[mod.protocols.tcp-ip] network monitors

cassel@DEWEY.UDEL.EDU (Boots Cassel) (10/22/86)

I am interested in information about and experiences with network monitors
and measurement devices.  I am aware of the following products.  If any one
knows of others I should know about, or has comments on these, I would be
grateful.

Commercial Products:  Exelan Nutcracker and LANalyzer
                      CMC LANscan
                      HP LAN Protocol Analyzer
                     

Research work:  ILMON by Lewis Barnett
                Mondow by Mike Minnich at Delaware
                The ONR Measurement Center at Delaware
                Feldmeier's work at MIT

Pointers would be appreciated.  I will share the information with others if 
there is interest.

Boots Cassel
cassel@dewey.udel.EDU

hedrick@TOPAZ.RUTGERS.EDU (Charles Hedrick) (10/29/86)

We find the most generally useful network monitor to be a Sun.
Traffic is good for general watching, and etherfind for looking at
individual packets.  For many purposes an IBM PC with the MIT
public-domain netwatch is quite useful.  It just shows you packets,
with some limited ability to select based on source, dest, etc.  We
understand that the HP Ethernet monitor will be really great when the
next software release comes out, but for the moment it's useful only
when you really want to look at the bits (and want to make sure you
aren't dropping any packets in a high-speed network).