The VA contains tools to check for open or closed network connectivity and ports. This is useful if you see errors relating to connectivity, http timeout etc, and can be used between the VA and source, target environments.
Cristie has an interactive firewall guide here: Cristie Appliance Port Requirements
Select the options relevant to the Product used and your environment for a full list of ports used.
How to test from the VA
First, connect to the VA shell over ssh and login using ‘root’ e.g. using putty or a similar tool.
Ping:
The ping command is used to test general connectivity between the VA and the target or source systems, gateway etc. Ping is supported on all operating systems. Be aware that ping (ICMP Echo request) can be blocked in your environment, check with your network team if unsure.
To use ping run the command ‘ping’ followed by the IP address or hostname of the system being tested e.g.
Look out for the packets transmitted message. We are looking for 0% packet loss.
To cancel the ping request run on a unix system press the keys ‘ctrl-x’
Netcat:
Port testing using the Netcat program.
The Netcat program will test a port from the location it is run from to a destination supplied in the command.
To test a port from the VA to a WinPE booted recovery environment run 'nc -v <ip address/hostname of the target> . e.g.
Look for the ‘succeeded!’ output.
If the target is not up or the port is closed the output will show similar to the following
To close the test run ‘ctrl-x’
Netcat is a powerful tool, see the man page for more information ‘man nc’