Packet Sniffer, Basic Tool for Network Administrators

Packet sniffers are a valuable tool for both network administrators and hackers. There are many packet sniffers on the market and one of the most sophisticated is the packet sniffer from Colasoft

Packet sniffers are one of the best tools a network administrator has at his or her disposal to analyze network traffic and to troubleshoot problems. On the other hand, when a Packet sniffer is in the wrong hands – i.e. hackers use it – this can cause quite a lot of damage to a company or an individual, especially if the victim hasn't taken the required protective measures. You see, as with many things in life, packet sniffers can be a great tool to maintain a network, yet they can be very destructive, if misused.

Packet sniffers are very common, choose a best packet sniffer for you. There are many packet sniffers on the market and they range from free, to cheap, to expensive, from very simple, to advanced, to packed with features. Each type of packet sniffers has its purposes and if you need a simple tool for quick results on a small network, you don't have to buy the most expensive packet sniffers, no matter that they have tons of features. But in reality, if you need a packet sniffer for professional use, low-end sniffers are not the answer and you need something more sophisticated, for example Colasoft Network Analyzer. Colasoft Network Analyzer is built around packet sniffing but includes many other useful features as well.

As any other packet sniffer, the packet sniffer from Colasoft, intercepts and logs traffic, transmitted within a network (or a network segment). A packet sniffer can be really invisible because it monitors the network (almost) unobtrusively. Since a packet sniffer just sniffs the packets without modifying them, it doesn't cause disturbances to alert the administrator that something is going on. Unless the administrator doesn't run an anti-sniffer, the traffic can be eavesdropped and nobody will know about it.

Of course, a good network administrator knows how to detect a packet sniffer, so if you plan to get Colasoft packet sniffer and use it in a malicious way, don't expect that this will go unnoticed. The packet sniffer in the Colasoft Network Analyzer is not stealth but since anyway Colasoft Network Analyzer is intended for network troubleshooting, not network hacking, there is no reason to worry that the packet sniffer is not hidden. When a network administrator uses a packet sniffer in order to legitimately monitor network traffic, he or she doesn't need cover.

One of the most important features of a packet sniffer is the protocols it can sniff. In this aspect Colasoft Network Analyzer is an unbeaten packet sniffer because it can monitor over 300 protocols. Colasoft knows that when the packets of major protocols are not captured, this gives a wrong impression about the traffic in the network and that is why Colasoft Network Analyzer supports so many protocols. And no, the protocols Colasoft Network Analyzer can sniff are not exotic ones – they are protocols used frequently in networks.

Additionally, new and new protocols are added to the packet sniffer from Colasoft, so even if your network uses some really rare protocols, which are currently not supported by Colasoft Network Analyzer, they could be added in the future. Well, if you expect that the packet sniffer from Colasoft will sniff encrypted traffic, this will not happen because no packet sniffer can do it!

Network Troubleshooting Made Easy, A Colasoft Software Solution

The Challenge

As the business is becoming more and more networked, it’s always necessary for network administrators to troubleshoot network issues in shortest time possible if the network is not functioning properly. Network downtime or network malfunction may cause headaching inconvenience or even millions of business losses if not settled up in time. Without a handy tool, network troubleshooting can be time-consuming and frustrating.

Old Ways – Time-consuming and Frustrating
There are a lot of articles providing guidance on how to troubleshoot network issues in general ways. For simple networking issues, these tutorials work fine. However, for a company-level network, issues are often complicated and mixed, and these issues require deeper analysis and stronger diagnosis abilities. Obviously, old ways are no longer suitable for today’s in-time network troubleshooting demands.

Troubleshooting Network Issues in Seconds
To troubleshoot your network in time, even in seconds is now possible with Capsa’s diagnosis feature. Network issues are automatically detected and clearly identified, with possible causes and solutions provided.

Automatic Diagnosis
Based on Colasoft’s packet analysis engine, Capsa is able to automatically detect network issues in different OSI layers, such as application layer, transport layer, and network layer. All these issues are marked with different severity levels, indicating which are critical issues that need to be addressed immediately, which are just informative messages.

(Figure 1 Diagnosis Events List)

Quick Locate Suspicious Host
Once a critical network issue is detected and requires immediate handling, we can select the item from the list, then detailed information will be provided under, including source, destination, port and so on. We can easily locate the suspicious host in this field, for example, the attacking host or the host which is spamming our network. Moreover, after locating the suspicious host, we can conduct deeper analysis, such as protocol analyzing or packet decoding.

(Figure 2 Diagnosis Details)

Possible Causes & Solutions
When selecting a network issue from the list, possible causes and solutions are also provided for users to understand the issue and solve it as soon as possible.

(Figure 3 Possible Causes & Solutions)

Customizable
Depending on network sizes and network’s characteristics, we can customize the threshold that triggers one diagnosis event and the severity of the network issue.

(Figure 4 Customize Threshold)

Conclusion
It is always good to maintain the network running smoothly and properly without any problems. However, if a network issue arises, we must make sure it is quickly detected and solved before it affects the entire infrastructure and brings loss to our business. For the complexity of the network and variety of network applications, network troubleshooting is becoming more challenging and demanding. To have a powerful tool like Capsa in hand is must in everyday’s network management.

About Capsa
Capsa is packet sniffer software designed for network monitoring and troubleshooting purposes. It performs real-time packet capturing, 24/7 network monitoring, advanced protocol analyzing, in-depth packet decoding, and automatic expert diagnosing. By giving users insights into all of the network's operations, Capsa makes it easy to isolate and solve network problems, identify network bottleneck and bandwidth use, and detect network vulnerabilities, external attacks and insecure applications.

About Colasoft
Ever since 2001, Colasoft has been dedicated in providing all-in-one and easy-to-use network analysis software for customers to monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot their network. Up to now, more than 4000 customers in over 70 countries trust the flagship product – Capsa as their network monitoring and troubleshooting solution. The company also offers four free network utilities: Colasoft Packet Builder, Colasoft Packet Player, Colasoft MAC Scanner, and Colasoft Ping Tool. Learn more today at http://www.colasoft.com/