EtherPeek Microscope
Volume Number: 16
Issue Number: 3
Column Tag: Tools of the Trade
Put Your Network Under a Microscope with
by Bill von Hagen
Better living through network analysis software
Networking is arguably the most important innovation in modern computing. Networks
are the backbones of most corporate and academic computing environments, plus
access to the Internet is the most common reason for home computer purchases today.
Unfortunately, diagnosing and resolving network problems poses a special set of
headaches for system and network administrators. Bad network interface cards
(NICs), bad connections, bad hubs, gateways, routers, or simply bad software can
cause network problems.
It wasn't that long ago that the first line of defense for network problems was an
armada of scopes, line testers, and other medieval devices to help track down the
source of a problem. If the source of the problem was a computer system, system
administrators could begin verifying the system's hardware, configuration, network
software, and then make coffee and exchange hex dumps of network packets all night
long. The next advance in network problem analysis was dedicated portable hardware
that you could attach to your network at any suspected trouble spot. Often laptops
running specialized software for capturing and analyzing network traffic were used.
This is still a practical, sometimes necessary, option for organizations with extremely
specialized needs (and unlimited budgets).
A more practical option is to buy EtherPeek, put if on a dedicated Mac, and dare
problems to occur on your network segment. EtherPeek is a great example of just how
much software can do to provide a comprehensive, understandable view of exactly what
is happening on a network or network segment. EtherPeek makes it easy to identify and
track down network problems before they bring your network to its knees. EtherPeek
can also help you improve network performance by identifying hotspots or
unnecessary network communication. It can identify abnormal traffic patterns and
performance bottlenecks, and help you limit specific types of traffic to certain subnets
by selecting systems to group on their own LAN segments. EtherPeek can also help you
identify and eliminate unnecessary network communication, such as systems
broadcasting or exporting network protocols that you don't use, increasing the