gregb@dowjone.UUCP (Greg_Baber) (10/25/88)
Hello, My company is about to purchase an ethernet protocol analyzer and has narrowed the choice down to two machines, THE SNIFFER from Network General and The LanAlyzer from Excelan. Anyone who has used either of these two devices and has anything either good or bad to say about them, I'd appreciate it. We're interested in things like packet capture rate, completeness of protocol interpretation, and ease of use. If anyone has done a study similar to ours, please do not hesitate to call or email. Please, no salesmen, we're not look- ing for hype. Thanks, gregb -- Reply to: Gregory S. Baber Voice: (609) 520-5077 Dow Jones & Co., Inc. E-mail: ..princeton!dowjone!gregb Box 300 or ..uunet!dowjone!gregb Princeton, New Jersey 08543-0300
ralph@geaclib.UUCP (Ralph Flotner) (11/04/88)
>From: gregb@dowjone.UUCP (Greg_Baber) > My company is about to purchase an ethernet protocol analyzer and has narrowed > the choice down to two machines, THE SNIFFER from Network General and The > LanAlyzer from Excelan. Anyone who has used either of these two devices and > has anything either good or bad to say about them, I'd appreciate it. We're > interested in things like packet capture rate, completeness of protocol > interpretation, and ease of use. We completed an evaluation and a recommendation report on three Lan Analyzers 6 months ago. The three were the Sniffer, the Lanalyzer and LANWatch. The following is extracted from the recommendation report ... All three units exhibited various strengths and weaknesses. The Sniffer is extremely user friendly, exhibits a modest degree of functionality and carries a high price tag. It is the choice system to give a technician to debug a customers LAN problem. The LANWatch unit was simple, inexpensive and exhibited extensive filtering techniques important for problem debugging. LANWatch is suitable for troubleshooting or protocol development on a low traffic LAN, that exhibits few problems. The LANalyzer 5300 has a wealth of functionality, but user friendliness is not one of its strengths. It is about \$10,000 less than the Sniffer. The LANalyzer 5300 is the choice system for LAN installation/configuration, LAN Monitoring, determining Network Performance and developing/install communication software. ... Notes:We purchased LANWatch with PC/IP for our research LAN, but will acquire the LANalyzer once we go into production. The LANalyzer has NO display mode filtering. Playing with captured data to focus in on an occurence. If you want the Sniffer, investigate the Micom solution, which is the Sniffer repackaged, so that you don't have to purchase an AT at a premium price (comes with software and comm card). Hope this helps. -- * Ralph Flotner [ mnetor, yunexus , utgpu]!geac!geaclib!ralph * * Geac Computers * * 350 Steelcase Road West, Markham, Ontario, "LANs 'R' US" * * CANADA, L3R 1B3 (416) 475-0525 ext 3286 *