Like firewall the protocol analyzers are of two types i.e. hardware and software. The vendors like McAfee, Randcom, Fluke networks and network instruments are offering hardware protocol analyzers for a long time. The hardware protocol analyzers are used for increased flexibility, mobility, increased capturing and the more network connections. In this article you will find an overview of the most popular software protocol analyzers.
Microsoft Network Monitor 3
Microsoft Network Monitor 3 by Microsoft is a protocol analyzer tool that is used for examining the network traffic by the network administrators. It can capture the packets from multiple LAN cards at the same time and provide the real time statistics in the form of frames and tree. It supports custom data types, regular expression filters and other features.
CommView 5.5 build 544
CommView 5.5 build 544 is used for monitoring the network packets on the LAN and internet. It collects the data information from the Ethernet, dial-up connection and wireless network and decodes the data. Flexible interface makes it possible to filter any kind of data packets. You can see the IP statistics, network packets and network connections. The other features of this tools are custom packet generation, remote monitoring, TCP session reconstruction, files import/export features and multilingual support.
Network Probe 2.0.04
Network Probe 2.0.04 is an ultimate tool for network monitoring, analysis, troubleshooting and visualization. Network Probe helps to identify the source of the troublesome traffic. You can set individual alarms on the host computers, LAN cards, IP address, individual protocols and hosts. It displays the total throughput of the network being displayed and highlights the problems in network traffic. Network Probe saves the profiles and sessions, tells protocols statistics, traffic alarm, user selected protocols, network throughput, network summary and generates historical traffic logs.
IP Sniffer
IP Sniffer is a protocol analyzer tool that is used for the packet filtering, packet decoding, network adapter selection and other advanced features. It’s tree like menu allows to select the source IP address and resolve the issues. The advanced features include port scanning, IP address monitoring, tracert, TCP/UDP spoofing options, MAC address changing DNS/DHCP queries and network troubleshooting.
Network Stumbler
Network Stumbler is a packet sniffer tool for the wireless networks. It can be used for the wireless networks that use wireless LAN cards that are manufactured by the Dell, Lucent, Compaq, Elsa Airlancer ard Hermes Chipsets.