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We all know how important (and boring) it is the elaboration of periodic detail reports in a corporate environment. The network administrator is constantly put in a situation where it needs to justify any change or acquisition of new devices and technologies. Other cases, simply want to check which are the N applications which consume more your bandwidth. With the use of Telcomanager's reporting tools, these tasks become simpler and automatic! It is possible to generate fully customizable reports showing various information like source IP address, destination IP , source port, destination port, among others. In addition, the administrator can generate the report immediately or schedule it for future executions. The beauty of the tool is that once the configuration is made repetitive reports run automatically. Reports of raw data A raw data report simply shows all traffic flows occurred in the network which follow a certain user-defined pattern. For example, a fast and practical way to generate such report in TRAFip is through a graph that shows the detail information the administrator would like to have. If the user right-click on any part of a graph it will pop-up the interactive menu as shown in Figure 1. This interactive…

Distributed Architecture for large networks Network management tools are essential in networks that demand constant monitoring in parameters such as, confidentiality, performance, error analysis, security, traffic characterization, QoS, network planning and traffic predictions in order to assure top service quality. Telcomanager provides a management system based on appliances. Our appliances based solution is customizable to different network complexity and size. For each Network configuration we have different setups that assure the correct processing and data storage for your configuration, assuring also that there are no traffic leaks or slowness in the management system. In highly populated networks, where the large number of elements create large amounts of data flow a distributed architecture is implemented. It is a management system that takes use of devices called Collectors and Consolidators that collaborate between themselves in order to ensure the best performance in data collection, allowing you to have an agile and efficient way to monitor the entire network without any major information loss. The Collectors aren’t simply information repeaters. They are appliances that are connected in a cluster that collect and process raw data in order to provide the operator the data analysis that he requires. After this raw data processing each…

Analyzing your traffic trends Data networks have a continuous rise of traffic demand that obligates the networks to expand frequently. In large networks this constant demand for expansion is even higher. In some cases, this expansion can be translated in a mathematical formula, from which you can generate an evolution curve over time. This curve will give you important data that you can analyze, allowing you to extrapolate the behavior and expansion needs of your network in a specific point in the future. This exercise is called trend analysis. Our Telcomanager Trend Analysis module was developed in order to help Network Administrators to act proactively in the network, enabling you to plan your network capacity and needed expansion in a much more accurate way, which allows you to plan your hardware purchases in the most efficient manner and ensure that you are spending the money you really need to ensure the ideal network behavior. With its network data collection and analysis capability the Telcomanager analysis tools can predict all sorts of practical information to the Administrator, such as the traffic in a network point for a given date or when a link will need an update, to name a few.…

General features of the GraphSet NOC Display In a Network Operation Center, operators need to have 24/7 attention to every Network Element behavior in terms of quantity and characteristics of the network traffic flow. The need to have a wide and quick view of your Network elements and traffic it is a requirement for both small monitoring systems, such a company network, and for big telecommunications companies whose networks cover entire regions in a country or even areas in more than one country. But, how do you achieve it? How can you monitor the traffic flow in your big network, traveling regions, even countries and at the same time be able to check in detail the performance of your networks elements that are spread throughout your network? The NOC Display it's your answer. The NOC Display is an integration mechanism for both TRAFip and SLAview tools. It allows you to simultaneously see graphics generated by both tools, providing you a fully customizable overview over the network places and Network Elements of your choice. With NOC Display you can customize a screen to display a set of graphics of your choice. Thus you can check all the important data at once,…

Traditional IP network management tools use the SNMP protocol to measure various performance parameters, such as error counters in interfaces and traffic volume (essential to the management of those networks). However, simply managing the infrastructure from the performance point of view is not enough, because as the traffic volume increases exponentially, network administrators must be intimately familiar with the details of that traffic. Such details are essential to understanding the behavior of applications, users, company offices and other individuals and structures that depend on those networks. There was an attempt to provide a greater level of detail on the traffic of IP networks with the use of the SNMP protocol via the creation of MIB RMON – remote monitoring. However, it proved ineffective because it did not offer enough information on IP traffic and demanded enormous sophistication in the managing applications in order for them to be able to collect the data available in MIB RMON. It soon became apparent that the SNMP protocol would not be capable of providing the necessary detail and that different approaches should be adopted. Flow export protocols proved themselves to be a more scalable way for acquiring essential information about network traffic History The…

Introduction One of the most difficult tasks for the network administrator is network planning and capacity management. IT Capacity Planning is a process that involves a serie of dimensioning over intercorrelated areas to ensure the company have enough IT resources to run the business. This includes from network resources, such as links and routers, to equipments and software, like desktops and licenses. Also it has to take in count the number of people that support the IT operation on a daily basis. A poorly IT dimensioned company can bring a significant loss of revenue for the business, causing more financial damage than investing in the proper Capacity Planning. One might say that the goal of Capacity Planning is to reduce the discrepancy between the actual demand and the actual offered by the IT resources. This article shows how you use Network Traffic Characterization tools to reduce the gap between IT resources and the actual IT demand, in addition how you can use to create trends and plan ahead your expenses and IT investments. Performing the Capacity Planning The first step is to obtain the IT infrastructure demand targets to be met in the next financial year, especially in areas like…