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Category Archives: Network Monitoring

Preventing Bandwidth Issues

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    First, a quiz: In the following scenario, do you think this is a network, device or application problem?

    Users are continually experiencing garbled and choppy VoIP calls, Internet connections are slow, and you are receiving complaints of poor video quality.

    If you answered network bandwidth issues, you are correct. With video becoming the primary data type on networks of all types, it’s a lot easier for networks to become strained and overused, and often not by mission critical traffic.

    If you are consistently experiencing these problems, here are some helpful steps to take to prevent bandwidth issues.

    Step 1: Create a baseline
    It’s always important to know what your bandwidth needs are based on the number of users and the types of applications that are running on your network. Know who is using what, when, where, and why in regards to network segments. This will help you understand the overall demand on your network and allocate bandwidth appropriately. It will also allow you to quickly determine when network usage is exceeding norms.

    If new applications, new users, or new devices are introduced be sure to reevaluate your baseline usage.

    Step 2: Prioritize critical business applications and tie baseline protocols and usage to those applications
    Each network segment may have different protocol priorities because of the specific applications that traverse those segments. Top applications need to be handled based on business importance for the segment they are individually on.

    That said, even if you prioritize your business applications, any protocol that is not performing well could affect overall application performance. In order to determine what application might be causing problems, it is essential to have a network analyzer that can break down and show individual flows and their performance. The network analyzer can provide visibility into the weakest link as well as options to sort application flows with various criteria choices.

    Step 3: Use packet shaping technologies
    Packet shaping allows you to prioritize certain network traffic, like key applications or real-time data (like VoIP) over other, less critical traffic on your network. For example, if you run an online store that is the backbone of your business, HTTP traffic to and from your web servers is critical. Packet shaping technology can give this traffic priority over everything else, ensuring the best possible user experience for your online customers.

    Step 4: Prune your protocols/traffic
    Most corporate networks have unnecessary traffic which can consume precious network bandwidth needlessly. Check for protocols that may no longer be necessary on your network, or that could be network hogs, like SNMP, to determine if they still have a purpose or if they are being misused. If they are no longer mission critical, make sure your packet shaping technology treats this traffic with the lowest possible priority.

    Along with continuously pruning your network, be sure to constantly monitor your network. The best monitoring solutions will allow you to archive packet data to disk, providing a complete recording of network activity. When your monitoring solution indicates problems, simply “rewind” your network to determine exactly what the issue is. Whether it’s a surge in web-based sales due to your latest promotion, or employees streaming the Stanley Cup playoffs, it’s up to you to know what your network can handle, and up to your network monitoring and analysis solution to let you know when bandwidth issues are about to occur.

      Packet and Protocol Analysis Are the Same Thing, Right?

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        These two approaches in network analysis are often mentioned synonymously, but one is more thorough than the other. Do you know which one? If yes, then no enjoy this refresher blog post. If no, then let us explain.

        Protocol analysis is a subset of packet analysis. Protocol analyzers interrogate packet headers to determine if the protocol is being used for communication, and what type, like HTTP. This form of analysis is strictly for the communication layer and is best served if you are trying to solve basic connectivity or configuration issues or simple timing issues.

        On the other hand, packet analysis dives deeper into the packet for analysis. Packet analyzers address both the packet header as well as the payload, which contains critical information about applications and their operation on your network. Packet analyzers can answer the deeper, and often-asked question, “is it the network or the application?” The evidence is clear when you dive into a network flow for a user with a problem and see in the decode “Process ID 169 was deadlocked with another process and has been chosen as the deadlock victim. Re-run your command.”

        Need a deeper explanation of troubleshooting end user experience with packet payloads? Check out this post on LoveMyTool.

          WildPackets in the NOC

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            The world’s largest independent IT conference, Interop, could not run without its network, InteropNet. And, InteropNet could not run without a group of volunteers and vendors that are selected each year to collaborate and run the expo’s network from the Network Operations Center (NOC).

            This week, you will not only find us at Interop Las Vegas, but also our full range of Omnipliance solutions will be a part of the InteropNet!

            Preparing for Interop
            Being a part of the Interop NOC is challenging in several ways. First, you are working in a research and development environment that has the most advanced wired and wireless technologies.

            Second – and maybe the most challenging – is Interop vendors and attendees use as much bandwidth as possible to ensure that product demos go on without a hitch and to stay connected to the outside world via mobile devices. The number of devices deployed as well as the bandwidth needed to run the show makes operating a highly reliable, high performance network a challenge and the ability to troubleshoot and quickly resolve issues a high priority. This is where our real-time analysis and network forensics on both wired and wireless networks will play a crucial role both in finding and diagnosing any problem.

            For the last two weeks, we’ve been working with our fellow NOC vendors and volunteers to create a working infrastructure and testing our Omnipliances interoperability with the other products in the NOC. Together, we helped enable a seamless, end-to-end network application monitoring, analysis and troubleshooting solution that is ready for the show, although our work has just begun.

            During Interop
            The WildPackets’ Professional Services team will be looking at the real-time health across all the network segments in a single view at Interop and ready to quickly troubleshoot any network issues. With leveraging our expert events and network forensic capabilities, we can easily detect any bandwidth hogs and maintain the high quality runtime of InteropNet.

            For wireless, our Omnipliances will help validate the placement of access points and the signal strength. They will validate configuration and optimizations changes that network engineers may make during the show. For example, these changes may include increasing the signal strength of an Access Point (AP), changing a directional antenna, changing what types of clients can connect, or even changing how often an AP will beacon. Also, the Omnipliances can easily detect and investigate BYOD issues when wireless devices are in motion to maintain the high quality wireless experience at InteropNet.

            If you want to hear more about our participation at Interop, leave us a comment or come say hello at booth 2059. You can also tour the NOC on Wednesday and Thursday, May 8 and 9.