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Network Instruments Probes
Overview
Features
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How It's Deployed
What's New
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Deploy Excellence in Precision Probe Technology
Featuring Gen2 Capture Intelligence.
Whether your network stretches across the building or the globe, Network Instruments’ probe appliances cover your edge and remote network sites with advanced analysis technologies. They aggregate information across network sites near and far — extending your reach without sacrificing monitoring integrity. Our complete line of software and hardware probes monitors network activity across multiple topologies with robust intelligence and a menu of rich features. Use probes for troubleshooting, collecting NetFlow data, proactive monitoring, long-term data collection, network forensics, and more.
As enterprise networks continue growing, our probes provide performance management support for multiple departments, locations, business functions and remote users. We offer a robust remote monitoring solution that when used with a console, gives IT managers and engineers the power to proactively monitor, troubleshoot, and respond to network problems from any location. Network Instruments’ probes offer deep insights and 360 degrees of visibility into every element of an organization’s business-critical IT infrastructure. Choose software probe options or from a variety of pre-configured rack mount systems for an easy, cost-effective way to monitor any part of the network.
Benefits
- Gain insight and visibility into the entire network
- Manage remote networks as easily as local
- Aggregate information across sites for global health
- Get support for the following topologies:
- LAN
- WAN and OC
- Gigabit, 10 Gb, and 40 Gb
- Wireless (802.11 a/b/g/n)
- Fibre Channel
Key Features
Use probes with Observer and Observer Reporting Server (ORS) to deploy features that quickly help troubleshoot and resolve issues. Probes are hardware appliances that run Network Instruments' probe instance software, providing enterprise-wide views of network traffic. With probes, there's no added time or expense involved traveling to remote sites when a problem occurs – see everything you need from your desktop.
Use probes in tandem with other Network Instruments' offerings to get the following features and more:
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Access the Power of Probes Plus ObserverMonitor and troubleshoot critical network links in any location in real time, using the Probes -Observer power duo. Probes report to the Observer console for complete video monitoring support to tracking end-user experience. Features include:
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Pair Probes with ORS for Greater VisibilityGet a top-down approach that combines enterprise-wide views, macro- and micro-level reporting, and deep drill-down for problem resolution with Observer Reporting Server. Features include:
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Increase Troubleshooting Efficiency
Accelerate troubleshooting with probes using real-time Expert Analysis locally at the probe, without transferring captured data back to the console.
Get Unmatched Distributed Visibility
Distributed visibility is offered with probes. Deploy probes to various observation points to monitor traffic, correlate analysis, and more.
See All Your Data with Flow Aggregation
View the complete picture with flow data aggregationfor a unified report of all network sites.
Optimize New Technology
Probes assist with reporting on key technology initiatives such as UC, virtualization, and cloud.
For companies that can't invest in dedicated hardware probes, our software probes provide a low-cost monitoring alternative. Easy to install and configure, they support Ethernet, Gigabit, and wireless. Ideal for analyzing low-utilization gigabit network speeds, we offer a variety of software probes.
We also offer an array of hardware probes, which can manage high-utilization, full-duplex gigabit or 10 Gb networks. Whether hardware or software, probes can be selected to meet the specific needs of your organization.
Product Options
Our probes are offered in a wide selection of hardware appliance, portable options, and dedicated RNA devices.
Software Probes
Software probes support Ethernet, Gigabit, and wireless topologies. They're designed for analyzing speeds of up to low-utilization Gigabit networks via a SPAN/mirror port on a switch. Easy to install and configure.
Features include:
- Decodes for Countless Protocols and Sub-Protocols
- Real-Time Statistics
- Long-Term Trending
- Simultaneous Multi-Interface Monitoring
- Remote Real-Time Access for Multiple Administrators
- Supports Industry's Largest Capture Buffer
- Remote Expert Analysis in Real-Time
Gigabit, 10 Gb Probes Appliances
We provide full-duplex, wire-speed capture and analysis on Gigabit and 10 Gb links. Network Instruments excels in Gigabit and 10 Gb monitoring because of its superior hardware technology built on the internally designed Gen2 capture card. The Gen2 guarantees full-duplex, wire-speed monitoring and analysis.
Comprehensive monitoring and analysis technologies include:
- Real-Time Expert
- UC
- In-Depth Analytics
- Aggregate Performance Monitoring
Ethernet Probe Appliances
Monitor 10/100/1000 network links by deploying Ethernet probe appliances throughout the enterprise. Our Ethernet probe appliances provide real-time Expert processing, in-depth analytics, and extensive decodes. They also connect to the Observer Reporting Server for aggregate performance monitoring. Choose the 10/100/1000 Probe for monitoring one or two links.
WAN and OC
WANs are often a crucial part of your service delivery infrastructure. You need broad visibility to achieve operational awareness. WAN probes capture the key packet and payload details needed to comprehensively monitor performance and quickly resolve issues. With support for a variety of environments, from OC3/12 connections running SONET and ATM to T1/E1 and DS3’s with Frame Relay and HDLC, Network Instruments WAN probes offer actionable information to quantify link health, satisfy budget allocations, and validate service level agreements.
WAN Analysis Advantages
- Manage and monitor VoIP and UC systems with expert analytics
- Monitor up to 16 connections individually or in aggregate
- Monitor CIR to verify and enforce Service Level Agreements
- Capture and decode WAN encapsulation and payload data
Fibre Channel
Network Instruments supports Fibre Channel and FCoE analysis with a complete line of probes. You can decode Fibre Channel protocols and monitor over 30 Fibre Channel statistics. With Observer, you can set thresholds on all Fibre Channel events, including session delays on arbitrated loop, audio/video, link data, avionics, virtual interface, and more.
Platform Integration
Probes are part of the Network Instruments integrated platform. They work with Observer consoles for analysis and Observer Reporting Server (ORS) for high-level performance visibility.
- Probes work with Observer to provide Distributed Analysis which includes: App Performance Analysis, App Transaction Analysis, comparison analysis, traffic flows, visibility into other environments, and more.
- Paired with Observer, probes also provide detailed information across multiple segments, multiple locations, and across heterogeneous environments.
- Probes provide remote visibility when used with ORS, a data source for the high-level reporting environment.
- Drilldown from ORS into probes provides root-cause analysis for problem resolution.
How are Probes Deployed?
Probe placement is critical. Failure to deploy the right probes in the right place can result in network blind spots, leading to inefficient troubleshooting and expensive mistakes. It's also essential to place probes in high-traffic areas to capture the data you need.
Since a probe only shows the analysis data it can see, where to deploy probes depends on your network's architecture and where visibility is needed. For example, an Ethernet probe's visibility is limited to what a particular switch's SPAN/mirror port can deliver. A specialized hardware probe connected through a TAP sees only the traffic traversing that link. If you want 100 percent coverage, install TAPs on all the high-speed critical links in or near the core of your network, and plug probes into the SPAN/mirror ports of switches on the edge.
Best Practices
Hardware probes:
- Consider whether you want to use SPAN vs. TAP.
- Network Core: Use Gigabit, 10 Gb, and 40 Gb appliances
- Network Edge: Ethernet probe appliances
Software probes:
- Appropriate for analyzing speeds of up for low-utilization gigabit networks via a SPAN port on a switch.
What's New?
Native IPv6 Communications
Get advanced support for IPv6 environments. As you shift to IPv6-based networks, our solutions provide native IPv6 communications options within pure IPv6 and mixed IPv6/IPv4 environments.
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Gen2 Capture Card Enhancements
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Probe Centric Analysis
Observer platform users can now add more points of visibility without impacting network traffic. This allows for:
- 97 percent reduction in overhead and bandwidth
- Ideal for the world’s largest analysis deployments
- Increased scalability in enterprise environments
Technical Specifications
Network Instruments builds software and hardware probes to meet your needs, offering an array of options. Use the technical specifications to help identify probes that best satisfy your analysis requirements.
Software Probe System Requirements
Minimum
Dual-core; 2GB memory; Windows XP; one copper or fiber 10/100/1000 Ethernet monitoring port in addition to an out-of-band Ethernet management port.
Recommended
Quad-core; 8 GB memory; Windows XP 64 bit; two copper or fiber 10/100/100 Ethernet ports, in addition to an out-of-band Ethernet management port.
Hardware Probe Tech Specifications
All hardware probe appliances connect to any Observer Expert or Observer Suite console on the network. Our probe appliance units include all required cabling, copper, or optical nTAPs (depending on configuration selected), a 10/100/1000 Ethernet management port, and DVD-RW drive. Each unit is a dual-processor system with Windows.
| Model | Description |
| 10 Gb Probe | includes 36 GB RAM |
| Fibre Channel Probe | with Gen2 Capture Technology |
| Gigabit Probe | supports up to 4 links (or 8 ports) |
| WAN Probe | supports T1/E1, DS3/T3/E3, OC3c/OC12c |
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