Network Instruments Link Analyst Ensures Network Availability And Performance

Published 14th November 2007

Link Analyst 5 ties performance reporting to business functions, manages infrastructure availability, and monitors network assets...

Minneapolis, MN– 14 November 2007– Network Instruments, a leading provider of innovative analysis solutions for in-depth network intelligence and continuous availability, today announced the release of Link Analyst 5 for managing network infrastructure availability and performance.

The latest version proactively identifies performance problems before they impact the user by continually polling and identifying network devices and monitoring their availability. It also allows organisations to assess overall infrastructure performance by business process or department, tracks changes in network infrastructure, and through integration with Network Instruments Observer ensures the delivery of business-critical applications.

“Link Analyst provides the visibility necessary to guarantee that business activities flow smoothly over the network,” said Douglas Smith, president and co-founder of Network Instruments. “Its flexible reporting is key to understanding network demands by department or office. Integration with Observer gives an organisation complete monitoring and analysis of network infrastructure, traffic, and applications.”

Understand Network Performance by Business Groups
Within Link Analyst, network engineers can organise the network infrastructure into device groupings known as Business Groups, allowing devices to be classified by department, function, device type, location, or other categories. This feature makes it easier for an organisation to arrange the monitoring of network resources around their business needs, quickly pinpoint the location of an issue and, at a glance, assess infrastructure performance within a department or office. The administrator can monitor resources, view reports, or track network assets by Business Groups.

Monitoring and reporting with Business Groups is highly customisable. For example, an engineer of a major bank may have network resources organised into Business Groups based on the size of the bank branch. As a result the organisation can view infrastructure availability separately for all small, medium, and large branches.

Ensure Infrastructure and Route Availability
Link Analyst uses SNMP and WMI data to automatically discover and monitor virtually every device on the network. Through real-time device monitoring network managers will immediately know the availability of devices, routes, and IP services and can validate Quality of Service (QoS) settings and Service Level Agreements (SLAs). This data can be used to monitor a variety of network resources including MS Exchange Servers and devices such as switches or virtual servers, as well as create custom monitors.

Track Network Asset Changes
A powerful feature of Link Analyst is its ability to track device inventories and monitor changes. This functionality is important for pinpointing the source of a device conflict or identifying unauthorised network devices. The program can identify removable hard drives and other storage devices as well as installed software. Comparing Link Analyst inventory reports over time to identify any changes in network assets is critical for audits and investigations.

Complete Traffic and Infrastructure Management with Observer
Link Analyst 5 integrates with Observer, allowing the engineer to monitor network and application performance as well as underlying infrastructure availability and performance.

“The combination of the two analysis tools gives our customers a complete network solution to handle every facet of troubleshooting and management,” said Charles Thompson, manager of sales engineering for Network Instruments. “Link Analyst identifies what the problem was and where it happened at the infrastructure level. Observer gives you in-depth metrics and Expert Analysis on the problem at the network traffic and application level.”

Through the Observer integration, network managers can start packet captures and create filters on selected devices from within Link Analyst, and share infrastructure maps and tables between the two solutions.

GigaStor Analysis on Device Performance
Link Analyst works seamlessly with the GigaStor back-in-time analysis appliance to improve the speed and accuracy of troubleshooting infrastructure performance issues. Through the integration, network managers can drill down to the device level in Link Analyst and seamlessly connect to GigaStor to go back to the time the problem occurred to see exactly what happened, without having to recreate the issue.

A manager alerted to an unexpected spike in server utilisation or traffic can easily investigate the cause of the spike in GigaStor.

Product Pricing
Link Analyst 5 software is priced at £7,200 and is available for monitoring gigabit, 10 GbE, Fibre Channel, LAN, wireless, and WAN networks. Additional product information is available at www.networkinstruments.com.