Distributed 24/7 Network Monitoring and Analysis Software
Building on WildPackets' award-winning network analysis technology,
OmniEngine software performs real-time network analysis on traffic from one
or more network interfaces, including Ethernet, 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless, Gigabit,
10 Gigabit, and WAN. OmniEngine captures and analyzes data in real-time, and records
data for post-capture analysis. With WildPackets OmniEngines software, network
engineers can monitor their entire enterprise-wide network and rapidly identify and
remedy performance bottlenecks, even those occurring at remote locations, without
leaving the office.
OmniEngine software runs as a service on dedicated Windows servers as well as on
WildPackets turnkey Omnipliances. By deploying OmniEngines in each
business location, a network engineering team gains real-time visibility into all its remote
networks. Enterprises that cannot afford to staff each office with a network engineer can use
OmniEngine software or turnkey Omnipliances to ensure that every business
location receives the network engineering support it requires.
OmniEngine provides comprehensive network service monitoring and analytics, including:
Comprehensive Network Infrastructure Monitoring, including 24 x7 monitoring and analysis of network traffic
Expert Systems Diagnoses, including streams-based network traffic analysis and correlations between events and conversations
Statistical Analysis, including packet flows and details about nodes, protocols, and sub-protocols
Detailed network packet analysis, including protocol decodes and descriptions of physical errors
Application layer expert diagnoses, user satisfaction scores, and application response time analysis
VoIP and Video analysis, including MOS and R-Factor scores, as well as Expert analysis
Sophisticated alarms and to alert network engineers to potential issues before they become major problems
Long-term storage of network traffic for forensics analysis
Integration with System Management Software
When network problems occur, OmniEngine can execute SNMP traps, notifying SNMP monitoring
systems such as HP OpenView of potential problems. Because it captures the traffic that generated the
error, OmniEngine provides network engineers the detailed information they need in order to
investigate and resolve problems
OmniEngine Enterprise
Distributed 24/7 Network Analyzer and Monitor
OmniEngine Enterprise extends the network analysis capabilities to
remote locations, performing data capture and network analysis on
multiple network interfaces, and over all network topologies, including
wireless (802.11), Gigabit networks and WAN links. This product is best
deployed in workgroups or at remote locations, providing continuous
network monitoring and analysis without the need for local network
engineering support. To completely cover your network analysis needs,
one or more OmniEngines should be deployed at each remote location,
with every server farm, and within the network operations core.
OmniEngine Desktop
Desktop Troubleshooting Engine
WildPackets' OmniEngine Desktop is a Windows service that runs on
desktop computers and captures packets for analysis. OmniEngine
Desktop provides network engineers with the visibility into end user
computers they need in order to accelerate troubleshooting and to
maximize productivity. Packet captures can be initiated by network
engineers or Help Desk representatives running the OmniPeek
Analysis Console; alternatively, captures can be initiated automatically
when specific trigger conditions are met. Once a capture is complete,
network engineers can transfer the packets into OmniPeek for analysis.
OmniPeek's wealth of analysis features, including 7-layer decodes and
Visual Expert analytics, make it easy to find and fix problems quickly.
Windows service that enables network engineers to remotely diagnose problems on desktops running Ethernet and Wireless
Distributed capture and analysis designed for enterprise networks, including networks running Ethernet, Gigabit, 10 Gigabit, VoIP and Video, WLAN, and WAN segments
The Dream
Those of you familiar with the OmniEngine already know about its rich suite of analysis and troubleshooting features, automated alarming and notification options, and long term reporting capabilities. What you may not have ever thought is that someday it would be possible to apply those same packet analysis features to NetFlow statistics.
The Reality
To tell you the truth, I still cannot believe it is true. But thanks to the incredible extensibility of the Omni Platform, and some innovative work on the part of our engineers, it is real. And my friends, let me tell you, this is no joke or snake oil I am talking about. This is the real deal. And talk about a great deal! With the same OmniEngines that you bought and use to monitor your packet based networks, you can now reach out even further and monitor networks that have NetFlow-enabled routers on them.
Analyzer for the Console
What, you don't have an OmniEngine yet? That's ok. The Omni Platform is designed to grow with you and your network. In the meantime, you can use OmniPeek WorkGroup or OmniPeek Enterprise with our NetFlow Analyzer Plug-in.
Installation
Easy, just download the installer and run it. Of course, this assumes you already have an OmniEngine installed on the target machine. The installer will copy 2 files (NetFlowServer.dll and NetFlowServer.xml) to C:\Program Files\Common Files\WildPackets. The dll file is the adapter, and the xml file is contains the options.
Configuration
To use the NetFlow Server Adapter, connect to your OmniEngine with the OmniPeek Console and create a new capture. In the Capture Options Dialog, go to the Adapters Tab and select the "NetFlow Server" entry.
The default for the NetFlow Server is 2055. To change the NetFlow port, open the NetFlowServer.xml file and change 2055 to another value.
Use
A NetFlow Adapter Capture is used just like any other capture, so I won't go into those details here. We have a team of writers who have already written a manual about how to create and use captures in OmniPeek.
The Cisco AP Capture Adapter for the OmniEngine is a feature that can capture and aggregate wireless packets from multiple Cisco Access Points. This feature is especially useful to companies with large numbers of Access Points (APs) that are spread throughout offices, stores, and warehouses. It allows any one or more of the APs to be temporarily used as probes to capture traffic, and then switched back to AP mode, all remotely through software. Being able to multi-purpose the APs in this way increases the ROI of both OmniPeek and the Cisco AP.
By running the Cisco AP Capture Adapter on the OmniEngine, and placing the OmniEngine on the same segment or subnet as the Cisco AP wireless mesh, all of the packets from any one of the Cisco APs can be streamed and aggregated directly into the OmniEngine. The OmniPeek Console is then used to connect to the OmniEngine and view the results of the analysis.
By inserting the OmniEngine into the equation, a new tier is added, providing better performance, less overhead, and security. The performance is better because the packets only have to be streamed to the OmniEngine, not all the way back to the OmniPeek Console. This also provides a permanent capture environment, so that your AP configurations do not have to change.
The overhead to the network is also less, since the packets have to travel a shorter distance, through fewer routers and switches. Security is also much better, because the OmniPeek Console interaction with the OmniEngine is through a secure and compressed connection.
