Help me study! (Need a few things cleared up)

[Sage.exe]

So after failing my A+ 702 exam by 5 points it's time for another go this Tuesday, I just have a few questions that need clearing up.

Please provide examples of each (as in under what circumstance would I maybe use this tool over another) (if its a command please provide a context example)

Ping switches (context, and when would I use this switch)
Ip config /renew - what am I renewing?
Sfc /verifyonly vs. sfc /verifyfile
Xcopy switches (again context, and when would I use it)
When would I use nbstat?
How do I know if the network is having a DNS issue?
When would I netsh?
When would I netstat?
When would I diskpart?

 

[RubeSmench]

Ping Switches (I won't go over each option available, just the general intended use)
Normally, the ping command is useful for testing Internet connectivity. For example, you can't access yahoo.com, so you lookup the IP for yahoo.com to see if your DNS is at fault. Assuming you still have no response, you now ping your router to further locate the problematic area.

As you can see, the basic command is useful only for simple inquiries. Now let us imagine you are having problems your laptop disconnecting randomly over night, but you are unsure of when exactly it is happening, so you cant isolate the problem. You could use the -t switch, so that is keeps pinging until the host is no longer reachable. After starting the app, you notice your network speeds are slower now, and you figure out the large amount of ping requests are causing this. Using the -w switch, you can set a time limit in between each ping, to perhaps once every 5 minutes rather than 1 request per second.
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Ipconfig/renew
This command communicates with your DHCP server and requests a renewal of the lease for your assigned IP, or in the event your old IP is unavailable or this is your first time communicating with the server, it requests a new configuration.

The DHCP server is responsible for assigning IP addresses to newly connected devices to the network. Issuing this command therefor merely initiates a standard request to the DHCP server. Your server will have a log that stores the MAC address of each PC and the IP associated with the MAC address. Each configuration is different however, one example is the "lease time". This is the duration the server keeps the log of MAC & IP associations. A longer duration is common in networks that keep the same configurations for long periods.

Take for example a cafe that offers free WIFI. Having an 8 day lease time would not make sense, as most users only stay for a few hours. In contrast, take for example your home network. If you connect a laptop via WIFI, it may remain unchanged for days at a time, and therefor a longer lease time would be ideal as it would reduce the amount of work your DHCP server has to perform.

I am unfamiliar with the remaining commands you have listed,but I hope this helps! Best of luck with your exam mate. - Rube

 

[Yevrag35]

sfc (System File Checker)
/verifyonly vs. /verifyfile - "verifyonly" scans all protected system files but doesn't repair them, while "verifyfile" is used to specify an exact path to a specific file to verify its integrity (it also doesn't repair the file).

Xcopy command - Way too many switches to post about, so here's a MS link for you: Xcopy

You would use nbstat when you try to connect to a computer using its NetBIOS name but can't seem to connect. Nbstat is designed to help troubleshoot NetBIOS name resolution problems. When a network is functioning normally, NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) resolves NetBIOS names to IP addresses.

You're having an DNS issue if you can't connect to a computer or destination using its FQDN (Fully-Qualified-Domain-Name, for example: The NetBIOS name of a computer would be TESTSERVER, and its FQDN would be TESTSERVER.webserver.com).

Netsh command - easily explained by MS How to Use the Netsh.exe Tool and Command-Line Switches

Netstat - easily explained Microsoft Corporation

I'd say, you'd only use diskpart when you don't have access to the disk management GUI in the Windows OS. It allows you to perform all of the disk management functions from a command line.

 

[strollin]

The answers above have been good but it seems to me that a better way to study would be to type the command at the command prompt without any switches and it should then prompt you with help to show what the switches there are (some commands may need to use the switch /? to get the help).

Any switches you don't understand, ask about here or, even better, research yourself. I personally find I learn a lot more by doing my own research than if somebody just tells me the answer.

 

[Lexluethar]

Ping switches - Used when you want to verify the connectivity of a device by IP or by name. I use it all the time when someone says they can't see a resource on the network / internet, the first thing you should do is ping an internal or external IP
Ip config /renew - what am I renewing? - ipconfig /renew releases your current IP address and it tries to renew from the DHCP server on the network. So it essentially tells the DHCP server, hey i don't want this IP address I would like a new one
Sfc /verifyonly vs. sfc /verifyfile - no clue
Xcopy switches (again context, and when would I use it) - this is the most basic copy command, we use it at work when backing up files with a batch script. It will copy items from one location to another with various options
When would I use nbstat? - helps when resolve DNS issues
How do I know if the network is having a DNS issue? - if you cannot ping something by name. Like i have a print server that if i pint Print, it should return an IP address. If it doesn't but does return an ip address if i ping by IP, i have a DNS issue. You may also have a dns issue if you can't access names resources on your network