It grew one decision at a time over about fifteen years, and every one of those decisions was sensible on the day it was made. Nobody ever drew the result. That is the whole reason a sentence like "the internet is slow" turns into three days of work.
C:\>help
Available commands: dir what a network map has in it ipconfig the three questions nobody can answer ping turning a complaint into a measurement tracert what actually sits between a person and their work netstat what is connected that nobody put there ver what this console is contact reach a person cls clear the screen help this list exit there is no exit
C:\>
The prompt above answers these one at a time. They are all printed here as well, because a page that keeps its content behind a command line is a page that most people never read.
Volume in drive C is Your Network
Directory of C:\network
switches <DIR> undocumented How many, where they are, and which are past support.
firewall <DIR> undocumented Who configured it, and whether anybody has read the rules since.
cabling <DIR> undocumented What is in the walls, and what the labels on it mean.
wireless <DIR> undocumented Where it works, where it does not, and why nobody says so.
remote <DIR> undocumented Who can get in from outside, and what they reach once in.
contracts <DIR> undocumented Which line is whose, what it costs, and when it renews.
6 dir(s) 0 bytes written down
Configuration for this site: Addressing . . . . . . . : handed out by something, somewhere Default gateway . . . . : assumed Name servers . . . . . . : two, and nobody knows what the second one is That is not a reading off your network and it is not meant to be. It is the answer we get on most sites we are asked to look at: three questions nobody can answer from memory, and all three needed before anybody can say why anything is slow.
Pinging "the internet is slow" with 32 bytes of data: Reply from: which building, and which floor of it? Reply from: at what time of day, and does it clear up after? Reply from: everything, or one application? Reply from: over the wireless, or on a cable? Slow is a word. Those four questions turn it into a measurement, and a measurement has a cause. Asking them takes about ten minutes and it is what saves the three days.
Tracing route to the thing everybody blames: 1 the laptop usually fine 2 the wireless often not 3 the switch the one in the cupboard 4 the firewall rules nobody has read in years 5 the line on a contract nobody can find 6 the application which is the thing that gets blamed Trace complete. In our experience it is almost never number six, and number six is almost always what gets replaced first.
Connections we find that nobody remembers making: A printer running its own wireless network, still broadcasting. A camera system a different contractor installed, on the same flat network. A laptop belonging to somebody who left, still joined and still trusted. A remote access tool a supplier put on once and nobody took off. These are things we find rather than things we assume. On a flat network the answer to "what can reach what" is "everything", which is the answer that costs money.
Tech Dynamix Network Console, version 1.0. There is no version 2. The command line was always the honest interface: it does exactly what you typed, and when it cannot do something it says so instead of quietly doing something else.
Tech Dynamix Telephone 440.210.1362, where a person answers. Or use the form further down this page, which reaches the same people.
Cabinets, cupboards, and the cupboard nobody has a key for. Most of a network map comes from standing in front of it and writing down what is there.
One page you could hand to any provider, including one that is not us, and a list of what we would deal with first with the reason against each.
In the order that matters to the business, which is rarely the order that is most interesting to us.
Tell us roughly how many sites and how many people. We will tell you what mapping it involves, whether or not you hire us.