Testing the Connection Between the Messaging System and a Subscriber PC

About this task

After testing the TCP/IP software and finding that the messaging TCP/IP software is functioning correctly, you must determine if the messaging system can properly communicate with the PC that belongs to the user that reported the problem.

To test the integrated network interface card and the network:

Procedure

Go to the Messaging Administration main menu and select Ping Another Server.
The system displays the Send and Receive Packets To & From page.
In the IP Address: field, type the Internet protocol (IP) address for the PC to which you want to have test packets sent and received.
Click Save to run the test.
The system displays the Test Packets Results page when the test is finished.

Result

The results contain the following information:

icmp_seq: The sequence identifier of the packet. The packets are numbered from 0 to 9, in the order that they were sent, and are displayed on the screen, in the order that they were returned. If one or two packets are returned out of sequence, the condition is acceptable to the messaging system. However, if more than two packets are out of sequence (for example, 0, 2, 5, 3, 1...), inform the LAN administrator or system administrator. Out-of-sequence packets can indicate network congestion or misrouting.
time: The total transmission time, in milliseconds (ms), of the packet. Roundtrip delays greater than 10,000 ms can indicate a network problem.
packet loss: The percentage of packets that were not returned during the test. The number of lost packets vary from network to network. Percentage of loss depends on the number of users, the number of machines, and the distance between machines.

Consider the test successful if the messagingsystem reports a packet loss percentage between 0 and 49%. Do, however, inform the LAN administrator or system administrator if the loss is above 10%. Slow response time can be the result of such a loss.

Consider the test a failure if the messaging system reports a packet loss percentage between 50 and 99%. In this range, Message Manager performance is extremely slow or completely fails.

A 100% packet loss indicates that the messaging system has not established communication to the test machine address. Verify that you used the correct IP address for the PC. To further isolate the problem, repeat the test for a PC that is not experiencing problems with Message Manager. If this test succeeds, the problem is with the first test PC. If this test fails, it is likely the problem is with the integrated network interface card or the network connection to the messaging system.