Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!uunet!stanford.edu!agate!ucbvax!cs.tamu.edu!willis
From: willis@cs.tamu.edu (Willis Marti)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re:  Network Management
Message-ID: <9103081454.AA07439@neuron>
Date: 8 Mar 91 14:54:48 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 20

"Hi!

Does anyone have any opinions re: lan management packages?"

We have HP's LanProbe, which uses a specialized hardware box to gather data
and a PCompatible running Windows (ugh) to display info & command the box.
Connections can be direct (9600baud), over the same ethernet you're
monitoring or thru a builtin 2400 baud modem.  I love it for monitoring lower
level performance, and for being able to do some fancy packet tracing AT THE
SAME TIME!  So you can be monitoring netowrk 'health' and debugging somebody's
router problems...  Lots of other neat features...
We've used SGI's Netvisualyzer and, IMO, it's a different kind of beast.  More
like the next level up in terms of the picture you see.  I also believe that
you can't count on seeing *every* packet with a general purpose workstation.
So decide on what level of net mgmt you want.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Willis F. Marti		Internet: willis@cs.tamu.edu
 Director, Computer Services Group, Dept of Computer Science, Texas A&M Univ.
 	---Not an official document of Texas A&M---