GN Nettest Network Analyzer

GN Nettest announces Release 2.1 on its WinPharaoh LAN/WAN network analyzer. WinPharaoh for LAN/WAN is a hardware based protocol analyzer designed to provide a troubleshooting for networks.

WinPharaoh combines multi-segment analysis capabilities with a Windows 95-based user interface. The 2.1 release offers troubleshooting capabilities including the ability to characterize the latency introduced by forwarding data across a router or a switch, traffic analysis applications, and a report writer.

The latency reporter allows a network administrator to characterize forwarding capabilities of a router or a switch. A pair of WinPharaoh LAN/WAN adapters monitor both sides of an interconnection device.

The Multitrak analysis function allows the application to synchronize the timestamps on either adapter. The information is used to define Maximum, Minimum, and Average values for latency, as well as for calculating the standard deviation. A time series graph is provided which allows the user to chart how latency changed over time or to correlate the latency with the load on the individual LAN segments.

The traffic analysis application provides network administrators with a matrix view of the traffic flow on different network segments. The traffic analysis application sorts network communications into pairs of stations that communicate with one another, orders these pairs based on frame counts and byte counts, and identifies the specific protocols and applications being used. The traffic analysis application can also be used as an accounting system to track and sort bandwidth usage by individual, department, or application.

The report writer supplies a user-configurable system to generate statistical reports. A report template defines a specific set of mathematical and graphing functions that can be performed using any WinPharaoh statistics file. Templates define the set of graphs and type of report created from an individual statistics file. Users can generate a report based on any known template by specifying the names of the statistics file and the template file. The package ships with pre-generated report templates. A template Wizard assists users to design customized templates.

The new 2.1 WinPharaoh release also supports auto-correlation features, Frame Relay emulation, data export from trace file, and a series of enhanced decoders. WinPharaoh adapters are available for 10/100 Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI, as well as Wide Area Networks.