Expert Summary Problem Analysis (click thumbnail for larger view) |
 Shows error events in a single, concise display. For connection-orientated problems, a simple double-click drills down for further analysis. Expert problem identification is displayed for TCP/UDP/ICMP, Wireless 802.11 a/b/g, IPX/SPX, NetBIOS/NetBEUI, SQL and WAN. For better identifaction of problems with respect to time, all summary events are graphed along a timeline.
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TCP/UDP/ICMP, Wireless, IPX/SPX, and NetBIOS/NetBEUI Expert Event Identification (click thumbnail for larger view) |
 Displays protocol-based and application-based problems in real-time. Local traffic is judged using different criteria than WAN/Internet traffic to help make certain no false readings are provided. All port-based services are tracked, slow response/no response and slow connect/no connect are flagged and sorted by severity. A generic TCP conditions expert tracks all port-based protocols for slow response or connection characteristics.
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Time Interval Analysis (click on image for a larger view) |
 Any conversation's timeline can be displayed as a "drill-down" from any problem identified in the Event Experts. Time Interval Analysis shows network errors organized by time periods to identify whether a problem is sporadic or consistent throughout the day. This information is critical in determining if a problem is spread throughout a period of hours, or if it localized to a specific time span. Network utilization within the Interval Analysis is displayed to help match slow responses with heavy network load.
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Connection Dynamics (Click on image for a larger view) |
 Provides a graphical view of system conversations. Packet-to-packet delay times are shown visually, allowing instant identification of long latency and response times. Retransmissions and lost packets are flagged in red for quick identification. Should a particular packet require further investigation, its decode is only a click away.
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Server Analysis (Click on image for a larger view) |
 Displays a server's response times charted against the number of simultaneous requests asked of that server. Response times are charted for recorded request sets, and plotted for predicted response times as request loads increase.
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"What If" Modeling (Click on image for a larger view) |
 What-If analysis starts with measurements based on actual client/server conversations, or peer-to-peer conversations and plots possible response time, utilization and packet flow scenarios. This allows you to predict network bandwidth and response-time impact for topology changes (e.g. 100MB to Gigabit) or by changes in variables such as average packet size, send-to-receive packet ratio, latency, server load, number of users. This "live-modeling" lets you assess the impact of possible network or application changes.
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Voice over IP Expert (VoIP) (Click on image for a larger view) |
 The VoIP Expert displays H.323/SIP conversational data in three separate graphs. Each display is designed to help identify why a connection may be experiencing problems, or at what level of network load are H.323 conversations exhibiting acceptable quality behavior. Displays include jitter and lost packets (%) for each direction of the conversation, total RTP/RTCP bandwidth utilization, total utilization and each conversations % of total utilization.
Observer and VoIP (PDF) |
WAN Delay Analysis (Click on image for a larger view) |
 The compare capture feature offers time synchronization technology to troubleshoot WAN or network delay. Expert Observer (and a remote Probe) can capture both ends of a conversation across a link and determine response time measurements across that link. This feature quantifies transaction time between PC and server using a Network Instruments exclusive method of synchronizing captures. Useful primarily to large companies, or WAN network consultants who troubleshoot multiple WAN links, which prior to this would have needed extremely expensive time synchronization equipment. An application example would be a large retail firm needing to track and analyze transaction times between each system and its server.
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Application Analysis (Click on image for a larger view) |
Application Analysis brings troubleshooting to the next level by monitoring user experience metrics and being able to view applications across the entire network. Historically network administrators had to purchase separate tools to monitor applications and monitor the traffic. Observer now offers both sets of functionality in one tool. Application Analysis tracks application session flows, provides statistics on errors, monitors response time and total / failed transactions. Additionally, key protocol-based metrics are displayed to provide an up-to-the-minute view of application performance. Automatic server and application discovery simplifies setup. Once a problem is found, Connection Dynamics lets you drill down and see the session by session communications. Supported applications include: Exchange, DNS, FTP, HTTP, POP3, VoIP, SQL (TDS), TELNET, SMTP, SNMP and Oracle (TNS). |
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