Network Instruments Observer Core Features

Observer exists to help you better know, optimize, and repair your complex network. To do so requires complete visibility into your network and the devices residing on it. Observer Standard delivers just that: full network visibility.

Observer 13 New Features

Download Observer 13 New Features

From LAN testing to complex operations across geographic locations, Observer Standard addresses your unique need by supporting multiple topologies.

Observer Standard also fully supports IPv6 and views and analyzes virtual machines exactly as it would any other device.

From real-time packet capture and decode to long-term reports and trending, Observer offers the flexibility to address issues from multiple angles, and to provide different organizational levels the types of information they need.

Use Application Performance Monitoring to graphically track application performance and perform quick next-step analysis. Performance is presented on a color-coded scale of good to poor, allowing periods of poor performance to be easily identified. Additionally, the height of the color-coded bars indicates traffic volume.

From top-layer application reports, engineers can drill down to specific host servers or conversations to identify sources contributing to poor performance. Couple this with new auto-baselining in the Observer Reporting Server (ORS) for a more powerful performance monitoring solution that establishes baselines and thresholds and identifies when thresholds are exceeded.

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Performance Monitoring Benefits:

• Understand critical application performance at a glance
• Track and quickly identify time periods of poor performance
• Perform single-click root-cause analysis from application-level reports
• Automatically establish performance benchmarks and thresholds
• Easily identify when application performance exceeds thresholds

Application Performance Monitoring is available with Observer Expert, Observer Suite, Expert Probes, and ORS. Auto-baselining is available with ORS.

Expanded Application Visibility

Observer 13 provides greater accuracy and in-depth tracking of application performance and errors.

Stateful Packet Inspection

Stateful packet inspection allows network managers to accurately identify protocols or activities traversing a specific port through in-depth packet inspection. For example, stateful packet inspection can verify that application traffic flowing across port 80 is legitimate HTTP-based activity rather than unauthorized BitTorrent use.

Track HTTP by URL

As web services on the network increase, tracking performance by Internet Protocol (IP) or virtual IP is no longer adequate. New URL-based performance reporting monitors response times, volumes, utilization, and site-specific statistics.

Use URL-based Tracking to:

• Monitor performance of a single URL hosted by multiple servers
• Individually track multiple URLs hosted on a single server
• Track sub-domain performance and usage metrics

Available in Observer Expert, Observer Suite, and ORS.

NetLive

NetLive answers the need of larger organizations for TopN enterprise-wide visibility in real time.

NetLive, within the Observer Reporting Server, presents high-level, network-operation-center (NOC) views of network and application performance in real time. Use NetLive to assess network conditions and pinpoint concerns. From these views, drill down and isolate network problems.

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Customize NetLive's application, network, and infrastructure performance views and reports to present only metrics you care about. Share NetLive reports via secure web login.

Use NetLive to:

• Receive real-time views of network and application health
• Track critical response times, usage, and TopN metrics
• Drill down within NetLive to investigate high-level problems

Available with the Observer Reporting Server.

Data-at-Rest Security

Encrypt data stored on the GigaStor using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to ensure information security. AES is required by some U.S. government agencies and can be important for companies concerned about PCI and HIPAA regulations.

Available with the GigaStor.

Expanded Topology Support

For large organizations and carriers monitoring OC topologies, Observer provides monitoring and analysis of OC-3c and OC-12c and decodes OC-related protocols.

Observer supports Packet over SONET (POS), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) over OC, and ATM over SONET.

Network Instruments continues to develop its in-depth WLAN analysis capabilities by supporting the emerging wireless standard 802.11n.

Use Observer Wireless Analysis to:

• Monitor signal strength and quality
• Compare wired to wireless performance
• Detect rogue access points
• Conduct wireless site surveys

OC-3c/OC-12c support is available with Observer Expert and Observer Suite consoles in conjunction with an OC Probe. 802.11n support is available in all Observer consoles and probes.

Enhanced GigaStor Interface

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The new GigaStorActive Reporting feature includes powerful drill-down capabilities, customizable next-step analysis, and immediate report generation - all designed to reduce mean time to resolution. From the selected time-period view, engineers drilling into network and application metrics can determine the next step of their investigation by choosing from an extensive list of related reports. Based upon the investigation at hand, automatic filters are dynamically created to speed root-cause analysis.

Upgrades to the time-navigation interface improve problem identification. New macro and micro timeline views provide users both a big-picture view and a micro view to quickly pinpoint problems.

Available with GigaStor.

Core Features

Stay Alert with Proactive Notification

Ensuring network problems have the least possible business impact means knowing instantly when problems arise. Observer's customizable Triggers and Alarms let you choose when and how to receive important alerts.

Understand network demands and set baselines, employ Triggers and Alarms to set thresholds and receive notification when they're crossed. Choose from alert options, including e-mail, pager, or trouble ticket, or start a packet capture.

Other Triggers and Alarms Features:

• Flag activities or errors from a pre-defined list
• Set custom notifications based on any filter
• Obtain e-mail with virus information including source and destination
• Trigger on any WLAN activity

Analyze Network Data Over Time

Understanding the ordinary, day-to-day variations in your network is critical to getting value from your network and delivering maximum uptime. Observer offers an array of trending and reporting utilities for baselining, running projections, and more.

Observer lets you view data by individual time increment or compare statistics among designated periods. We've included a host of pre-loaded reports for quick and easy use, but we also allow you to tailor reports to customize your experience.

Custom Report Features:

• Choose text-based, graphical, or web-based reports
• Design custom reports and save templates for later use
• Auto-generate reports to any folder or e-mail box
• Share reports with non-Observer users
• Add Observer Reporting Server for enterprise-wide reporting with deep drill-down.

View Data in Real Time

Time is of the essence when network problems threaten your ability to conduct business. Network Instruments knows this and includes a range of real-time awareness tools with every copy of Observer.

Gauge performance with over 30 real-time statistics including Top Talkers, which lets you identify network bandwidth hogs. Observer lets you find broadcast storms, detect faulty network hardware, view LAN use patterns, and review switch usage. Also view stats on bandwidth utilization, access point load, and protocol distribution.

Observer Standard tracks, monitors, and analyzes VLAN data. View data independently or in aggregate, monitor real-time statistics by VLAN, or determine loads by station and by VLAN.

Perform In-Depth Troubleshooting

Observer's packet capture, decode, and filtering capabilities are second to none. Observer lets you view individual packets and decode over 590 primary protocols and countless subprotocols.

See full decode listing.

Observer filters packets quickly and efficiently by address, address range, protocol offsets, and protocol presets. Use Boolean logic to create complex filters.

Observer Standard also lets you filter with regular expressions, design filters visually, and execute multiple filters concurrently. Best of all, you can share filter libraries with other Observer users.

Wireless Analysis Solutions Overview

All Observer products offer WLAN monitoring. When equipped with a wireless NIC, each analyzer or probe detects wireless activity and relays metrics to Observer consoles anywhere on the network for analysis. Load Observer on a laptop for mobile monitoring power.

While conducting WLAN monitoring, Network Instruments probes allow you to simultaneously monitor the wired side of the network. Wireless-only analyzers can’t decode beyond the MAC layer since the header is encrypted in most security configurations. With Observer, you have the option to view the entire wired-side payload.

Invest in the solution that easily handles both wired and wireless network monitoring.

• Identify vulnerabilities
• Stay on top of wireless health
• Uncover wireless trends
• Simultaneously monitor wired networks
• Supports 802.11 a/b/g/n

 

More Wireless Network Monitoring Info...