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Comprehensive Network Performance Management (by Chuck Loebach & Fred Bennett)

Vendor Profile - ZettaView Systems manufactures performance management systems that provide a superior troubleshooting and capacity planning experience for network administrators. Originally developed in Europe, the ZettaView system has long been an innovator and leader in monitoring and performance management. Consisting of a 24x7 real-time Network Manager, Alarm Manager, Historical Report Generator, Protocol Analyzer and Report Scheduler, ZettaView is a full-service monitoring and performance management for any network configuration.

Chuck Loebach is the International sales representative for ZettaView Systems. Since earning his engineering degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, Chuck has obtained a wide variety of experience in enterprise networking. As a sales and marketing professional, he has helped many IT departments attain their goals of increased efficiency and reduced slowdowns.

Fred Bennett is the CEO of Zettaview Systems. Fred has founded two successful network test equipment sales organizations. During the course of his 15+ years in the IT Test and Measurement industry, Fred has worked with networking environments ranging from large multinational corporations to single-site small businesses.

Overcoming Performance Issues and Other Obstacles in the Enterprise Environment

Overview

For the past 30 years information technology has steadily been increasing in importance in the corporate setting. Now the smallest network slowdown has repercussions felt company wide. Recent studies have shown that most financial and business transactions are conducted electronically. People depend upon efficient connections for vital revenue streams. Time, and now bytes, are money. And this trend shows no sign of slowing.

As a result of business’ increasing dependence on IT resources, diligent monitoring and maintenance of these resources are now instrumental in maintaining a successful enterprise. All successful companies require networks free from performance issues to continue and increase their sales channels. Many monitoring and performance management products have been introduced in recent years to meet the demanding needs of today’s network professionals. Ranging from simple post-analysis protocol analyzers to full 24x7 real-time systems with comprehensive reporting and full stream-to-disk packet capture capabilities, these solutions have sought to alleviate the performance issues that have plagued IT managers since the first corporate networking environment was created decades ago.

ZettaView @ Interop Vegas 2008

Vendor Profile - ZettaView Systems manufactures performance management systems that provide a superior troubleshooting and capacity planning experience for network administrators. Originally developed in Europe, the ZettaView system has long been an innovator and leader in monitoring and performance management. Consisting of a 24x7 real-time Network Manager, Alarm Manager, Historical Report Generator, Protocol Analyzer and Report Scheduler, ZettaView is a full-service monitoring and performance management for any network configuration.

Fred Bennett is the CEO of Zettaview Systems.

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Rising Above ... Wireshark University (by Denny K Miu)

Welcome to another episode of “Rising Above … America TECH Heroes” showcasing individuals who choose to “rise above” all that life can throw at them and be successful in spite of all odds and adversities.

I write regularly about entrepreneurship (particularly survival skills needed for “bootstrapping” entrepreneurs) and I enjoy talking about determined and successful entrepreneurs (as we did with Cahaba Data). Today we are featuring Laura Chappell, Founder of Wireshark University.

I met Laura for the first time during the recent Sharkfest Conference. Laura and her colleagues (Betty DuBois and Tony Fortunato) were teaching a series of introductory and advanced courses on network monitoring and troubleshooting (the PowerPoint presentations can be downloaded here). Since then I have learned more about Laura and her company and come to respect her immensely for what she has accomplished and her reputation among her peers.

As I have discussed in the past, entrepreneurship is fundamentally about wealth creation, for ourselves and our family. Entrepreneurship is far from rocket science. As one of my former Board members once told me (who was an early investor of Sun Microsystems and now spend his retirement racing BMW's when he is not on his yacht), “If you could take something that is previously a hassle for someone and turn it into a routine, then you have a business. And if in addition, you could convince your customers that what you have created is so valuable to them that they are willing to pay you more than what it takes for you to deliver your creation, then you have a 'profitable' business.”

Too often, especially in the Silicon Valley, we forget this simple truth and entrepreneurs (especially first-time entrepreneurs) confuse valuation with value-building (with no shortage of misinformation and generalization from VC's and from the popular media). They mistakenly believe that success is about getting investment from investors as opposed to building a sustainable and viable business.

It is nice to see counter examples such as Laura who didn't wait for the cavalry but instead choose to lift themselves by their bootstraps. Laura's success is built entirely on her deep believe that business is about providing values to her customers and her community.

A lot has been written already about Laura Chappell including her bio, a short video showing her entertaining lecture on ways that one can be attacked through cyberspace (everything you want to know but afraid to ask), her famous book on Internet Safety for Kids, her own account on how she started Wireshark University with blessing from Gerald Combs (creator of Wireshark) and finally, and her very popular blog (A bit of humor, a bit of technology - 0x10 bits in all).

Recently, Laura also started her YouTube video series (Bitsplitters) with episodes on many technical issues including Trace Files Time Stamp, etc. Never one afraid to provide entertainment while educating, she recently posted some advises on how **not** to buy gifts for Mother's day. Having been married for twenty plus years, her advise came at a most opportune time for me. Enjoy.

Monitoring and Managing VoIP (by Charles Thompson)

Vendor Profile - Network Instruments provides in-depth network intelligence and continuous network availability through innovative analysis solutions. Enterprise network professionals depend on Network Instruments’ Observer product line for unparalleled network visibility to efficiently solve network problems and manage deployments. By combining a powerful management console with high-performance analysis appliances, Observer simplifies problem resolution and optimizes network and application performance. The company continues to lead the industry in ROI with its advanced Distributed Network Analysis (NI-DNA™) architecture, which successfully integrates comprehensive analysis functionality across heterogeneous networks through a single monitoring interface. Network Instruments is headquartered in Minneapolis with sales offices worldwide and distributors in over 50 countries.

Charles Thompson is the Manager of Sales Engineering for Network Instruments.

Overview

As with most new technologies, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) brings new challenges along with the benefits. The main challenge is VoIP’s extreme sensitivity to delay and packet loss compared with other network applications such as web and e-mail services. A basic understanding of VoIP traffic and of the quality metrics provided by VoIP monitoring tools will help you keep your VoIP network running smoothly.

Network Intruments @ Interop Vegas 2008

Vendor Profile - Network Instruments provides in-depth network intelligence and continuous network availability through innovative analysis solutions. Enterprise network professionals depend on Network Instruments’ Observer product line for unparalleled network visibility to efficiently solve network problems and manage deployments. By combining a powerful management console with high-performance analysis appliances, Observer simplifies problem resolution and optimizes network and application performance. The company continues to lead the industry in ROI with its advanced Distributed Network Analysis (NI-DNA™) architecture, which successfully integrates comprehensive analysis functionality across heterogeneous networks through a single monitoring interface. Network Instruments is headquartered in Minneapolis with sales offices worldwide and distributors in over 50 countries.

Sam Wang is the Central Region Territory Manager for Network Instruments.

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Scott Haugdahl @ Sharkfest 2008

Vendor Profile - J. Scott Haugdahl is the founder and CTO of his new venture, Bitcricket. He was former Chief Technology Officer at WildPackets and holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Minnesota, Institute of Technology. He has extensive experience in the network analysis industry in the areas of speaking, writing, competitive analysis, on-site training and network troubleshooting, and expert systems design and implementation. Industry vertical expertise include 802.11 wireless, VoIP, performance analysis and Apdex (Application Performance Index), and good old fashioned protocol analyzer detective work (including forensics). His past entrepreneur experience includes founding Net3 Group, where he wrote the industry’s first analyzer agnostic expert system. He continues writing his popular blog and can be reached by email at scott (at) bitcricket (dot) com.

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Vint Cerf @ Sharkfest 2008

Speaker Profile - Dr. Vinton G. Cerf is vice president and Chief Internet Evangelist for Google. He is responsible for identifying new enabling technologies and applications on the Internet and other platforms for the company.

Widely known as a "Father of the Internet," Vint is the co-designer with Robert Kahn of TCP/IP protocols and basic architecture of the Internet. In 1997, President Clinton recognized their work with the U.S. National Medal of Technology. In 2005, Vint and Bob received the highest civilian honor bestowed in the U.S., the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It recognizes the fact that their work on the software code used to transmit data across the Internet has put them "at the forefront of a digital revolution that has transformed global commerce, communication, and entertainment."

For optimal viewing experience, after clicking on the large right arrow above to start the video, click on the up arrow on the bottom right hand corner to view the video in full screen mode, then click on the upper left corners of either half of the screen to adjust the size.

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Troubleshooting Hogs Bandwidth (by Steve Brown)

Vendor Profile - Network Instruments provides in-depth network intelligence and continuous network availability through innovative analysis solutions. Enterprise network professionals depend on Network Instruments’ Observer product line for unparalleled network visibility to efficiently solve network problems and manage deployments. By combining a powerful management console with high-performance analysis appliances, Observer simplifies problem resolution and optimizes network and application performance. The company continues to lead the industry in ROI with its advanced Distributed Network Analysis (NI-DNA™) architecture, which successfully integrates comprehensive analysis functionality across heterogeneous networks through a single monitoring interface. Network Instruments is headquartered in Minneapolis with sales offices worldwide and distributors in over 50 countries.

Stephen Brown is the Product Marketing Manager for Network Instruments with nearly a decade of experience in network management and security. Steve is also the head geek in charge of their company blog, Network Observations. Steve likes to "get his geek on" anything network security related, VoIP stuff, and anything music and biking related (the kind that requires push power).

Between January and February 2008, we have communicated with 592 network engineers, IT directors, and CIOs scattered around North America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America. In addition to being geographically diverse, the population was also evenly distributed among different sized networks. This study was a follow-up of a similar exercise we performed a year ago and the goal is to gauge the changing attitudes and concerns of network professionals, to calculate the average time spent by an IT staff troubleshooting network problems, and to determine adoption rates of new technologies and topologies.

As a leading provider of innovative network analysis solutions, helping organizations and enterprises – including 70 of the Global Fortune 100 companies, it is obvious why Network Instruments would want to know what networking experts think. But we have learned that most of all, technologists also want to hear from other technologists. As Mike Barlow, coauthor of the book “Partnering With the CIO”, has said, “[CIOs] want to listen to other CIOs, not the VP of marketing … they want to hear from someone who's had the same experiences they have.”

What we have learned from this global survey is that despite the many new tools for monitoring and optimizing application performance, almost 75 percent of network professionals continue to cite “identifying the source of a problem” as their primary troubleshooting concern, marking a 25 percent increase from 2007. Performance problems are also on the rise with over two-thirds of respondents spending at least 25 days per year determining the cause of these issues.

Our research indicates that network professionals faced the following challenges:

• Continued lack of troubleshooting information: 31 percent cited this as their major network concern
  
• Ensuring application delivery: 25 percent felt this was the greatest network challenge
  
• Application performance headaches: Over one-third cited bandwidth consumption issues as the chief offender, while 32 percent selected application latency and delay issues as the second most common
  
• Problems investigating intermittent errors: 32 percent felt their organization needed to improve its ability to troubleshoot sporadic performance errors
  
• Security and compliance problems: These issues continue to be a headache for three-quarters of respondents
  

Network Analysis, Going Retro (by William McClain)

Vendor Profile - Network Instruments provides in-depth network intelligence and continuous network availability through innovative analysis solutions. Enterprise network professionals depend on Network Instruments’ Observer product line for unparalleled network visibility to efficiently solve network problems and manage deployments. By combining a powerful management console with high-performance analysis appliances, Observer simplifies problem resolution and optimizes network and application performance. The company continues to lead the industry in ROI with its advanced Distributed Network Analysis (NI-DNA™) architecture, which successfully integrates comprehensive analysis functionality across heterogeneous networks through a single monitoring interface. Network Instruments is headquartered in Minneapolis with sales offices worldwide and distributors in over 50 countries.

William McClain is the Marketing Communications Specialist for Network Instruments.

Summary

While network complexity and bandwidth demands continue to increase, applications such as VoIP increase performance requirements. Now more than ever, network administrators require versatile monitoring and analysis tools to quickly troubleshoot business-critical operations and monitor security and compliance. In this environment, Retrospective Network Analysis (RNA) tools that let you go “back in time” to reconstruct a failure or attack can offer distinct advantages over analysis tools that only operate in real time.

Measuring for Business Impact – The “Level 4 Measurement” (by Tom Tosh)

Editor’s Note - Again, I am very pleased to introduce to our readers, my friend and a very trusted technologist Tom Tosh. ToTom has agreed to write a series of articles about his unique analytical approach to helping clients get more value from their network management tools. The concepts and techniques have been honed from his many years of hands-on experience in helping find the problems that have plagued and solutions that were needed by many network managers and companies that he has helped. His company, Chi-Metrix (pronounced: “key metrics”) and his efforts are all based on these “Metrics” that he will be sharing with you in these articles.

I hope you enjoy reading this series as I have and I wish everyone Great Success … Oldcommguy.

Part 1: Tools, Process and Metrics for Network Managers
Part 2: Measuring for Business Impact – The “Level 4 Measurement”

Measuring for Business Impact – The “Level 4 Measurement” (by Tom Tosh)

In this series of articles, my goal is to broaden the focus on tools beyond just features and prospective benefits alone, to consider the environment and processes in which tools are used to provide genuine, meaningful results. I would like to share and advance to readers, some concepts on how to better evaluate and get more out of the tools and services you may have invested in, or may be considering.

If you can’t measure, you can’t really manage. A site dedicated to tools should ultimately be keenly interested in the overall effectiveness and the success of the network manager. (And how do we propose to measure that?) Our very approach to measuring things should also be subject to scrutiny and assessment, since nothing can lead to greater waste of effort and resources than measuring the wrong things, or measuring the right things in the wrong way. We are all familiar of “GIGO”. Garbage in, Garbage out, so we want to make sure what answers we seek and data acquire are valuable sources of information.

If we are going to get the most out of the investments made to managing a network, I believe we have to begin by looking at our own approach to measuring things and consider how that approach aligns to four tightly-linked dimensions, or levels. Of equal importance is the ability to evaluate the assessments that others present to us.

The Four Dimensions or “How to Love a Tool”

The systematic approach that the IBM Corporation has used to design and develop training, in order to have a positive impact on business results, gave me my first exposure to the concept of four levels of measurement. The approach has proven very helpful to me and my clients for over twenty years, and I hereby acknowledge my debt.