snowth@sas.UUCP (Bill Hansley) (03/16/90)
Many thanks to those who responded to my request last month for advanced network monitoring tools for Novell networks. The informative and interesting replies I received are below - my apologies for not getting these results posted sooner, but I wanted to try out a few of the suggestions to see which were worthwhile. The only one I've got arround to doing so far is Monitrix by Cheyenne. After 4 phone calls asking them to send info and a copy of the 2 week demo version, it finally came. Its been running a few days and seems to generate some fairly useful information as well as letting you automatically monitor some very informative things all while being a background process on the server (VAP). You can interactively and automatically determine workstation configurations and network connections (although it can't find workstation connections on token ring through a bridge yet). It supports point-to-point testing a good bit better than NetWare Care does - it lets you set the number of packets, packet size, packet rate, and tells you loss rates and transmission times. Another feature is automatic monitoring of server characterstics. You can have it notify you when any particular disk space limits are reached, if connections are lost with any particular node on the network (up to 100 monitorable), some printer monitoring (if any of 64 printers go off line or generate errors), and notification if a particular node has an arbitrarily high error rate in network transmission. Mainly what we're interested in is monitoring and logging of communications and load statistics of a few of our heavily used servers after hours (when automated testing happens). Its tough to track a net-load related problem when it only happens between 2 and 5 am during testing if you only have the tools Novell gives you. Monitrix can generate log files for almost anythin that it can monitor. It reports thse log files in either columnar ascii text (which you can import into SAS ;-) or in dBase format. It looks real favorable so far. If you think it sounds intersting, call them and harass them into sending you a free two-week demo copy. Call (516)484-5110 and ask for Lori Eisenstein. [No, this is a non-paid endorsement.] Thanks again to all those who replied, Bill Hansley SAS Institute ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From ecsgate.uncecs.edu!ecsvax!utomg@rti Tom Gray of UNC writes: Here is a couple of suggestions: Cheyenne Software (sp?) has a VAP called MONITRIX, this has some reporting capabilities Microtest makes a hand held unit called a CABLE SCANNER, which is a low end TDR. It also has the ability to capture data directly from an ethernet network and report the actual traffic statistics, either to a serial printer or a PC (software is included). Hope this was some help. Good Luck From mcnc.org!gatech!ames!bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM!mar@rti Sat Feb 3 16:14 EST 1990 Mr. George Marshall (of 3Com, hmmm....) curiously writes: Bill, I can't offer you any tools right now, but could you tell me what you want to achieve by correlating this info? George Marshall mar@ESD.3Com.com From: mcnc.org!gatech!ucsd!crash.cts.com!viki@rti (Victoria Harkey) Viki writes: Sounds like you may need the Sniffer from NetWork general. If you have a local dealer he'll be happy to come demo it for you. However, keep in mind this solution is not cheap, but it will give you intensive information. You can not"sniff" across a bridge, so you may only be able to track data on one server. Good luck. Victoria Harkey Integrated Systems Analysts, Inc. (619) 556-6070 crash!viki@nosc.mil From: pilot.njin.net!ccoombs@rti (Cliff Coombs) Cliff writes: Bill, We use monitrix from Cheyenne software, tel 516-484-5110 it's a novell VAP and works real well. Call they will send you a trial disk that works for two weeks (nice). We also use Saber menu and Saber Meter. They work great for us. Cliff Cliff Coombs ccoombs@pilot.njin.net Campus Network Coordinator admp03@turbo.kean.edu Kean College of New Jersey, Union, NJ, USA, Earth. Fax (201) 355-5143 Disclaimer: You can't quote me, I'm still on lunch... Voice (201) 527-2729 From: studsys.mu.edu!vanden@rti (vandenberg) Tom Vandenberg writes: I know of several. We've used all three of them without any real conclusions. Two problems w/ our conclusions are 1) we don't have a Lanalyzer, Sniffer, etc. w/ which to correlate any stats and 2) we're not positive we we're using them correctly :-) TXD by Thomas Conrad 1-800-332-8683 Netware Care by Novell 1-800-LANSWER Monitrix by Cheyenne Software 1-800-243-9462 Sorry I can't be much more help. Tom Vandenberg {..uunet..uwvax!uwmcsd1..}!marque!studsys!vanden vanden%studsys@marque.UUCP {..uwvax..arpa..}!studsys.mu.edu!vanden ------------------------------------------------------------------------------