Q. I have installed TCP/IP, what steps should I use to verify the setup is correct?

A. Follow the steps below:

1. From a command prompt type winipcfg for Windows-95 or ipconfig /all for NT 4.0. This will show information such as IP address, subnet mask and the physical address. Check that the IP address and subnet mask are what you expect. The subnet should be 255.255.0.0 (this will change when we turn on subnetting, then it will be 255.255.255.0). The IP address should be the IP address assigned by your LSM.
    
2. Next there is a special IP address (127.0.0.1) that is used for loopback testing , so try to ping 127.0.0.1. You can ping an address by clicking Start and pick Run... Type in the command line: ping 127.0.0.1. You should get 4 lines of Reply from 127.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128 Pinging 127.0.0.1 does not sent any traffic out on the network. If this does not work it means the TCP/IP stack is not loaded correctly so go back and check your configuration.
    
3. Next try and ping your own IP address, once again this will not send any traffic out on the network, but it just confirms the software ping of 147.26.??.?? Once again you should get 4 reply messages. If this does not work, but the loopback did, you probably have typed the IP address wrong, go back and check your configuration.
    
4. Try and ping the gateway, ping 147.26.1.1 This is the first traffic going out over the network. The gateway should be on your subnet. If you fail to ping the gateway, check that the gateway is up, and that your network is correctly connected.
    
5. Ping something on the other side of the gateway, for example, something not on your subnet such as 128.83.139.9 (UT's nameserver). If this does not work then the gateway may not be functioning correctly.
    
6. If all of the above worked, than name resolution should be tested by pinging by name, this will test the HOSTS and/or DNS. If your machine name was john, and the domain registrar.swt.edu, you would ping john.registrar.swt.edu ping john.registrar.swt.edu. If this does not work, check in the Network Settings - Protocols - TCP/IP that the domain name is correct, also check the hosts file and the DNS settings. The DNS for swt should be 147.26.10.11 and/or 147.26.1.11. Example: ping ftp.microsoft.com
    
7. If all of the above works then get down to the serious stuff and start surfing! :-)