Request Linux network debugging command advice

Somehow, on Centos6, I was able to get connected to a test wireless ISP
antenna, but I'd like advice on being 'smoother' next time.

DO you have advice for better DEBUGGING networking on Linux?

Here's my saga:
- I mounted a ubiquiti rocket M2 radio outside & set it up
- I turned off my wireless adapter with a switch on the laptop
- I plugged in a cat5 cable linking the radio with the laptop
.... First problem: I couldn't connect to the radio at 192.168.1.20
# ping 192.168.1.20 failed
http://192.168.1.20 failed
- I solved the connect problem by setting my laptop to the same subnet
- $ sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.21
.... Second problem: The gateway was 0.0.0.0 instead of 192.168.1.20
# arp -n showed the gateway for eth0 to be 0.0.0.0
# route -n showed the eth0 gateway to be 0.0.0.0
- I solved the gateway by running the route command
- $ sudo route del default gw 0.0.0.0 eth0
- $ sudo route add default gw 192.168.1.20 eth0
.... Third problem: The DNS servers in the radio were not found
- I solved that by editing the /etc/resolv.conf file
- $ vi /etc/resolv.conf
(I added these two lines)
nameserver 8.8.8.8
nameserver 4.2.2.2

At this point, the following commands started working:
$ host www.google.com
$ nslookup www.google.com
$ dig www.google.com
$ traceroute www.google.com

But strangely, the web still failed for a while - but then - inexplicably
- the web finally started working.

I wish I had better debugging skills as I had to look up all the steps
above:
a) How to set the eth0 adapter to the same subnet as the radio
b) How to set the gateway on the laptop (no router is involved)
c) How to set the DNS servers on the laptop (connected directly to the
radio)

Do you have debugging suggestions?
.

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