Keeping up with the growing network monitoring space, Triticom has released a set of products, including a tool for network monitoring at the application level.
The Eden Prairie, Minn.-based company has announced the NetAppScope network management tools along with an upgraded version of its LANdecoder Network Management Suite.
According to Triticom’s president, Barry Trent, the LANdecoder allows network managers to view how much traffic is on a network, what stations are talking, and who is talking to whom on both local and remote networks.
Triticom said the upgraded LANdecoder version 3.2 now comes with a Java-based Decode Server/Client, which supports Web-based trace viewing; AccuCapture drive support for RealPort2 CardBus Ethernet 10/100 adapters; revised SNMP decode; and a redesigned driver architecture to simplify installation and usage and to give full support to Windows 2000 and Windows Millennium Edition including a plug-and-play AccuCapture driver.
“We try to upgrade the products at least twice a year,” Trent said. “Partly it is just because of the raw economics of the software business. The decode server is something people have been asking about for a long time. We acknowledge that our drivers weren’t the easiest to use in the past, and with this release, we think that has gotten a lot easier.”
Trent explained that the NetAppScope version 1 is a highly specialized network management tool designed to monitor client/server transactions that use the Internet’s TCP/IP protocols. Triticom said NetAppScope can be configured to monitor any type of client/server interaction including Web server traffic, FTP traffic, Telnet traffic and any client/server oriented Internet application protocol.
“What NetAppScope does, rather than operating at that low MAC (Media Access Control) level, it moves up to the IP level,” Trent said. “It can specifically zero-in on who is using Web protocols, which clients’ stations are talking to Web servers, and how much they are talking.”
NetAppScope integrates with LANdecoder 3.2 and with a protocol provided by LANdecoder 3.2, it is enabled to support full-packet filter and capture the functionality of the application-level traffic being monitored.
According to John McCain, manager for LAN/WAN products for Data Comm for Business Inc. a router manufacturing company based in Champaign, Ill. , LANdecoder has been an integral part of his network management tool kit “forever.”
“The Triticom support has been fantastic,” McCain said. “It compliments my tool set so well.”
Although McCain admitted he has yet to use the upgraded version of LANdecoder and NetAppScope, he said his company will eventually move to these products.
“My cohorts that use other tools tend to prefer more expensive products,” McCain said. “(But) people that move between the lab and the field have favourites. (LANdecoder) does everything you need and it is not so cloggy with tricks that you have to go and dig out the manual every time you use it. I haven’t looked at the manual for this thing in years.”
Regarding NetAppScope, McCain said that with more specific protocols popping up, it will be a helpful tool to help Data Comm for Business build products to transport them.
NetAppScope is available now and pricing starts at US$995. LANdecoder is also shipping and pricing starts at US$995 and is based on the number of program instances that run simultaneously on one computer. For more information, visit www.triticom.com.
