Upcoming Events

Cloud Connect
Santa Clara
Feb 13-16, 2012

Cloud Connect brings together the entire cloud eco-system to better understand the transformation we're experiencing and promises to be the defining event of the cloud computing industry. Learn about the latest cloud technologies and platforms from thought leaders in Cloud Connect’s comprehensive conference.

Register Now!

Making The Diagnosis With Windows Protocol Analyzers

Just The Cold, Hard Facts, Ma'am
Although each network analyzer's marketing literature presents a laundry list of supported protocol decodes, we decided to take a closer look at the depth of each unit's protocol analysis. We chose 20 common IP protocols and 11 common Novell NetWare/IntranetWare protocols typically seen on today's networks. After generating real conversations in each protocol, we examined the products' decodes in search of useful information.

Some products claim to support v arious protocols, but we found that many application-level protocols were merely identified and not actually decoded. For instance, The AG Group's EtherPeek and Network Instruments' Observer did identify TCP protocols like HTTP by port number in a TCP-layer decode, but they did not decode the application-layer protocol. The following table displays the actual decodes in the range of protocols we tested.