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Testing Procedures

Step-by-step checks once the network is physically set up, before treating it as ready — the hands-on companion to Configuration Validation (the final sign-off).

1. Physical Layer

Cisco IOS — privileged EXEC:

! Confirm every expected port shows connected, correct speed/duplex
show interfaces status

Every cable that's supposed to be plugged in should show connected, not notconnect or disabled — chase down any mismatch before moving on.

2. VLAN Assignment

Cisco IOS — privileged EXEC:

! Confirm VLANs exist and ports are in the right VLAN
show vlan brief

Cross-check against the intended VLAN plan — a port assigned to the wrong VLAN passes this test at the physical layer but silently fails the next one.

3. Inter-VLAN Routing

From a device in each VLAN, confirm it can reach the gateway and devices in other VLANs it's supposed to reach (and cannot reach ones it's not, per your ACLs):

ping 10.0.10.1
ping 10.0.20.1

Both are run from a VLAN 10 device — the first confirms gateway reachability, the second inter-VLAN access (if that access is intended).

See VLANs & Inter-VLAN Routing and Access Control Lists for what's supposed to be allowed vs blocked.

4. Internet Reachability

From a client PC on any LAN VLAN (Windows/macOS/Linux — not the switch console):

ping 8.8.8.8
nslookup google.com

ping 8.8.8.8 confirms outbound connectivity through the Netgate; nslookup google.com confirms DNS resolution, not just raw IP reachability.

If ping works but DNS doesn't (or vice versa), that narrows the fault significantly — see Common Issues.

5. Wireless

  • Connect a client to each SSID and confirm it gets an IP in the expected VLAN
  • Test from a location roughly equidistant between the two Ruckus APs to confirm coverage overlap
  • Confirm guest network isolation is actually working (a guest device shouldn't reach Office/Management devices) — see Access Control Lists

6. PoE

Cisco IOS — privileged EXEC:

! Confirm both Ruckus APs are drawing power and within budget — see PoE
show power inline

7. Failover Testing

Don't skip this because it "should" work:

  • Unplug the primary WAN — confirm the secondary takes over and connectivity is restored
  • Reconnect the primary WAN and confirm traffic actually returns to it — Status → Gateways in the pfSense GUI should show the Tier 1 gateway back Online. Connections established over the backup stay there until their states expire; Diagnostics → States → Reset States forces everything back onto the primary, at the cost of briefly dropping every active connection
  • Power off one Ruckus AP — confirm the other still provides usable coverage, then power it back on and confirm it rejoins the ZoneDirector

8. Logging & Monitoring

Cisco IOS — privileged EXEC:

! Confirm the switch is generating log entries
show logging | include %

Confirm the central syslog server (see Syslog) is actually receiving messages from both the switch and the Netgate — not just that logging is configured, but that it's arriving.