From Network Computing Magazine Vol 16 No 03- May/June 2007

Anyone that’s used network analysis tools will tell you that most products challenge new users with a steep learning curve. Consequently, it can take a while to go from initial installation to gathering data about your network, its performance and response times, and then securing any benefit.

Portable Consultant (PNC) from Itheon Networks aims to take the strain out of network analysis by providing a solution that needs no configuration and can start collecting meaningful data about your network in minutes, rather than days. On review is the PNC solution as supplied by Itheon Networks, preinstalled on a Dell D820 laptop; for £5,000 you can purchase just the software. Either option gets you the standard analysis package, which provides an integral detector that monitors the network segment and captures and analyses packets, along with a web server and database, plus a central web management console.

PNC carries out real time analysis of network packets and doesn’t store any captured data so it won’t present a security risk should the laptop goes missing. To measure response times it time stamps each packet and uses this information to build up a clear picture of application and network response times. Along with the base package, Itheon Networks also offers modules specifically for monitoring HTTP, VoIP and Windows Networking. The modules are available at £1,000 each or as a bundle of three for £2,000

PNC runs on top of SuSE Linux and the web interface opens with a tidy graph showing the top twenty originating applications and their port numbers. We connected the laptop to our test network segment and were gathering data within minutes, with absolutely no configuration.  From the main graph we could see instantly that ports 25 and 110 mail transfers and general port 80 web activity, were sucking up most of our Internet bandwidth. Along with tests over FTP and HTTPS, we also ran an iTunes server and client over the network and watched PNC pick up Apple’s DAA protocol and reveal the participating source and destination IP addresses.

We could drill down further by clicking on the relevant bar where PNC reveals a wealth of reports and graphs. These range from application response times, jitter or loss on to the top IP addresses generating the traffic, along with their destinations and bandwidth usage. The base module also provides options for viewing all identified applications, IP addresses and protocols. The extra modules are well worth having with the HTTP option providing detailed information on clients, web servers and all sites being visited. The Windows Networking module doesn’t disappoint either as it lists all clients and servers engaged in this activity along with their IP addresses and associations. Along with I/O performance, PNC also provides listings of every file transferred, along with the IP addresses involved in the exchange.

We tested the VoIP Measurement module by hooking up some IP phones on the network under scrutiny which were configured to use an external SIP account. After making a few calls across them and out to landlines, PNC was able to provide a complete breakdown of all callers and recipients. We could see who had made calls and what numbers they had dialled and selecting an entry offered plenty of graphs of bandwidth utilisation, packet loss and so on. Calls are also sorted by duration, quality and the number of bytes transferred, and each entry also offers the same level of detailed reporting.

PNC proves that you don’t need a degree to monitor and analyse network and application performance. It works straight from the box and is capable of providing a truly remarkable amount of information about network utilisation.

Product:          Portable Network Consultant
Supplier:         Itheon Networks
Telephone:     01707 336 600
Web site:        www.itheon-networks.com
Price:              Base product preinstalled on Dell laptop - £6,200 excluding VAT