Network Instruments' family of probes consists of both software (Windows based) and preconfigured appliance offerings allowing for the capture and monitoring of network traffic at critical points in the network infrastructure. Multiple products are available in the probe line, covering packet capture of LAN (including Gigabit), WAN, and Wireless traffic. All probes support the reporting of captured traffic statistics (over 550 protocols are decoded) to the vendor's Observer reporting tool or any RMON/HCRMON compatible console. Analysis tools can connect to the probes either remotely through Internet connections or a local console.

Key probe offerings from Network Instruments include:

- The Advanced Probe Appliance is a 1U Windows XP Pro-based device offered in multiple flavors and targeted primarily to remote data collection scenarios. The appliance includes a 160 GB drive, and can be purchased with one or two copper or fiber 10/100/1000 ports. Three primary configurations of the probe are offered: The Advanced Single Probe, providing support for viewing data in a single session; the Advanced Multi-Probe, which adds the ability to support multiple (up to 64) simultaneous viewing sessions and support for multiple Observer consoles; and the Advanced Expert Probe, which adds support for local traffic analysis (at the probe) without needing to transfer the captured data back to the console. Each of these probe versions supports data reporting to the vendor's Observer product(s); a separate RMON/HCRMON Probe configuration allows the appliance to operate as an RMON/HCRMON Probe.

- GigaStor is a Windows XP Pro-based network appliance primarily targeted to administrators who need to monitor and analyze large volumes of gigabit network traffic on their network. The probe boasts 4 or 8 ports that can be analyzed individually or via selected aggregation. Inside the appliance, a full-duplex Gigabit Ethernet capture card (designed by the vendor) with SFP modules combines with a RAID array to support capture-to-disk speeds of up to 320 MB/sec. The 3U/4U appliance is based on a 64-bit Windows XP system and ships with 2, 4, or 8 TB of storage, a maximum 124 GB memory buffer, and multiple nTAPS (depending on configuration). According to the vendor, the GigaStor Probe can be inserted/removed without disruption to the gigabit network.

New to the GigaStor product line is the GigaStor-WAN appliance, which the vendor states is able to capture and decode "... all native WAN error and line conditions," including FECN, BECN, CIR, and DLCI; and the ability to write captured data to a SAN, with write to SAN rates of 1, 2, and 4 Gb/sec supported.

The Network Instruments probes are now available. Pricing for the new GigaStor-WAN begins at $16,995 (2 TB), while a GigaStor with the new write-to-SAN capability is available for $35,000.

Visit the Network Instruments Web site for further information pertaining to the full line of available network probes.

product submission by EITPlanet Staff

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