Observer WAN Analysis Advantages

Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity and throughput validation is a key part of a healthy, cost-effective remote connectivity strategy. With WAN costs typically accounting for the majority of the network’s ongoing operating budget, tracking performance is critical.

Network Instruments’ Observer WAN solution provides in-depth metrics for comprehensive WAN flow analysis, making WAN testing and monitoring as easy as monitoring local resources.

WAN Analysis Advantages

• Manage VoIP communications with Expert system
• Monitor up to 16 connections individually or in aggregate
• Monitor CIR to verify and enforce Service Level Agreements
• Perform packet captures, review statistics that adhere to RMON1/RMON2 and HCRMON
• Capture and decode WAN encapsulation and payload data

Observer WAN Solution Features

MultiHop Analysis

• Track conversations through up to 10 segments
• Pinpoint network delay or system processes as cause
• Measure one-way, round-trip, and individual hop delay

WAN Vital Signs

• Get comprehensive summary of WAN errors, stats, utilization, congestion
• View DCE/DTE traffic individually or in aggregate
• Stats shown in packets, bytes, FECNs, BECNs, number of discard eligibility, errors, and utilization

Plus WAN alarms, filtering, trending, reporting, real-time experts and more.

T1/E1/DS3 Support

For organizations looking to monitor and troubleshoot fractionalized and non-fractionalized T1 lines and more, rely on Observer’s WAN analysis. For example, monitor Internet or site-to-site connectivity for your local and remote offices.

With Observer WAN Analysis:

• Monitor up to 16 links individually or in aggregate
• Ensures full-duplex capture on serial HSSI, digital T3/DS3/E3, and serial and digital T1/E1
• Localizes processing at the probe to minimize network overhead
• Reports to any Observer Expert or Observer Suite console

For T1/E1/DS3, we support protocols including Frame Relay, Point-to-Point protocol (PPP), HDLC, and more.

Full OC3 and OC12 Support

For large organizations and carriers monitoring OC topologies, Observer now monitors and analyzes OC3 and OC12 traffic and decodes OC-related protocols.

While the OC transfer scheme introduces an element of uniformity, it also creates a certain amount of network overhead.

ATM is a dedicated-connection switching technology that organizes digital data into 53-byte cell units and transmits them over a physical medium using digital signal technology.

Observer supports Packet over SONET (POS) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) over OC. It offers the ability to present analysis at the cell-level (53 bytes) and reconstruct ATM streams and ATM over SONET. These protocols are used for sending long-distance data transmissions.

WAN Solution Form Factors

WAN Analysis Product Selection

• WAN Probe Appliance
  Monitors all header and payload data on serial and digital WAN links for comprehensive analysis.
• WAN Portable
  A portable system that offers comprehensive inline monitoring, decode, and statistics for WAN traffic, as well as all payload data for serial and digital links.
• GigaStor-WAN Probe Appliance
  A high-performance historical analysis appliance that is engineered for forensics with almost unlimited amounts of storage potential.