Frontier unveils its UNISON monitoring architecture for managing switched LAN networks; Announces NETscout Fast Ethernet Probe and Switch Monitoring as key elements for managing switched LAN networks.Software today unveiled its UNISON monitoring architecture for managing switched LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a confined geographical area. The "clients" are the user's workstations typically running Windows, although Mac and Linux clients are also used. networks. Frontier also introduced two key elements for this monitoring architecture: the industry's first Fast Ethernet An earlier name for 100Mbps Ethernet. See 100Base-T. (networking) Fast Ethernet - A version of Ethernet developed in the 1990s(?) which can carry 100 Mbps compared with standard Ethernet's 10 Mbps. It requires upgraded network cards and hubs. RMON (Remote MONitoring) Enhancements to the management information base (MIB) structure used by the simple network management protocol (SNMP). In 1991, RMON added comprehensive network monitoring capabilities. based probe and a new NETscout Manager application called Switch Monitor for diagnosing switch, port and VLAN See virtual LAN. VLAN - Virtual Local Area Network traffic. The UNISON architecture defines the instrumentation points required for monitoring enterprise-wide intra and interswitch traffic and the integration of this information for managing switched LAN networks. Frontier's UNISON architecture allows unified monitoring from three critical points: (a.) RMON agents embedded in switches; (b.) Roving RMON probes that tightly integrate with embedded RMON; (c.) and FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) Often pronounced "fiddy," it was a LAN and MAN access method that had its heyday in the mid-1990s. FDDI was an ANSI standard token passing network that transmitted 100 Mbps over optical fiber up to 10 kilometers. and Fast Ethernet Probes for monitoring critical interswitch traffic. Information from these agents and probes are integrated by NETscout Manager to provide an enterprise-wide view of network traffic and their users. The new Switch Monitor application suite is part of NETscout Manager Plus and allows the user to view and diagnose network problems by port, switch, trunk and VLAN. "Our corporate customers are moving to switched LAN environments," said Nathan Kalowski, vice president of marketing for Frontier Software. "Frontier's objective is to deliver comprehensive tools to support our customers' goal of high network availability for both shared and switched media network topologies." Frontier's UNISON architecture delivers seamless monitoring and diagnostics for switched LAN environments Applications are requiring more bandwidth and network administrators are demanding more flexibility and configurability of their enterprise networks. New LAN technologies such as Ethernet switches deliver high performance and configurability delivering various advantages such as low latencies, micro segmentation and the optimization of broadcast domains. Additionally, it is now possible to form virtual LANs based upon the logical vs. physical High-level versus low-level. Logical implies a higher view than the physical. Users relate to data logically by data element name; however, the actual fields of data are physically located in sectors on a disk. groupings of users that optimize the overall responsiveness and availability of the network. However, the key issue in deploying switched LAN technologies is the management of these highly micro segmented ports and VLANS. Embedding full RMON and especially RMON2 at each port can cause significant performance degradation of the switch. Also, as the number of users per port approaches one, the need for applying all the RMON groups at each port does not provide incrementally useful information nor is an RMON probe at each port practical or useful. Frontier's UNISON architecture resolves these issues by delivering comprehensive instrumentation to the enterprise-wide switched environment and by providing an integrated management and reporting application environment. The UNISON architecture specifies four key requirements for integrated management of switched LANS. o Enable 4 groups ("mini-RMON") for each switch port: statistics, history, alarms and events. This will have minimal impact on switch performance while still providing important "vital sign" statistics for each port. o Utilize Roving Probes that: support 7 layer monitoring; interface to the switch diagnostic port; and that are tightly integrated with the switch's embedded "mini-RMON" which can be triggered by the information gathered by the "mini-RMON". This will allow cost effective deployment of probes for high performance, automated analysis of complex LAN problems. o Instrument the critical interswitch high speed links such as Fast Ethernet, FDDI and ATM with dedicated high performance probes. This will allow comprehensive diagnostics of all traffic and users between switches and to file servers providing the data needed for switch and VLAN diagnostics. o Aggregate the data from switch, roving probes and interswitch probes into a single monitoring and diagnostic environment that allows a consolidated view of switch and VLAN traffic. Frontier's UNISON architecture allows the aggregation of information from embedded switch agents, NETscout roving probes (Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Token Ring A local area network (LAN) access method developed by IBM. Conforming to the IEEE 802.5 standard, Token Ring uses a token ring access method and connects up to 255 nodes in a star topology at 4, 16 or 100 Mbps. ) and interswitch probes (Fast Ethernet, FDDI) into NETscout Manager. NETscout Manager Plus fully supports the UNISON architecture with a newly integrated GUI based Having a graphical user interface (GUI). Same as "graphics based." See GUI. tool called Switch Monitor that supports both physical (e.g. port, switch, trunk) and VLAN groupings. NETscout Manager Plus with Switch Monitor delivers powerful diagnostic tools The Netscout Manager Plus with the new Switch Monitor application provides a unique set of tools for monitoring, troubleshooting and planning switched LAN environments. An easy to use GUI based user interface allows the user to "point and click" to a switch type for automatic roving support of the switch diagnostic port. Frontiers open architecture approach allows Switch Monitor the ability to transparently and automatcally support any switch including those from Cisco, 3COM (1) (Computer Output Microfilm) Creating microfilm or microfiche from the computer. A COM machine receives print-image output from the computer either online or via tape or disk and creates a film image of each page. , BAY, DEC, UB and others. This application can also be used to integrate information from embedded agents and from high speed interswitch NETscout probes which include FDDI, Fast Ethernet, and in the future, ATM. Graphical reports display vital statistics such as utilization, collisions and errors for selected port(s), server(s), or trunk segments as well as host and conversation reports for any traffic type through the application layer. NETscout probes can be automatically mapped to a port based upon a predetermined pre·de·ter·mine v. pre·de·ter·mined, pre·de·ter·min·ing, pre·de·ter·mines v.tr. 1. To determine, decide, or establish in advance: threshold condition so that CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. intensive tasks such as data capture can be automatically performed by the probe. The Switch Monitor application suite is tightly integrated with NETscout Manager Plus allowing the usage of powerful "drill down" tools such as segment zoom, host zoom and 7 layer protocol decode (1) To convert coded data back into its original form. Contrast with encode. (2) Same as decrypt. See cryptography. (cryptography) decode - To apply decryption. and other applications. NETscout Fast Ethernet probe is key to monitoring interswitch traffic Fast Ethernet is becoming the defacto standard for cost effective, high performance LAN connectivity. Most LAN switches are now incorporating both half duplex (Computers) arranged so that the information may be transmitted in both directions, but only in one direction at a time; - of communications channels between computers; contrasted with The NETscout EnterpriseProbe Model 7200 for Fast Ethernet, with EnterpriseRMON, provides full seven layer monitoring and diagnostics for these critical links. The Model 7100 for FDDI has been available since March 1995. The NETscout Fast Ethernet probes deliver wire speed performance and can be attached in various configurations for different monitoring requirements. The half duplex model supports T4, TX and FX (fiber) physical media and can be used for monitoring a Fast Ethernet backbone or as a high speed roving probe. The full duplex model supports TX and FX media and can be used to monitor 200mb/s connections between switches or to high performance file servers. Pricing and Availability The NETscout Roving RMON probes and NETscout Fast Ethernet Probes are available today. The Roving Probes are priced from $2,995 to $3,995. The Fast Ethernet probes are priced from $6,995 (HDX See half-duplex. hdx - half-duplex ) to $13,495 (FDX/Fiber). FDDI probes are priced from $9,995 to $14,995. The NETscout Manager Plus with the Switch Monitor application and an SQL-based trending analysis package will be available in March 1996 and is priced at $8,995 for Unix platforms and $5,995 for PC/Windows platforms. Existing users of NETscout Manager can be upgraded to include Switch Monitor for $4,995 per license for Unix and $3,995 per license for PC/Windows. Frontier, Your RMON2 Headquarters Frontier Software is the technology leader in the development of the RMON standard and RMON-based distributed diagnostic systems. The company is an original member of the IETF See Internet Engineering Task Force. IETF - Internet Engineering Task Force RMON committee and has been a key contributor to establishing the RMON management standard (RFC (Request For Comments) A document that describes the specifications for a recommended technology. Although the word "request" is in the title, if the specification is ratified, it becomes a standards document. 1757/1513) and new emerging RMON2 specifications. Frontiers products include the NETscout family of intelligent LAN/WAN LAN/WAN Local Area Network/Wide Area Network Probes and management console A terminal or workstation used to monitor and control a network. See Microsoft Management Console. analysis software tools. Introduced in 1992, NETscout was the first RMON based distributed diagnostic product line available in the industry. In 1993 Frontier was the first to deliver RMON management for WANs. In 1995, Frontier introduced the industry's first RMON support for FDDI and Fast Ethernet. In addition, Frontier has received much industry recognition including Hot Product of the year and Testers Choice from Data Communications data communications, application of telecommunications technology to the problem of transmitting data, especially to, from, or between computers. In popular usage, it is said that data communications make it possible for one computer to "talk" with another. ; Best of Show finalist at lnterop; Application Excellence in Network Management from Faulkner Communications; and Editors Choice for Standards Excellence in RMON from Internetworks Magazine. Frontier markets frontier markets Securities markets in the least developed of the emerging markets. Mexico and Taiwan are generally considered emerging markets while Zimbabwe, Jamaica, and Kenya are considered frontier markets. the NETscout family on a world wide basis through VARs, system integrators and OEMs as well as directly to major end users. CONTACT: Frontier Software Nathan Kalowski, 508/244-4000 nathan@frontier.com |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion