A Powerful, Intuitive Solution for Managing Critical Networks & the Routes That Connect Them
With Link Analyst you can:
Monitor the Status of Important Devices on Your Network and Any Route
In Between with Link Analyst™
Link Analyst provides graphical mapping of network devices, uptime monitoring of device response times, a trigger-based active notification system to warn of network problems as they happen, and web reporting. Link Analyst provides both local and remote monitoring on any connected network, allowing system administrators schedule flexibility along with the confidence of instant notification in the event of a problem.
Not “What’s Up?” But See “What’s Down”
While some may ask the question “What’s up?” Link Analyst answers
the question “What’s down?” and “What device may be going
down?”. Trigger-based warnings provide early notice of the state of any
monitored device. While a station or device that is down may represent a critical
problem and an action that needs to be taken, knowing historical response
time statistics (including, possibly, degradation) may solve little problems
before they become big ones.
Link Analyst will show you graphically which systems are up, which systems are down, and which systems are performing within unacceptable or marginal parameters.
Link Analyst is a cost-effective, software-based Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP solution that is easy to install and use. You’ll quickly realize the time and cost savings of being able to identify trouble spots before they turn into a crisis. Link Analyst is the perfect tool for monitoring and maintaining a network’s QoS (Quality of Service), or a service provider’s adherence to the terms of a SLA (Service Level Agreement).
With Link Analyst, you can monitor the severity of degradation and spot trends that may indicate an impending failure.
Additionally, Link Analyst’s complete facility to monitor WAN links provides up-to-the-minute route analysis, point-to-point route response times, and the display of each hop in a specific route, as well as response time statistics for each hop. Graphical device mapping is combined with real-time response-time monitoring. Route response times and specific link path information are logged and can be easily accessed for comparison to current conditions.
Graphical LAN/WAN Views
Map Your Network Quickly and Easily
Link Analyst automatically creates a map of any segment or group of systems
on your LAN. LAN and device mapping provides both a heads-up view of the LAN,
and shows current network assets with a visual grade of the current response
times. “Drill-down” is available for individual station statistics,
and tabs for map-specific details show device addresses and various names
(IP, DNS, IPX, NetBIOS), response time histories, and configuration status.
Route Mapping—Provides both a graphical and table-based display of a route between the Link Analyst PC and any device reachable via IP, permitting the network administrator to monitor the performance of the connection between the two devices. Create an independent QoS log for WAN vendor uptime, as well as response time SLA verification.
Network Mapping—Provides both a graphical and table-based display of a network, network segment, or even an entire WAN, permitting the network administrator to monitor the response time and performance of devices anywhere on the network, including remote servers, within a matter of minutes.
Map reference items are “goto” links that represent a downstream LAN, WAN or device on any given map. Critical devices on a downstream map can be identified so that each reference item will change color, warning you of a problem that may need investigation. A quick double-click on a reference item displays the subordinate map with the potential problem(s). With map reference items, complete WAN problem identification layouts can be built. A WAN/router-based view of network can be shown, with all downstream LANs referenced and monitored.
Maps can be viewed as a bus, ring, group, or in free-form layout. Link Analyst shows all network devices as icons on a user-configurable display with graphical layout tools that allow complete display and map customization.
By creating a master map, the administrator can embed either kind of map—route or network— as submaps, which may contain devices, or links to other maps, or both. This limits screen clutter and allows administrators to tell at a glance if there is a problem on the network and zero in on the source of the problem with just a few mouse clicks.
Station and Service Response Time Measurements
Each station’s or device’s overall response time is tracked and recorded. But overall station response time may only tell part of the story or overlook a critical function failure. User configurable service tracking is available for any device. Triggers can identify a server where a particular service is malfunctioning or responding in an unacceptable timeframe. For example, your SMTP server may respond to a ping, but email might be down – Link Analyst knows the difference and lets you know graphically or with a user-defined alarm. Is your Web server down, but the system still responding? Link Analyst can pinpoint the problem, and let you focus on the solution.
Route Mapping
Any route from the Link Analyst system to another system or device can be graphically mapped and logged. Each route and hop along the route is shown, and any change in routes is logged and tracked. Individual hop and full route response time are shown and logged.
Example uses of Route Mapping include keeping track of any WAN, point-to-point connection, or critical site connection. Routes can be on private or public networks, via the Internet or within a single LAN.
Link Analyst Pinpoints the Problem—You Focus on the Solution
While a station or device that is down may represent a critical problem and
an action that needs to be taken, knowing historical response statistics (including
degradation) may solve little problems before they become big ones.
Total response times are kept in a database and any changes in routes that may give reason for change in response time are noted and identified. Historical routes and response times can be viewed graphically for any recorded event or timeframe.
User-configurable service tracking is available for any device. Triggers can identify a server where a particular service is malfunctioning or responding in an unacceptable timeframe. For example, your SMTP server may respond to a ping, but email may be down—Link Analyst knows the difference and lets you know visually or via a user-defined alarm such as email or a pager—instantly.
Control What, When and Where
Device- and service-specific response time events that are below user-defined
acceptable levels are flagged as critical for event notification and system-down
warnings. Devices not flagged as critical that are down are simply grayed
out on the map. Icons can be customized for varying levels of response time
degradation. Triggers can be set to cause any recorded event to generate an
alarm. You’ll know “What’s down” before the crisis phone
call and be well on your way to solving the problem before the complaints
begin pouring in.
Link Analyst’s sophisticated alarm actions allow you to set the event notification that best fits your situation. Multiple alarm actions can be triggered by the same alarm. Example actions include:
Printing—Generates a trouble ticket which is printed to the Windows
printer of your specification
Sound—Responds to alarm by playing a user-chosen sound
Program—Executes a user-selected program
Email—Sends an email message to a designated address
Pager—Sends a numeric or alphanumeric message to configured pager
Advanced pager settings permit the use of one pager service for all pager messages or to configure pager messages for multiple administrators, at different times, different days or from different maps.
Network Asset Management
Link Analyst’s maps and associated device/system lists let you keep track
of all network assets, and report on their participation on your LAN/WAN.
Observer Integration
Link Analyst offers tight integration with Network Instruments award winning
Observer product line. If you own Observer and Link Analyst, directly from
Link Analyst's interface you can:
All filters and captures offer a choice of either MAC (layer 1) or IP (layer 3) based monitoring. By associating a Probe with a specific map, Link Analyst can fully take advantage of Observer’s distributed architecture, allowing instant monitoring of local or remote devices,
View Historical Data From Any Standard Web Browser
Link Analyst™ enables network administrators to keep a record of mapped
devices’ performance that can be examined at a later date and used to
generate a report. All statistics are logged for historical interpretation
and baselining. Easy to read charting is available for reporting and management
documentation. Link Analyst makes it simple to identify lapses in any third
party SLA (Service Level Agreement), and can document any QoS (Quality of
Service) problems at issue with management, suppliers, or end users.
Reporting works identically through Link Analyst or a Web browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer. With the Web Reporting feature, data can be made available to anyone, on any platform, who has a web browser, even from remote locations. Historical data can protected from unauthorized access via an optional password and can be set by user, by group of users, and by map. From your browser you can see:
Maps Window—shows the current and correct map for which trending
data has been collected
Report Type Window—permits user to choose between the type of
report that will be displayed
Summary Report—shows information for one or more selected time
periods
Comparison Report—compares report information for one or more
selected time periods.
Keep your network services and devices up and running 24-hours a day with Link Analyst!
Link Analyst System Requirements
Pentium 300 MHz, 32MB RAM, mouse, color VGA monitor running at 1024x768, and
a fully Winsock-compliant TCP/IP, IPX, or NetBEUI protocol.
Platforms: Windows 98/NT/2000/XP
Licensing: The Link Analyst license is for one PC on one site on one LAN.
The Link Analyst license can monitor an unlimited number of devices and LANs
or WANs. An unlimited number of browser connections can be made to view maps,
charts and historical data.
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