NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: NEAL WEINBERG ON PRODUCT REVIEWS 11/02/04 Today's focus: Shunra's Storm
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * Shunra's Storm is a hardware-based network modeling tool that ��does a great job on the WAN * Links related to Product Reviews * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by NetScout The deployment of VoIP is well underway and unstoppable, but the implementation and ongoing support is extremely challenging. To successfully support VoIP and other demanding applications, IT organizations need to change their approach to network management. Learn about readiness assessment, design and ongoing management in the Network World Special Report: Recommendations for Implementing and Managing Converged Networks. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=85932 _______________________________________________________________ WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO GET AHEAD? An IT recruiter outlines the actions you should take to advance your career. Learn how you can gather the enduring respect of colleagues, clients and business associates without coming off as pompous or self-serving. Click here to find out what you need to do to get ahead: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=86190 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Shunra's Storm By Neal Weinberg If you're looking for a hardware-based network modeling tool that does a great job on the WAN, check out Shunra's Storm. Shunra's approach to network modeling is empirical - it literally records the network conditions directly and plays them back, while enabling actual applications to run against the recorded model. Because of this approach, some typical modeling parameters don't apply to the product, such as importing network configurations from CiscoWorks or OpenView. Configuration involved right-clicking on a link or device in Visio, and making the desired changes through a drop-down menu. We could then observe the changes on the network by watching how the applications running through the StormAppliance behaved. A built-in Sniffer-like protocol decodes function was an appreciated plus. Shunra's reporting function produces a very nice real-time chart that displays throughput per second in and out, queues, delay, and packet counts. Shunra is a hardware-based network modeling product. That gives it somewhat of an edge in terms of performance over an entirely software based modeling application. In most instances its speed was as good or better than the other products in terms of implementing network modeling changes. However the appliance did have an annoying tendency. Whenever we changed certain model parameters, we had to warm boot the hardware. For example, switching the StormAppliance between Layer 2 and Layer 3 (switching and routing) required a reboot, as did turning on and off multicast. The reboot process was slow, taking more than two minutes. The Shunra/Storm STX package included the StormAppliance hardware, StormCatcher (enables the capture and replay of network activity) and StormConsole. The StormAppliance is responsible for emulating link conditions such as bandwidth, packet loss, delay, and out-of-order packets. The StormConsole (a Microsoft Visio macro) creates the network model and is used as the interface to the StormAppliance. Installation of StormCatcher and StormConsole was brief. We had some problems attaching our laptop to the network ports on the StormAppliance. Shunra provided a professionally printed user manual. The configuration procedure is nicely laid out. While Shunra doesn't compare to some other vendors when it comes to in-depth enterprise network modeling, it does can show how applications and networks can be affected by bandwidth throttling, link limitations, packet delay, jitter, etc. Using Visio as the device interface was a brilliant idea. It is the rare network engineer or designer who isn't at least somewhat familiar with Visio. This makes it a terrific front end to Shunra Storm STX, and significantly reduces the learning curve. It has excellent capabilities to simulate frame relay, T-1s, and Gigabit links. This coupled with drop downs that allow on-the-fly changes to links, make Shunra Storm STX a natural for modeling WAN connections. For the full report, go to <http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2004/1018review.html> RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS Network modeling detects anomalies Network World, 08/16/04 http://www.nwfusion.com/news/tech/2004/081604techupdate.html Opnet's NetDoctor sees configuration in context Network World Network/Systems Management Newsletter, 04/28/03 http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/nsm/2003/0428nsm1.html _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Neal Weinberg Neal Weinberg is features editor at Network World, in charge of product reviews, Buyer's Guides, technology primers, how-tos, issue-oriented feature stories and the Technology Insider series. You can reach him at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by NetScout The deployment of VoIP is well underway and unstoppable, but the implementation and ongoing support is extremely challenging. To successfully support VoIP and other demanding applications, IT organizations need to change their approach to network management. Learn about readiness assessment, design and ongoing management in the Network World Special Report: Recommendations for Implementing and Managing Converged Networks. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=85931 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Reviews archive: http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/index.html _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE NW CLEAR CHOICE TESTS The Network World Lab Alliance is a coalition of industry experts, network integration consultants, independent test labs and universities who conduct single-product reviews and head-to-head comparative tests in real enterprise network settings. Find out which products get the "thumbs-up" in categories such as web front-end devices, WLAN security, anti-spam and more at: <http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/> _______________________________________________________________ May We Send You a Free Print Subscription? You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. Apply today at http://www.subscribenw.com/nl2 International subscribers click here: http://nww1.com/go/circ_promo.html _______________________________________________________________ SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World e-mail newsletters, go to: <http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/Changes.aspx> To unsubscribe from promotional e-mail go to: <http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/Preferences.aspx> To change your e-mail address, go to: <http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/ChangeMail.aspx> Subscription questions? 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