Generix solves the Switch Monitoring Challenge with Chevin Switch Reporter

Generix Limited. - 14 March 2000

Until now, the proliferation of LAN Switches has presented Network Managers and Administrators with an impossible management challenge - "How can I monitor activity across my network when every Switch port is a separate network?"

Chevin’s Switch Reporter resolves this complex issue.

Switch Reporter manages all manufacturers’ devices using one software application. It scans a User specified range of IP addresses and detects all Rmon and SNMP managed devices, leaving you to just click on the device you want to view.

Switch Reporter’s intuitive GUI provides all the information you need to confirm the Switch’s status. The first screen displays a list with details of port number, interface descriptions, media type and port speed. Summary statistics provide an immediate indication of the health and activity of each port, by reporting packet activity, data throughput (octets/bytes), errors and collisions. Statistics are shown both as a cumulative figure and for the most recent sample period.

In addition, Switch efficiency can be assessed through % utilisation figures for each port along with a broadcast and multicast count. Armed with this information, Network Administrators can very quickly determine whether or not a Switch delivers the capacity necessary to support satisfactory User response times, and it can be seen immediately if SLAs or System specifications are being achieved.

As well as providing statistical information, Switch Reporter employs linear graphs offering the benefit of an historical summary to display activity for all ports. From these charts it is easy to identify ports that are particularly stressed and which might require attention.

Switch Reporter also represents each Switch port with colour coded software LEDs (which turn from green to red if user definable alarm thresholds have been exceeded). An alarm log also records a history of alarms, which can be output to notepad for manipulation and inclusion in external reports. When a port is selected, detailed statistics for that port are shown including counts for Packets, Octets (bytes) Broadcasts, Multicasts and collisions. Frame Alignment Errors, CRC Errors, Short Packets and Long Packets are all displayed as a percentage of utilisation.

A temporary reset feature allows all statistics to be reset while cumulative figures continue to build. This provides an opportunity for Network Administrators to experiment when trouble shooting to try and find a root cause without losing historical data.

Commenting upon Switch Reporter, John Earley, Commercial Director, said, "From a financial perspective, this is probably the most important product to leave the Chevin labs in recent years. The networking world has forged ahead with the installation of millions of switches without considering the impact on network management. Users have been calling upon us to provide a resolution to allow them to see activity throughout their switches and we have now responded with a world beating, world first product."

Switch Reporter costs US$795, which represents excellent value for money, claims Chevin. Earley again, "You can get this sort of functionality from Fluke, but you need to have their hardware to run the application which costs thousands of pounds. Switch Reporter requires no specialist hardware. We have also heard from our Users that Cisco can provide comparable facilities for their high end Switches but once again at great cost. Switch Reporter is, quite frankly, cheap given what it can do and the problems that it resolves and this reflects our ambition to make Switch Reporter a world beating product."

Switch Reporter is shipping now and runs under Windows NT/98/95 on standard PCs.

Switch reporter will be the next feature to be added to CNApro version7 which will be launchd in May 2000. This will enhance an already exceptional tool for managing the whole of the corporate network.

About Generix Generix provides products and services that allow companies to retain existing investments in business systems, whilst laying the foundation for evolving with new technologies to gain and retain competitive advantage in an ever changing and challenging business world.

Editorial contact: Annie Johnson Chevin Software Engineering Limited Email:annie@chevin.com