A fault diagnosis prototype for Ethernet LANs

Describes a prototype of a fault diagnosis expert system for a chosen set of hardware and software faults on a LAN. The system uses a declarative model of the structure of the network to isolate the fault. This is not just a passive model: it provides the interface to the live network for gathering test data. The system´s knowledge of tests is stored in the test objects, particularly in the select methods, which are able to choose appropriate parameters to each test and estimate its usefulness. One strategy for fault diagnosis is described and a number of extensions to the basic system, including the declarative representation of a selection of different diagnosis strategies, are discussed