You can think of a network generally as a bunch of uniform nodes with uniform connections each with a random chance of failure, as a useful first approximation.

You can think of a network generally as a bunch of uniform nodes with uniform connections each with a random chance of failure, as a useful first approximation. But that’s not what they really are. If you’re optimizing or troubleshooting it’s usually better to look at what’s actually happening. Certainly before implementing a fix. You really want to understand what you’re fixing, or you’re kind of doing a rain dance.