NetworkVantage

Network performance management with an application perspective for today's converged networks

In-depth network monitoring of converged networks uncovers a wealth of information about application and infrastructure performance, including who the infrastructure is serving, what applications demand the most resources, VoIP call quality and how to troubleshoot complex application and VoIP performance problems. Without knowing which applications are using the network, and when they are active, it is impossible to manage the networked infrastructure to effectively meet business objectives.

IT managers need a product that provides visibility to help:

• ensure the network is being used for its intended purposes
• manage the WAN asset and eliminate unnecessary WAN usage
• account for network resource utilization; charge back where required
• identify potential servers for server consolidation
• monitor and trend VoIP performance

Network operations professionals need a product that will:

• quickly resolve network performance problems
• rapidly respond to network security breaches
• minimize the occurrence of network performance problems
• help prevent future problems
• provide insight into the factors that affect VoIP performance

The Enterprise Network Application Performance Management Dashboard provides insight into the status of your networked applications within a single view.

Vantage provides visibility into competing network loads, then isolates where performance is degrading in the application path.

The Application Profile, available for every discovered application, shows critical detail about the performance of an application, including which clients and servers are the biggest users of the application, as well as when the application consumes the most network resources. Each response time and traffic volume "data point" on the profile chart is a hot button to drill down into performance details for a specific interval.

This report shows the top bandwidth-consuming applications on a WAN virtual circuit.

Web-based billing reports help enterprises charge for network costs.

Improve VoIP performance

Vantage allows you to monitor, troubleshoot and trend VoIP performance like any other application on your network. Reports provide voice quality measures such as mean opinion score (MOS), delay, jitter and lost packets. It also provides visibility into how other traffic-such as peer-to-peer, instant messaging and web browsing-affects VoIP performance. This unique overall perspective provides a better understanding of the factors that impact VoIP quality so you can quickly pinpoint and resolve problems.

The VoIP Performance Summary report delivers an enterprise view of VoIP performance for all locations. Metrics include good versus bad calls, MOS, jitter, delay and lost packets. You can drill down from this report to specific locations to troubleshoot or gather trend analysis of VoIP performance over time.

The screen shot below shows VoIP traffic in the context of total bytes. Indications of overall call quality such as MOS, jitter, delay and lost packets are displayed at the top. Drill down reports with per-call details are available for troubleshooting.

The following is a brief description of the seven layers of the OSI protocol stack and example Vantage application and protocol decodes within each layer.

Layer 1 - Physical

This layer conveys the bit stream. It defines the connection, electrical, optical and wiring specifications. It provides the means of sending and receiving data on a carrier. It provides the hardware means of sending and receiving data on a carrier, including defining cables, cards and physical aspects. Operates in units of bits.

Protocols/Interfaces:
LAN
10BaseTX, 100BaseTX, 100BaseFX, 1000Base-LX, 1000Base-SX Ethernet; Fiber Optical 100Mbps
WAN
X.21, V.35, HSSI, Integrated CSU/DSU (T1)

Layer 2 - Data Link

At this layer, data packets are encoded and decoded into bits. It furnishes transmission protocol knowledge and management and handles errors in the physical layer, flow control and frame synchronization. The data link layer is divided into two sub layers: Media Access Layer and Logical Link Control. Each operates in units of frames.

Examples of Protocols decoded:
802.3, FDDI, 802.1Q, ARP, PPP, CHAP, PAP

Layer 3 - Network

This layer provides switching and routing technologies transmitting data from node to node. Routing and forwarding are functions of this layer as well as addressing, internetworking, error handling, congestion control and packet sequencing. Operates in units of Packets.

Examples of Protocols decoded:
IP, IPv6, BOOTP, GRE, ICMP, RSVP BGP, E-IGRP, OSPF, RIP, DRP NetBIOS, NetBEUI, SNA, IPX, X.25 PLP

Layer 4 - Transport

This layer provides transparent transfer of data between systems or hosts and is responsible for end-to-end error recovery and flow control. It ensures complete data transfer and operates in units of messages.

Examples of Protocols decoded:
TCP, UDP, Oracle TNS, Sybase TDS, SPX, ISO-TP, ADSP, GPRS 

Layer 5 - Session

This layer establishes, manages and terminates connections between applications. The session layer establishes, coordinates, and terminates conversations, exchanges and dialogues between the applications at each end. It deals with session and connection coordination.

Examples of Protocols decoded:
DNS, H.245(VoIP), T.120, RTCP, RTP, SIP, Sun RPC, NetBIOS Name Server, Citrix

Layer 6 - Presentation

This layer provides independence from differences in data representation (e.g., encryption). It performs data format conversion and provides compression, encoding and encryption of data.

Examples of Protocols decoded:
SQL*Net/Oracle8, ISO-PP

Layer 7 - Application

Provides standards services to applications and end-user interfaces. Communication partners and quality of service are identified, and user authentication is considered. Everything at this layer is application specific.

Examples of Applications and Protocols decoded:
HTTP, FTP, CDP, IRC, NNTP, RLOGIN, SMTP, IMAP, POP, SNMP, Telnet, X-Windows, SMB, RPC, SAP R/3, NCP, X.400, DAP, LAT, AFP, NIS, NFS, Mount, Port Mapper, MS Netlogin, MS Exchange, KaZaA, eDonkey

Vantage Application Decodes

Overview

Vantage decodes over 2000 applications and protocols to provide a detailed view of network performance. Network monitoring discovery capabilities extend all the way through the OSI 7-layer protocol stack.

In addition to out-of-the-box application decodes, Vantage allows users to define a wide range of custom applications.  This capability is based on sixteen different attributes of network traffic.

Application discovery enhancements in Vantage include the following new decodes:

• Citrix traffic types (Interactive, Printer, Audio, Other)
• Citrix user-defined applications
• VoIP and Streaming applications

The following signaling protocols will be identified:

• H.225.0 Call Signaling
• H.245 Call Control
• H.248 Binary
• H.323 Gatekeeper Discovery
• H.323 Gatekeeper Registration
• H.323 Call Signaling
• H.323 Call-sig-transport
• H.323 Host Call Secure
• Microsoft Media Server Protocol
• Megaco H.248
• MGCP Gateway
• RSVP
• SDP
• SGCP
• SIP
• SIP Registration
• SIP Registration Request
• SIP-TLS
• Skinny Client Control Protocol

The following streaming protocols will be identified:

• G.711 (PCMA) Audio
• G.711 (PCMU) Audio
• G.723.1 Audio
• G.726 Audio
• G.729 Audio
• GSM Audio
• H.263 Video
• LPC Audio
• RTP
• RTCP

• IBM WebSphere MQSeries - added heuristic component to decode
• Nimda Virus
• Peer-to-peer applications:
  - KaZaA - changed to a heuristic decode
  - eDonkey
  - Bit Torrent
  - Gnutella
  - WinMX
  - DirectConnect
  - MP2P (Monolito)
  - Lobster
  - Piolet
• Improved SMB decoding for better breakout of:
  - SQL Server
  - Print Spooler
  - User-defined applications defined by "open file request"
• Endpoint Mapper
• Port Mapper / RPC Bind
• Checkpoint Firewall
• L2TP - Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol
• WAP
• GPRS Tunneling
• Frame Relay Fragmentation:
  - FRF-12
  - Nortel (fragmentation/consolidation)
  - Motorola Vanguard
• ICMP Calls:
  - Fragmentation needed
  - Source Quench
  - Time Exceeded
  - Redirect