Log strange network activity

Stky10

I'm not sure if this the correct area to ask this or not,
but I'll ask it anyway and see what responses I get.

We have a client/server application and its having problems
at irregular intervals. We dont know whats causing it.
Anyway we have a suspicion that its network related
and that there is some network problem that is causing
the network connection between client and server to
be dropped (even for only a couple of seconds).

So I'm wondering if there is a windows application that
will log unusual network behaviour on that machine. It should
be able to log if network activity goes above a certain
level, or if the network connection is dropped completely
(lets say there is a problem with the port on a switch that
the PC is connected to).

Cheers...

Ripwave

Stky10 wrote:

I'm not sure if this the correct area to ask this or not,
but I'll ask it anyway and see what responses I get.

We have a client/server application and its having problems
at irregular intervals. We dont know whats causing it.
Anyway we have a suspicion that its network related
and that there is some network problem that is causing
the network connection between client and server to
be dropped (even for only a couple of seconds).

So I'm wondering if there is a windows application that
will log unusual network behaviour on that machine. It should
be able to log if network activity goes above a certain
level, or if the network connection is dropped completely
(lets say there is a problem with the port on a switch that
the PC is connected to).

Cheers...

What operating system? Win2k (and probably XP) has a built in tool called Performance Monitor that can be used to monitor a whole range of performance statistics, including network work performance. (You may need to install a network monitor driver for some stats). There are lots of other tools available, but that might be the simplest place to start.

Stky10

All the clients would be XP. Server would be Win2000, but
it would be the clients we would need to monitor more closely
as they're the ones having the intermittent problems..

Thanks for the idea though...

Stky10

Just looked at performance monitor, and it doesnt seem
configurable enough for what we need it to do. It would
be great for it to stay minimised and just log all unusual
activity to a file with a timestamp. Performance monitor
from what I've seen doesnt do that.

Had a look at the solarwinds broadband stuff, but it seems
like using a hammer to crack a peanut. Theres got to be
a simpler way...

Ripwave

Stky10 wrote:

Just looked at performance monitor, and it doesnt seem
configurable enough for what we need it to do. It would
be great for it to stay minimised and just log all unusual
activity to a file with a timestamp. Performance monitor
from what I've seen doesnt do that.

Perfmon can be configured to log all data to a logfile that can be examined after the fact.

You have to enable the "Performance Logs and Alerts" service in the control panel (so that Permon can run even when there is nobody logged in).

Then open the "Performance Logs and Alerts" panel in Perfmon, right click on "Counter Logs" and select "New Log Settings". Set up what you want to log, and away you go.

tomk

Try Ethereal - it's an open-source network monitor, very useful IMO.