The Network Goes Down

For this discussion, imagine the following scenario:

Even with the 30 decibel cacophony of the network devices humming in the background, it seems deathly silent. Thelma and Louise are pondering their next move. Watching the screen intently, they see the router's serial interface come up, then a few seconds later, it goes down. Up, down, up, down; It has been doing this for the last four minutes. However, since it is 8:04 am, they have only been watching it for four minutes, so they don't really know just how long it has been going on.

In the meantime, Louise hears her phone. She picks it up. A text message appears on her screen from a colleague who works in the Swampfox branch office. They want to know how long it will be before the network is back up. Louise and Thelma realize there is a problem. They look at each other with the same realization that Swampfox is not on the same network group as this router serial link. They wonder are they separate problems or are they related? Thelma now glances at the calendar. In just 20 minutes, the company-wide teleconference begins. They tested out the network video feed yesterday, and it worked fine. They realize if they don't get this fixed soon, they are going to be on a road to nowhere. They wonder if they should call the chief information officer (CIO) now or try to fix it themselves.

In your discussion post:

Consider Thelma and Louis's scenario. Compose answers to the three questions below:

• How might you attack this problem?
• What will be the order in which you break down the tasks?
• At what point do you inform the CIO?