Deploying Probes and Analyzers in an Enterprise Environment

As an IT manager, you need visibility into every corner of the network, from the edge to the core. A distributed analysis solution can provide the coverage you need, but where should you deploy probes for maximum visibility at minimum cost? This paper describes by example how to plan and implement a monitoring/analysis infrastructure based on distributed probes. Because every network is different, the examples shown may not look like your network, but the concepts demonstrated will be applicable to most situations.

Background Concepts

Successfully deploying a distributed analysis solution on your network requires that you understand some basic concepts about distributed analyzers and network technologies. Here is a brief overview of some issues that you should understand when purchasing and deploying probe-based distributed analyzers.

Distributed Analysis: What is it?

Most commercial packet analyzers are distributed: Packet captures and some analysis are performed by distributed agents called probes, which in turn send the packets (or the analysis results—e.g., bandwidth utilization statistics, most active stations, etc.) to consoles for further processing and display. Distributed analysis is the only practical way to make different parts of a switched or wireless network visible and therefore manageable. From a single console, an IT administrator can monitor and view traffic from anywhere on the network where a probe has been deployed, from any type of media or topology (Ethernet, wireless,WAN, etc.) Before you decide where (and what type of) probes should be deployed on your network, there are a few topological issues you should understand.

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