Technician Master Troubleshooting Guide

A structured diagnostic flowchart and step-by-step resolution strategy for IT technicians.

Sentinel Operations Team

6 min read

Updated August 28, 2026

v3.2

When an endpoint is not behaving as expected, follow this standardized 4-step technician diagnostic checklist to identify and fix the root cause in under two minutes.

Check Windows Service Status

Verify if the "SentinelAgent" service is installed and running.

powershell

1Get-Service SentinelAgent

Verify Network & Server Reachability

Test if the client machine can reach port 443 on your Sentinel server URL.

powershell

1Test-NetConnection -ComputerName "endpoint.yourcompany.com" -Port 443

Inspect Recent Local Agent Logs

Check today's log file for warning or error messages.

powershell

1Get-Content "C:\ProgramData\Sentinel\logs\$(Get-Date -Format yyyy-MM-dd).log" -Tail 30

Run Agent in Foreground Mode (Interactive Debugging)

Stop the service and run the agent in the terminal to see live color-coded debug logs.

powershell

1cd "C:\Program Files\Sentinel"
2.\agent-service.exe run

Technician Diagnostics — Agent Log Inspector & Health Checks

Diagnostics Console

Managed Endpoints

412 Online / 428 Total

Sync: 12s ago

Status	Hostname	Logged-In User	OS Build	Agent
Active	LAPTOP-FIN-019	corp\m.vasquez	Win 11 (23H2)	v3.2.4
Active	WS-ENG-8821	corp\d.kim	Ubuntu 22.04	v3.2.4
High CPU	MACBOOK-MKT-04	corp\a.wright	macOS 14.5	v3.2.0 (Update)

Pin #1:Service & Daemon Status

Confirms Windows Service registration (SentinelAgent) and startup type (Automatic).

Pin #2:Heartbeat Ping & Latency

Shows live roundtrip latency to the Sentinel server (standard: < 45ms over TLS 1.3).

Pin #3:1-Click Log Bundle Generator

Packages local logs, configuration, and crash dumps into a sanitized zip file for support.

1Service & Daemon Status

2Heartbeat Ping & Latency

31-Click Log Bundle Generator

Figure 5.1: Built-in diagnostic viewer showing service status, heartbeat roundtrip latency, and local queue depth.

Tags:#Troubleshooting#Diagnostics#Technician Guide

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Fix: Agent Showing "Offline" / Not Connecting