* NetScout expands WAN monitoring tools
NetScout Systems last week introduced a probe appliance the vendor says will let customers monitor eight T-1 ports.
The nGenius Eight Port T1/E1 Probe allows enterprise network managers to monitor the performance of applications in low-speed WAN segments, NetScout says.
“The probe is ideal for companies that want to track the traffic on a bank of T-1s in a data center or for customers in space-saving mode,” says Eileen Haggarty, a product manager at NetScout. “T-1s are used a lot to connect remote offices to corporate data centers.”
NetScout says the new probe covers up to eight T-1 (and E-1 for European customers) trunks, reconciles traffic between redundant trunks, and breaks out applications delivered within each of the virtual circuits that allocate bandwidth across multiple locations.
A T-1 line will often be allocated across multiple sites through the use of virtual circuits. Each virtual circuit is designated by a specific packet identifier that directs traffic through the public infrastructure instead of through a single, dedicated line. To understand the traffic at each remote site, network managers need to monitor applications associated with each packet identifier.
NetScout says the eight-port probe will allow network managers to analyze traffic by the individual packet identifier or virtual circuit or against the whole T-1 trunk.
By using one probe to view multiple ports, traffic metrics on applications that are load-balanced across multiple links can be aggregated into a single view or report.
NetScout uses a combination of server software and appliance probes to monitor traffic. The probe passively monitors, collects and sends data to the NetScout nGenius Performance Management server, where it is stored, analyzed and put into reports.
The probe appliance is available today and pricing starts at about $30,000. The nGenius Performance Management System costs about $50,000 to start.
