Manage the Network
These tools are aimed at providing more detail at what is going on with the network, storing them through time and reporting on more than one layer than information. The key to these tools is that they source information from multiple places to give a more combined view of what is going on.
Layer 3 Configuration Issues are becoming more common due to the increasing more complex nature of today’s networks.
Netcordia (link to follow) is aimed at Layer 3 Configuration and Change management and compares your network’s configuration with an expert database of best design practices. This is combined with SNMP and Netflow performance data to give a view on how your networks configuration affects the networks performance.
Visual Network Probes work by looking at the traffic in a number of different ways to give a combined view of network performance. The raw data is viewed to give packet counts, the IP layers and analysed to give top user and application information and response times can be calculated by looking at the requests and replies.
The LanGuardian product range looks at the traffic and adds extra detail on:-
• Network Security, threats, spyware, worms, attacks etc
• Detailed analysis under common application ports (ie port 80)
• Which files and directories are being accessed rather than just which server
Many performance issues are directed at the network team, whether it’s their problem at or not. The SuperAgent product aims to look at the response times for delivering packets and split them into the time it takes each of the key network components to deliver the data:-
• Network delivery time
• Server Response Time
• Time for the application to deliver the data
