Management Tools and Techniques StandAlone Test Monitoring Tools

1
Management Tools and TechniquesStand-Alone Test
Monitoring Tools
III
Part
2
Stand-Alone Test Monitoring Tools
Chapter 12
3
Learning Objectives

• Test Devices and Interface Testers
• Protocol Analyzers
• Tools from the Internet Environment
• Chapter Summary

4
Stand-Alone Test Monitoring Tools

• What are stand-alone tools?
• Tools used as aid in isolation, not integrated in
  a management system or a management platform
• Troubleshooting Tools?
• Management Tools?
• Criteria for Stand-Alone Tools
• What can be tested? (different transmission,
  media, interfaces, components)
• What transmission level can be tested? (signal
  generated)
• Interaction options for test equipment (passive
  or active analysis)
• Testing during network operations (interruption
  of normal operation)
• Does the test equipment required complete
  installation? (portable)
• How does the tool fit in a larger scheme of
  integrated network and system management

5
Test Devices and Interface Tester

• Elementary test tools
• Analog test devices check for signal behavior
  during analog transmission
• Analog test devices measure voltage level,
  resistance, jitter, modulation, attenuation,
  signal-to-noise ration and bandwidth
• Digital test devices check for digital
  transmission paths and device interfaces
• Multimeters used to measure the voltage,
  current, and resistance of electrical conductor
• Time domain reflectometer (TDRs) - send pulses
  to electrical media and measure the time until
  the possible return of a partial reflector (the
  reflector can occur in a broken cables, passive
  branching).

6
Test Devices and Interface Tester
Test Devices
Digital
Analog
Frequency generator Circuit quality monitor
modem Multimeter Time domain reflectometer Osci
lloscope
Breakout box Bit error rate tester Block error
rate tester Modem tester DTE/DCE emulator Data
recorder
7
Test Devices and Interface Tester

• Circuit quality monitor CQM allows almost all
  the quality parameters of an analog line to be
  monitored
• Oscilloscope used to determine so-called eye
  patterns - that are characteristic patterns of
  modulated signal.
• Frequency generator perform test involving
  energy loss of the test signal using a decibel
  meter (test on twisted-copper cable)
• Digital devices include a broad spread of
  equipment ranging from breakout boxes to protocol
  analyzers

8
Test Devices and Interface Tester

• Digital devices
• Breakout boxes the simplest form of digital
  test equipment used to test plug connections and
  interfaces (electrical interfaces V.24, V.35,
  RS.449, RS-332)
• Bit rate testers (BERT) creates test patterns
  that can be transmitted to the circuit or device
  being tested (modem) and mirrored their loopback
  mode.
• Block error rate tester (BLERT) test entire
  block
• Data recorders record traffic for offline
  analyzers a stand alone tool.

9
Protocol Analyzers

• Protocol Analyzers - tools for network
  administrator.
• Capable of eavesdropping, storing, and analyzing
  network traffic
• Requirements of Protocol Analyzers
• Perform complete recording and storage of the
  network traffic being observed (time stamp on
  media such X-25, ATM)
• Extensive filter facilities. Definition of
  filters using Boolean expression, starting the
  protocol recording, and support of alarm
• User friendly interfaces for the network
  administrator
• Support for monitoring traffic over different
  types of media and multichannel measurements
• Provision for facilities for testing the physical
  state of lines
• Collection and clear presentation of statistical
  information on network load and error rates
• Automatic detection of changes describing network
  configuration
• Facilities for remote operation
• Online and offline analysis of test results
• Convenient facilities for storing and
  reactivating analyzer configurations

10
Protocol Analyzers

• Protocol analyzers are implemented in dedicated
  devices for high speed protocols or as software
  packages that run on PCs and workstations
• Recording filters describes the following
  variants
• All packets
• All defective packets
• All packets with predefined types of errors
• Senders
• Destination or traffic volume
• Packets of a certain type (broadcast)
• Protocol analyzers can analyze only certain
  predetermined protocols.

11
Protocol Analyzers

• New protocol analyzers developments
• Protocol analyzer usually addresses only one
  transmission link or one segment.
• Protocol analyzer as a distributed monitoring
  system
• Allows for the separation of the recording part
  from the analyzer and using the corresponding
  module as a measurement probe in each network
  segment being monitored
• Tools from the Internet Environment
• The Internet has fostered the development of a
  number of useful individual tools
• Most of which are available as standard O/S
  features or public domain software solutions
• Tools for network management
• Tools for system management

12
Tools from the Internet Environment

• Tools for network management
• Tools for monitoring and debugging TCP/IP
  Internets and Interconnection devices
• Organized by functional groups (map, status,
  traffic, security, debugger, analyzer, and alarm)
• Network components with O/S (O/S2, NT, Windows,
  UNIC, etc.)
• ICMP and SNMP are the basic protocols
• Examples ping (network reachability analysis
  using ICMP echo packet)
• Tools for system management

13
Tools from the Internet Environment

• Tools for system management
• Less tools in the area of system management
• Few tools are found for UNIX O/S environment and
  some are vendor specific
• Examples rup (to calculates fault-free runtime
  of remote computers). rusers (identifies users
  of a machine). rpcinfo (lists services of a
  server). fuser (list users of a system)
• Tools are management architecture independent, do
  not require special purpose-agents, they rely on
  the O/S.
• Stand-alone tools do not satisfy integrated
  management requirements

14
Summary
Key Terms

• Review your slide notes in details
• All covered chapters

15
Next
Stand-Alone Test and Monitoring Tools
Chapter 13