from your cabling, check out some remedies for common network ailments.

A plethora of machines from various vendors, a handful of users wondering why their documents won't print, and a few miles of tangled cabling can all add up to one big pain in the network.

"I would hazard a guess that there are more networks out there being cursed at than networks that people love," conjectures Daniel G. Grant, president of Tangent International Computer Consultants. However, it doesn't have to be this way, as DG Review, recently learned in a conversation with Grant and Charles Allen, a senior consultant at Tangent. The two touched on some of the major concerns in networking today, as well as some common day-to-day problems faced by network users and managers. They also offered some ways to diagnose and solve these problems, or better yet, avoid them altogether.

Network headaches. According to Allen, the most common problems in day-to-day network operation fall in three areas: printer control, application-specific problems and wiring or cabling problems. Of these, says Allen, "the number one problem is printing and printer control. The one point where users physically confront their output is the printer." For this reason, printer control is an area of constant maintenance and administrative work. A …