Observer Virtualization Support

See Inside Virtual Networks

The uptake on virtualization technologies in enterprise environments has been intense. As more companies consolidate critical data servers onto fewer virtual hosts to reduce costs and save energy, the challenge becomes achieving the same visibility into virtual networks as was possible with physical hardware.

Network Instruments virtual solutions solve these issues by providing full access to virtual traffic on the wire, between hosts, and even between virtual machines within a single host.

Take advantage of:

• Troubleshooting and analysis
• Retrospective analysis
• Real-time reports
• Long-term trending

See how it works - View the Slideshow

 

See all Virtualization Analysis and Monitoring Solutions

A Virtual Push

The purpose of a traditional network TAP is to feed unaltered network data to devices such as analyzers and IDS's. Similarly, the Virtual TAP functionality within the Multi-Probe and Expert Probe pushes data otherwise inaccessible inside a virtual host out to the physical world.

To accomplish this, the Virtual TAP directs all traffic to the virtual switch to a dedicated virtual NIC and out to the analysis, monitoring, or security device.

This ability is especially useful in monitoring multi-tiered applications running across virtual machines within a single host, and in detecting intrusions or attacks on one virtual server that subsequently affect others.

 

Retrospective Analysis

One of the most exciting options for the Virtual TAP technology within our Multi-Probe and Expert Probe is to employ GigaStor's retrospective network analysis on virtual machines, just as you would a physical device.

Since all virtual machine conversations—communications to, from, and between virtual machines within a host—are available in unaltered form to GigaStor, they can be captured and stored for later troubleshooting and analysis.

For example, if a problem occurred within a virtual server farm over the weekend, simply access GigaStor, rewind the stored data to that point in time, and see firsthand what occurred before, during, and after the incident.

This process saves hours of time that would normally be spent waiting for the issue to recur.

Aggregate Analysis

Apply the Network Instruments "top-down" approach—drilling from real-time aggregate views of the entire network to packet-level detail—to virtual machines using the Network Instruments virtual solution.

While Observer could always monitor and analyze virtual traffic traversing the wire, it is now able to access all virtual conversations, including those between virtual machines within a single host. This means virtual conversation data is available to the Observer Reporting Server (ORS), the Network Instruments enterprise-wide performance monitoring solution.

Use it to view all virtual machines as a single logical group, to know at a glance when and where problems are occurring.