Quickly identify server, network and application bottlenecks by tracing all routes in a network from the end-user perspective.

The majority of IT problem alerts come from end-users calling the service desk about performance problems - not from monitoring network or application performance. According to research, most of the time spent on solving these technical issues is spend on locating the actual root cause of the problem. Proactive end-to-end node independent network management, enabled by the Performance Guard™ Network Analysis Module, empowers IT departments to practically manage end-user quality of service and strategically manage the IT function to make a positive impact on business performance from a cost and productivity point of view.

Network and IT staff spend an extraordinary amount of time identifying response time and latency issues in their networks - time that could be better spent solving performance bottlenecks before they become critical to end-users. To do so, IT administrators need a way to proactively monitor and manage their network in such a way that they can predict problems based on trends and threshold setting and resolve them before users are impacted.

The Network Analysis Module extends Performance Guard™ and enable IT to monitor end-user quality of service by delivering consistent, accurate measurement of application performance from the end-user perspective in real time. The Network Analysis Module takes Performance Guard™ capabilities to the next level by combining historic performance data collected with historic trace route measurements from any client to any server in the network, immediately identifying response time and latency issues that may exist in the network, firewall or router.

With this valuable data, network and IT staff are able to alter network routes and applications to ensure optimum performance for all end-users. This enables companies to resolve mission-critical system performance issues quickly, increase IT staff and user productivity, and reduce expenses in infrastructure and human resources.

How it works

Trace route is the ability to determine which way a network packet travels through the network in order to reach a specific destination. While the Performance Guard Network Analysis Module is detecting the route, it also records the latency between the different routers that the packet meets during its way through the network. This unique trace route functionality auto-discovers and maps an entire network route, including every component along the way. Each route is repeatedly tested and displayed to identify performance bottlenecks in the network, server and applications.

The Network Analysis Module also delivers the following active measurements from all the users:

• ICMP/Ping finds server bottlenecks
• HTTP/Ping finds browser-based application bottlenecks

Installation & set-up

A core component of Performance Guard, trace route functionality is available upon activating the Performance Guard Network Analysis Module. No additional installation is required. Once enabled, the Network Analysis Module set-up is simple:

1. Name the trace route
2. Define the end-point
3. Attach to a pre-defined agent configuration

Trace route measurements are configured in just a few minutes. The Performance Guard server distributes trace route requests to the agents at predefined intervals so that neither the network nor the end-user PCs will be overloaded by these additional measurements.

With user-friendly drop-down menus, the following criteria are selected for displaying trace routes:

• Trace route start-point (a local end-user office)
• Trace route end-point (a predefined server)
• The interval of time in which to display results from the trace route measurements
• The format for showing the display:
• "image" will show the network layout and delay for each line segment
• "table" will list the numbers only for quick reference

Trace route displays

When an "image" display format is selected, a graphical representation of the results of the selected trace route measurements, including firewalls, routes and delays on each network segment, are shown on the map. The image reveals the percentage of trace route requests that followed each specific path to reach the destination. It also informs the administrator of how many milliseconds it took an average packet to travel from its source to its destination. Codes, colors and line-width enable fast and easy identification of response time and latency issues.

The "table" format gives a numerical overview of the delay on each network segment. Again, color codes ensure quick overview of response time and latency issues. From this table, IT staff can select a time-view graph showing all the delay measurements in a given interval on any given network segment. In another table view the network delay reported from each location can be compared. This highlights the offices that are most likely to encounter response time problems due to network delay.