[26436] in resnet
Re: Teaching how to troubleshoot . . .
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Erin Nettifee)
Fri May 27 14:39:39 2011
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Date: Fri, 27 May 2011 18:39:18 +0000
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From: Erin Nettifee <erin.nettifee@duke.edu>
To: RESNET-L@listserv.nd.edu
In-Reply-To: <LISTSERV%201105271427094840.8737@LISTSERV.ND.EDU>
Thanks Mike! This is great. I like the idea of looking at past customer tickets / communication. That would work really well for us.
Best,
Erin
-----------------------
Erin Nettifee
Coordinator of Academic Support / Link Liaison
Duke University Office of Information Technology
erin.nettifee@duke.edu
(919) 668-4829 (desk)
On May 27, 2011, at 2:27 PM, Mike Malsed wrote:
> We've been doing this for quite a while with our RTAs (Resident Technology
> Assistants) - we started it about 12 years ago.
>
> First, I start them with an FAQ from the old Smoothwall firewall project
> (still exists, but is different now) - I tried to attach it, but the
> listserve doesn't allow PDF so. . .
> http://www.malsed.net/files/smooth.faq.pdf . It goes over asking
> intelligent questions. It has a bunch of geeky humor and is a bit dated now,
> but is still good.
>
> Second, I go through a collection of RTA questions from previous years and
> we rip them apart. Some are horrible: "I hope I'm not telling you all
> something you already know, but the internet (sic) is down here." - where
> literally no diagnosis has been done, to some that are really good. We
> outline the REQUIRED elements of a question: OS (plus version/SP),
> laptop/desktop/tablet/etc., ipconfig/ifconfig, etc.
>
> Third, we start diagnosing problems (fake, drawn from last year's Footprints
> projects, so we know most of the details) by asking the correct questions,
> then I (or my Lead RTA) give the known answers and we move from point to point.
>
> I also use this opportunity to go over the differences between the "normal"
> solution and those that are specific to our network. For instance, one issue
> was with a student who had ChromeOS on his laptop. He couldn't get ONTO his
> laptop until he had logged on to the network because our network requires
> authentication before they get an IP. So the "normal" solution does not
> necessarily work on our network.
>
> Fourth, we bring in troubled laptops from early-arrival students (there's
> always a few) and we troubleshoot them together. These are athletes,
> sponsors, RAs, etc. It's invaluable to actually fix computers. I make them
> do this as a group, with the screen projected so all can see it. They
> collaborate on the next step and then take it. We can usually get through
> two or so - sometimes we're able to multi-task and take care of two at a time.
>
> I also use this opportunity to demonstrate the very typical tasks that RTAs
> will do - mapping the users$ drive and printers on Windows and showing them
> the application we use to map printers on a Mac (to get around manually
> configuring CUPS which is a pain).
>
>
> It's worked pretty well for us. Our time has shrunk as New Student
> Orientation has expanded and taken our time away, but this is still our core
> curriculum and it's served us pretty well.
>
> I don't include a lot of detail on here because it's very much tailored to
> our network - our subnets, where to look for what and where you can't look, etc.
>
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