Know Your Tools

If I had a dollar for the number of times I spend troubleshooting tools before actually working on a problem, I would have enough to probably buy a social media company, lol.

Here are some examples on this theme:

- The client hasn’t used that tool in a while, and not familiar with its last configuration, or its operation.

- The client has never used the tool at all and this is his first time.

- The client is in a rush/panic to troubleshoot the problem and didn’t take the time to check the tool setup.

- The tool hasn’t been updated to the current version of software/firmware.

- Missing tool power adapter, cables, etc..

I’ve covered this before, so all I can add is to make sure you have a case and a check list of what the tool or analyst will need. I usually create a quickstart guide for my clients, so anyone can reset the tool to factory and get up and running as fast as possible.