Visual Networks' Uptime Select

Posted by Bruce Boardman on March 25, 2005

Tags: Performance monitoring,  Visual Networks,  WAN management,  network monitoring,  Data Networking & Management,  Networking and Telecom,  Other,  Software and Web Development,  Traffic Management,  WAN Optimization and Application Acceleration,  network management

Channel: Networking & Mgmt, Other, WAN & App Acceleration

Dig Deeper (on-site search queries) Network Management Network Monitoring Read On Web Application Performance Monitors NetCordia's NetMRI Performance Management Software

UpTime classifies its probes by domain, network, site and WAN access line. This hierarchy puts site performance and event impact in context, and makes viewing performance data more manageable by improving navigation.

Probing Network Problems

The probes sit passively inline or on a switch span port. UpTime comes with numerous probes supporting many means of WAN access, including ATM, E1, Ethernet, frame relay, HDLC, PPP and T1. I tested the 10/100 Ethernet set.

When connected on Ethernet to a span port, an ASE must support bidirectional communications. At first I found this odd, as probes usually offer a second management interface. But unlike most probes, which are implemented in LANs where bandwidth and connectivity are cheap, the ASE is designed to sit at the expensive edge of WAN traffic and leave as small a footprint as possible.