PJORGENS@COLGATEU.BITNET (Peter Jorgensen) (02/14/91)
Greetings, I am the manager of a growing AppleShare network which includes 25 Macs, three LaserWriters, five AppleTalk ImageWriters, two FastPaths, localtalk and EtherNet. The primary purpose of the network is to provide access to applications on a server and access to printers. The problem we have is that every now and then "something" will happen that causes some subset of the Macs to lose their connection to the server. MSWord 4.0 crashes when this happens, as do some other programs. Other applications can recover if the problem is cleared up before the user clicks "OK" in the alert box informing them of the broken connection. The "something" that causes the problem can be a loose or suddenly disconnected localtalk wire (we're 50/50 phonenet/localtalk, switching to 100% phoneNet soon), an AppleTalk ImageWriter which "flakes out" (its error light comes on) and possibly others. Of course, changing to 100% phoneNet will help, and replacing the LocalTalk options in the offending ImageWriters will help, but I suspect there will still be times when the network gets clogged and users lose connection with the server. I have found that the connection must be actually broken or whatever for a good ten to twenty seconds before the Mac times out. This gives us a small window during which, if we can resolve the problem, the impact on users will be minimal or none. So, my question is: is there network monitoring software that I could run in the background under MultiFinder that would constantly listen to the network and send up flares when things "seem amiss"? I'm not sure what "seeming amiss" even means, whether it's undecipherable packets, no response from a monitor Mac, or what. I hesitate to think of a program that is constantly broadcasting enquiry packets either to all Macs (ala Interpoll) or even to one Mac. Any thoughts, solutions, advice, etc. will be greatly appreciated. I'll summarize responses sent directly to me, but you may want to respond to the list if you think this is of general enough interest. Thanks in advance. Peter Jorgensen Microcomputer specialist, VAX consultant Colgate University - Hamilton, NY 13346 BITNET - PJORGENSEN@COLGATEU tel - 315-824-7742 AppleLink - U0523
woody@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Bill Woodcock) (02/17/91)
> So, my question is: is there network monitoring software > that I could run in the background under MultiFinder that > would constantly listen to the network and send up flares > when things "seem amiss"? I'm not sure what "seeming amiss" > even means, whether it's undecipherable packets, no > response from a monitor Mac, or what. NetAlert, from the AG Group, of Walnut Creek, California (415.937.7900), does exactly that. The only rub is that it hasn't yet been released. It's been scheduled to go on sale March first of this year, at $195 list. It has customizable alert dialogs and audible alarms for each network device. -Bill Woodcock BMUG NetAdmin _______________________________________________________________________________ 0000 : 0600 0800 7700 FE00 FF 0 FF8 7F 0 3 00 48 bill.woodcock.iv 0010 : CC00 7C00 0C00 1000 2800 440 8200 40 0020 : C000 4000 8000 C000 C 00 800 80 48 0 9 woody@ucscb.ucsc.edu 0030 : FF00 F000 7F80 CC00 CC 0 7 80 7 80 CC 6 0040 : CC00 7F80 9800 7800 CC00 CC0 CC 0 C 00 2355.virginia.st 0050 : CC00 CC00 FC00 CC00 CC 0 2000 10 0 7 00 C 0 0060 : CC00 CC00 CCC0 4800 2 00 1 00 2 00 48 0 9 berkeley.california 0070 : 4800 2400 1200 1000 2800 4 00 8 00 E0 0080 : 3000 6000 F000 6000 000 60 0 600 C0 0 01C 94709.1315 _______________________________________________________________________________
domenikos@emass.enet.dec.com (George Domenikos.) (03/13/91)
In article <12482@darkstar.ucsc.edu>, woody@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Bill Woodcock) writes... > > > So, my question is: is there network monitoring software > > that I could run in the background under MultiFinder that > > would constantly listen to the network and send up flares > > when things "seem amiss"? I'm not sure what "seeming amiss" > > even means, whether it's undecipherable packets, no > > response from a monitor Mac, or what. > >NetAlert, from the AG Group, of Walnut Creek, California (415.937.7900), >does exactly that. The only rub is that it hasn't yet been released. It's >been scheduled to go on sale March first of this year, at $195 list. >It has customizable alert dialogs and audible alarms for each network device. > The answer is yes! There is TalkManage a network management tool currently shipping from Distributed Technologies of Waltham Massachusetts that lets you do network monitoring,set alarms on any visible network entity get traffic information and much more. Their phone number is (617) 684-0060 george