[table of contents][main topic of chapter][index][previous][next]
[copyright and trademarks][Preface Overview][Cisco TCP/IP Suite books]

Using MultiNet Tools

The MultiNet Tools application (MultiNet Tools) is a collection of five well-known network applications that let you obtain information about users and hosts on the network, test network connections, and troubleshoot network problems. The five applications are:

Starting MultiNet Tools

To start MultiNet Tools, you can either:

The MultiNet Tools window appears.

Using Finger

The MultiNet Tools Finger tab dialog lets you view information about a specific user or all users that are logged into a specific system. The information that appears depends on whether you Finger a single user or all users on a system, how Finger is configured on the remote host, and the presence or absence of user plan files.

A plan file is a text file stored on a user's system that is displayed when the user's system is accessed with Finger. The file name of the plan file differs for different operating systems:

For a Specific User

If you Finger a specific user, Finger displays the information depending on how Finger is configured on the remote host. Typically, this information includes:

To Finger a specific user:

  1. Click the Finger tab in MultiNet Tools.

    The Finger tab dialog appears.

  2. Enter the person's user name in the User field.
  3. Enter the user's system name in the Host field.
  4. Click Start.

    The results appear in the Results window.

For All Users Logged into a System

If you Finger all users on a host, Finger displays the following information depending on how Finger is configured on the remote host:

To view all users logged into a specific system:

  1. Click the Finger tab in MultiNet Tools.

    The Finger tab dialog appears.

  2. Clear the User field if it is not already empty.
  3. Enter the name of the target host in the Host field.
  4. To see detailed information about all users, check the Verbose check box.

    If you check the Verbose check box, the information that appears is similar to that displayed when you Finger a specific user.

    Note

    The target host must be configured to support the Verbose option for it to work.

  5. Click Start.

    The results appear in the Results window.

Using Host Lookup

The MultiNet Tools Host Lookup tab lets you find a host's IP address when you have only the host's name or the host's name when you have only the IP address. Host Lookup can also display the host's CPU type and operating system if that information is available from DNS or host tables.

To use Host Lookup:

  1. Click the Host Lookup tab in MultiNet Tools.

    The Host Lookup tab dialog appears.

  2. In the Host field, enter the host name or IP address of the remote host.

    The host name, IP address, CPU type, and operating system appear in the Results window if the information is available.

Using Ping

The MultiNet Tools Ping tab lets you test network connections to a host and view the results.

The information Ping displays includes the number of packets sent to the target host, the number of replies received, the percentage of packets lost, and the amount of time required for the packets to reach the destination and for replies to be received. This information lets you verify that your workstation can communicate with other hosts and that no information has been lost.

Note

Firewalls often allow Ping to work but not other services such as Telnet or FTP. You may have to contact the network administrator for the remote host for assistance.

To Ping a host:

  1. Click the Ping tab in MultiNet Tools.

    The Ping tab dialog appears.

  2. In the Host field, enter the name or IP address of the target host.
  3. In the Packets field, enter the total number of ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) echo request packets to be sent to the target host. To send an infinite number of packets, enter 0 (zero).
  4. To start Ping, click Start.

    Ping session information and statistics appear in the Results window.

    In this example, Ping sent 4 packets to host 192.168.11.1. One packet was lost, and the minimum, maximum, and average round-trip times were 73, 111, and 93 milliseconds, respectively.

Using TraceRoute

The MultiNet Tools TraceRoute tab displays the route packets take when communicating with a remote host. This application is useful when troubleshooting communication problems because it can help locate routing problems.

The output from TraceRoute includes:

To use TraceRoute:

  1. Click the TraceRoute tab in MultiNet Tools.

    The TraceRoute tab dialog appears.

  2. In the Host field enter the host name or IP address of the remote host.
  3. Click Start.

    In this example, the results indicate that it took 12 hops to reach the destination, RS.INTERNIC.NET, and that the round trip-times of the three packets to the RS.INTERNIC.NET, are 128, 113, and 98 milliseconds.

    Lost packets or communications ending after reaching a particular gateway indicates a problem communicating with that gateway.

Using Whois

The MultiNet Tools Whois tab lets you view information about people, hosts, domains, and other Internet entities from an Internet white pages server. A white pages server is a system that contains a database of basic information about Internet sites, such as technical and administrative contacts, email and postal addresses, telephone numbers, and DNS servers.

To use Whois:

  1. Click the Whois tab.

    The Whois tab dialog appears.

  2. In the Query field, enter the name of the host, network, or domain that you want information about. Because Whois displays all entries in the white pages server that match this entry, we recommend that you be as specific as possible.
  3. In the Server box, choose the name of the white pages server you want to use. Cisco TCP/IP Suite includes the names of the following white pages servers in this box:
  4. Click Start.

    The results of the Whois query appear in the Results window.

Saving MultiNet Tools Statistics

To save MultiNet Tools statistics in a file for later review:

  1. Start the desired application in MultiNet Tools, such as Ping or Finger.
  2. When the results appear, click the Save As... button.

    The Save As dialog box appears.

  3. Enter the desired path and file name in the dialog box.
  4. Click Save.

    MultiNet Tools saves the statistics in the specified file.

Printing MultiNet Tools Statistics

To print MultiNet Tools statistics:

  1. Start the desired application in MultiNet Tools, such as Ping or Finger.
  2. When the results appear, click the Print... button.

    The Print dialog box appears.

  3. Enter the desired print options in the dialog box.
  4. Click OK.

    MultiNet Tools prints the statistics on the specified printer.



[table of contents][main topic of chapter][index][previous][next]
[copyright and trademarks][Preface Overview][Cisco TCP/IP Suite books]

Copyright© 1995-1996 Cisco Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

HTML file generated May 15, 1996.