* Traffic-shaping software gets smarter
Last time, we discussed some performance and price-point requirements that traffic management vendors Allot Communications, Packeteer and Peribit Networks have addressed with new appliances they are bringing to market.
Last time, we discussed some performance and price-point requirements that traffic management vendors Allot Communications, Packeteer and Peribit Networks have addressed with new appliances they are bringing to market.
Now let’s look at some of the software enhancements.
In addition to shipping a 1G bit/sec full-duplex device for large hub sites, Packeteer has announced Packeteer 7, management software with a feature called Adaptive Response. The feature comprises a programmable set of rules (available in template format as plug-ins from the Packeteer Web site) that automatically identify and respond to network events impacting network performance, explains Jeff Barker, director of product management.
A couple of ways Adaptive Response could be used:
1) Say you buy an MPLS-based IP VPN service. You set a policy in your Packeteer appliance to mark packets so that your carrier places them into a particular class of service (CoS) to achieve a certain performance level. Meanwhile, your appliance continually monitors all MPLS service levels.
If the monitor discovers that a less-expensive CoS meets the required performance levels for your traffic, even temporarily, the appliance can dynamically change traffic markings so that packets end up in the least expensive class that still satisfies your performance requirement, saving you money. If performance then degrades, the appliance can automatically go back to marking traffic to the next highest class of service that achieves the required performance.
2) For so-called “second-level diagnostics,” Adaptive Response will reportedly send an alert on abnormal activity – such as an unusually high number of host connections – but profile and store characteristics of the traffic flow.
“So if the problem is transient, the diagnostic information is still there after the fact for troubleshooting the initial event,” Barker says. “If it is telltale of a virus, for example, the engineer can limit the flow and alert the host administrators.”
Packeteer has also added Application Flow Monitoring to its software for a more in-depth view of a traffic flow’s performance, including application response time and how much delay was attributable to the server(s) involved.
Meanwhile, Peribit vice president of corporate marketing Mike Banic says that along with a new low-end appliance for more affordably serving volumes of remote sites (see previous newsletter), the company’s PeriScope management software has been enhanced with more centralized policy-setting, configuration and reporting capabilities.
PeriScope 5.0 allows enterprises to centrally configure and manage up to 2,000 distributed Peribit devices, he says, and a “My Peribit” portal lets administrators see at-a-glance, multiple reports, sliced and diced to their liking, of a cross-section of devices.
For its part, Allot says that, with the forthcoming delivery of its high-end NetEnforcer AC-2500, discussed last time, it will release new software that includes support for additional protocols and enhanced security and reporting capabilities, but wasn’t specific.
