Intuitive user interface with customizable dashboards, smart navigation and easy reporting

Remote users can also set up dashboards to get their own view of network operations.

Performance Health Checks

Every day, your business depends on a reliable, secure and fast network. Already stretched IT resources are being asked to do more with less, and network maintenance and optimization are often overlooked. The results are unhealthy networks that are improperly utilized, misconfigured and vulnerable to cyber threats.

At-a-glance visibility provided by Health Checks will help you put your critical network infrastructure and applications back on track and keep their performance optimized and running smoothly.

Virtualization Health

Enterprises are virtualizing servers to obtain cost savings and flexibility. Along with the benefits of virtualization comes the new complexity of managing the virtualized network. The OptiView XG network analysis tool has built-in capability to analyze Virtual Machines and their host VMware ESX servers. This gives you the capability to quickly track virtual server health at-a-glance and ensure your mission critical applications never fail. OptiView XG’s discovery also gives the capability to find and analyze new virtual machines that are added to ESX host servers.

Quickly check the health of your VMware ESX Server by monitoring CPU, memory utilization, number of virtual machines configured and running, and much more. View VM name, guest OS, and VM state, and detailed virtual machine health statistics including processor, memory, and network usage.

Network and Application Issue Reporting Engine

OptiView XG Network Analysis Tablet offers a number of built-in reports, making it quick and easy to report on application and network problems. These reports help you track performance and utilization statistics. While viewing a screen, pressing the Reports key will generate HTML or PDF reports on Protocols, Top Hosts, Top Conversations, Devices, Networks, Problems and many more.

The intuitive interface facilitates customizing the out-of-the-box reports and also enables creation of completely customized reports using the configurable dashboards in just a few clicks. The ability to choose what data to populate in a report enables users to quickly see data exactly the way they need. You can even create reports for specific user profiles, making it easy to generate reports for specific departments or recipients.

Automated, guided analysis makes anyone an expert problem-solver

Network Monitoring with Performance Health Checks

Every day, your business depends on a reliable, secure and fast network. Already stretched IT resources are being asked to do more with less, and network maintenance and optimization are often overlooked. The results are unhealthy networks improperly utilized, misconfigured and vulnerable to cyber threats.

At-a-glance visibility provided by Health Checks helps put your critical infrastructure and applications back on track and keep their performance optimized and running smoothly. OptiView searches through your switch and router infrastructure to proactively look for problems such as port errors, discards, excessive utilization, high memory/CPU utilization, device reboots, and FHRP state changes. Once detected, OptiView can notify staff via SNMP trap, syslog message, or push notifications to your Apple or Android device (see HeadsUp XG mobile notification app.)

Guided Analysis

There are a lot of different errors and problems that can occur on your network and not having the probable cause and resolution readily available increases the time required to solve problems. The built-in “Guided Analysis” expert reduces the time required to identify the root cause and fix the issue, increasing staff efficiency. Clicking on any problem in the problem log immediately shows you the probable cause, potential impacts, and possible solutions for the problem.

Ensure consistent end user experience and application performance

End User Response Time (EURT) Metrics

Through integration with Visual TruView™, OptiView XG network analyzer users now have full visibility into EURT metrics by user, site, server and application. A graphical “heat map” instantly pinpoints the application performance problem domain – network or application – with the ability to drill down into the real root cause. TruView is a unified application and network performance monitoring and troubleshooting appliance that watches over your global, regional, or even local groups of sites and users 24/7 by monitoring end-user experience enterprise-wide, time-correlating packet, flow and management data to isolate the cause of performance problems.

XG users can leverage their TruView appliance (with version 9 software) with XG Version 12 and later, which integrates EURT data directly from TruView into the OptiView user interface. Unlike some “integrated” products that simply switch user interfaces from one product to another, with OptiView XG network analyzer and TruView data is instantly passed between the tools and presented in the same local user interface, resulting in a smooth workflow within the same tool, getting to root cause fast – giving network and operations teams more time to focus on critical projects.

EURT is broken down into Application Response Time (ART), Data Transfer Time (DTT) and Network Roundtrip Time (NRT). A count of transactions by application and server allows the engineer to gauge the total impact on EURT. TCP health metrics (retransmissions, zero windows, out of orders and TCP resets) provide additional insight into the causes of poor application performance.

When engineers are out troubleshooting in the network – in the access layer, data center or remote sites – having EURT data at their fingertips gives them unprecedented visibility across devices, paths, flows and applications, speeding the resolution of performance problems.

Monitor your borderless enterprise

TruViewTM Live is a subscription-based service that extends the power of OptiView XG by monitoring the end-to-end availability and performance of your entire IT infrastructure, including your network, SaaS applications and VoIP services.

• Isolate problem areas and respond quickly to keep business users connected and productive
• See results in dashboards and get alerts to solve issues before they affect users
• Scale up as you need to monitor more locations or services

TruView Live works with OptiView XG to provide 24x7 monitoring and end-to-end network visibility.

You may qualify for a FREE TruView Live subscription. If you purchased Gold Support for your OptiView XG, you automatically qualify for a FREE subscription** to TrueView Live along with your FREE TruView Pulse 1000. If you have Gold Support, you can get started using TruView Live with your FREE Pulse immediately… Go to: app.truviewlive.com/gold (to activate your account you will need your Gold Support
account number and pin)

The displayed results include the DNS name and IP address, the inter-switch connections by port number, together with link speed and VLAN information. Once launched, Path Analysis will trend interface utilization and show in/out traffic in clear trend charts. Highlighting any device column and selecting Device Detail allows you to drill into specific performance information for that device. Document the path with one-click report generation.

Application Infrastructure Analysis

Consistent application delivery is critical for business. OptiView™ XG network analyzer makes it easy to identify and analyze the underlying network infrastructure of an application. This lets you become proactive about application performance issues. It also decreases the time required to isolate network vs. application problems.

The ONLY network analysis tablet with 10 Gbps “On-The-Wire” analysis

OptiView XG network analyzer provides line rate, real-time application and traffic analysis and troubleshooting on 10/100/1000 Mbps or 10 Gbps links. Identify top talkers, multicasters and broadcasters or select top conversations to determine which hosts may be over-utilizing resource bandwidth. Tap or span key links to determine who is using server bandwidth by viewing top conversations to a single host. Analyze protocol mix to identify top protocols being used and also discover unwanted and custom protocols and see which protocols are being used by each host. These real-time statistics for traffic “on the wire” enable you to understand how network resources are being used and increase user satisfaction with faster response times for networked applications.

OptiView XG network analyzer automatically discovers all protocols and sub protocols from the MAC layer to the application layer. This enables IT staff to identify applications (including those that use dynamically assigned port numbers) utilizing link bandwidth to see and validate the impact of applications on network resources and also identify illicit applications. Deep packet inspection differentiates between specific audio, video, image, and data applications, and shows the level of bandwidth usage for each.

VLAN Visibility and Trunk Analysis

Only “on the wire” analyzers can provide vision into actual VLAN trunk traffic. When connected to a switch trunk port, the OptiView XG network analysis tool will detect all VLANs available on that trunk, measure the traffic distribution across all the VLANs and provides the user with the capability of selecting a specific VLAN.

If an individual VLAN is selected, device discovery, traffic statistics and packet capture data will be displayed only for that VLAN.

Application-centric Analysis

Full line-rate capture ensures complete analysis

Get 10 Gbps line-rate packet capture and filtering to troubleshoot problems where packet level analysis is required and perform advanced troubleshooting when deploying and analyzing applications.

Sophisticated capture filters allow collection of more relevant data and limit the amount of traffic to analyze by filtering on individual addresses or conversation, IPv4 address range or subnet, or IPv6 prefix and protocols. The capture size can be up to 4GB.

The capture process may be started or stopped through a user defined trigger event – capture the traffic before, after or around an event occurrence without being present. This ensures you capture the event the first time and avoids initiating random traffic captures that may not contain anything of interest.

OptiView XG network analyzer’s unique user interface makes the complex task of setting up filters and triggers as simple as touching the devices or protocols of interest, eliminating errors that result from misconfiguration.

Go “inline” to get to Root Cause

To get to the root cause of many application performance problems, you have to be “in the path of the packets” to examine the actual traffic. With the in-line analysis function in OptiView XG, your analyzer connects in the path to directly see and capture application traffic on its two RJ-45 ports. Instead of relying on span or mirror ports (which hide or even introduce problems) or carrying around an extra piece of hardware (external tap), the OptiView XG network analyzer lets you go directly in-line at up to full 1 Gbps speed to observe traffic in real time, or to capture at line rate for detailed application analysis in the onboard ClearSight Analyzer. Go in-line between the network and clients, access points, servers, or anywhere needed to get application-level visibility.

Capture and Store Multiple Trace Files

Sequential store-to-disk allows for multiple, sequential captures to be stored to the OptiView XG network analyzer's internal disk or to an external storage device to capture for longer periods or to capture multiple trigger events, allowing more than 4 GB of data to be captured – this can help find elusive problems. The user can set the destination drive and folder, a filename prefix (XG assigns a timestamp for the suffix), and set rules for the maximum number of captures or size of disk usage as limits.

Free String Match to find and capture anything

Match any set of words or phrases when detected (regardless of the position in the packet – payload or header) in real-time to trigger the OptiView XG network analyzer to start or stop capturing and/or filter traffic. Use Free String Match to capture traffic around any application error message, detect traffic containing certain words or phrases in non-encrypted emails, web pages, file transfers or documents to identify illicit use of the network or detect downloading of restricted documents based on content or filenames (.doc, .xls, .pdf). Additionally, use Free String Match to identify and track applications that are not allowed on the network such as streaming media that may consume valuable bandwidth, or P2P traffic that may pose a security risk. A total of eight sets of triggers or filters can be defined to trigger a capture unattended for later analysis, allowing analysis when you have time, not when the event occurred.

Simplified analysis of application problems

Once traffic is captured, launch the Integrated ClearSight™ Analyzer (iCSA) to see an application-centric view of the trace file. Through a simple and intuitive front page, iCSA presents a comprehensive, high-level overview of the health of applications on your network. From that framework, you can drill down to gain access to more detailed information. For example, you can display all the activity for HTTP applications, then drill down to see activities on each server, and further down to the server flow to observe the actual media content of the flow. iCSA also provides time-based analysis providing detailed trending and statistical information for fast analysis of large capture files. This unparalleled level of control and visibility speeds time to application problem resolution and minimizes overall network downtime.

Automated problem/issue detection

Unique and powerful bounce chart illustrates application flow

CSA application bounce chart views reveal conversations between client and server in the application command language without having to decode packets manually. It provides an extremely powerful way to understand protocol interactions between various network elements.

Content reconstruction and playback

Solve 10 Gbps network and application performance problems from the data center to the access layer – fast

When problems happen, your job is to fix it – fast – and perform deeper analysis for determining the root cause. The OptiView XG Network Analysis tool helps you resolve network and application performance issues in real-time using unique features such as proactive network analysis, network mapping, path analysis, and application-centric analysis, vendor-independent infrastructure analysis, on-the-wire traffic analysis, and full line-rate packet capture/decode. Expert-assisted application centric protocol analysis provides guidance – not just data – to solve tough application and network problems, even if you’re not a packet decode expert.

Integrated WLAN deployment and analysis

Wireless Infrastructure Analysis

Through its wired-side network discovery and analysis, the OptiView XG network analyzer discovers and categorizes wireless LAN controllers, lightweight access points (AP), intelligent access points and wireless clients. Detailed device information is provided from Cisco, Aruba, and Meru Wireless LAN controllers (WLCs) and LWAPs, including the wireless networks associated with the controller, the SSIDs, security and QoS parameters, the light-weight APs being controlled and the 802.11 protocol in use.

OptiView XG network analyzer uses data from wireless LAN controllers (WLCs) to create wireless connectivity maps. The content of the map can be filtered by selecting one or more SSIDs, desired WLAN frequency bands, device and security types. Map details are user configurable, including link rates, channels used, AP mode and capacity, client count by AP, and more wired infrastructure connections show the entire network - from end-to-end - so you are never without updated documentation of your wired and wireless network.

Expand your wireless analysis power with three optional capabilities, now fully enabled for complete analysis of 802.11ac WLANs (also backwards compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n).

Wi-Fi Analysis

AirMagnet WiFi Analyzer is the industry standard tool for mobile auditing and troubleshooting enterprise Wi-Fi networks. AirMagnet WiFi Analyzer helps IT staff quickly solve end-user issues while automatically detecting security threats and wireless network vulnerabilities. The solution enables network managers to easily test and diagnose dozens of common wireless performance issues including throughput issues, connectivity issues, device conflicts and signal multipath problems. AirMagnet WiFi Analyzer includes a full compliance reporting engine, which automatically maps collected network information to requirements for compliance with policy and industry regulations. It's a solution that simplifies key wireless network tasks such as:

• Provides "root-cause" for reported Wi-Fi problems
• Wi-Fi based discovery of wireless access points and clients
• Maximize 802.11 efficiencies and investment
• Complete visibility of all Wi-Fi traffic
• Detection and location of rogue devices or security threats
• Independent ROI analysis of WLAN Infrastructure options
• Audit-ready compliance status
• Active client-based connectivity testing
• Instantly troubleshoot BYOD induced security and performance issues
• Packet captures and decode for complete analysis of 802.11 a/b/g/n WLAN's

Spectrum Analysis

802.11 Spectrum Analysis

The AirMagnet Spectrum XT option provides in-depth RF analysis combined with real-time WLAN information for quicker and more accurate troubleshooting of performance problems. Spectrum Analysis offers real-time detection, identification and location of a number of non-WLAN sources that interfere with WLAN networks and their performance. Industry's largest RF interferer classification database to obtain automated answers to performance problems Prioritize issues/interferers with Wi-Fi impact analysis capability Custom signatures allow an instant response to interference problems and provide independence on classification updates Spectrum analyzer will troubleshoot WLAN issues caused by RF interference at remote locations faster by avoiding costly 'truck rolls'.

In-Building Spectrum Analysis

AirMagnet Spectrum ES (AM/A6001) is an affordable, professional-grade RF spectrum analyzer that can be added to the OptiView XG network analyzer to speed in-building cellular deployments. Rich spectrum graphs with next generation visualization and enhanced in-field productivity features provide intuitive network visibility needed to validate and troubleshoot at every project stage. Scans frequencies between 698 MHz & 2690 MHz (supports 2G/3G/4G). AirMagnet Spectrum ES includes the industry's first automated classification and location of RF interference sources, automated location-specific carrier and technology spectrum scan setup which is needed to verify and troubleshoot at every stage of the project lifecycle. These features help ensure offload deployment and troubleshooting are done quickly and correctly.

Survey and Planning

The AirMagnet Survey and Planner option on the OptiView XG network analysis platform ensures optimal wireless network performance, security and compliance using the Survey capabilities in the OptiView XG network analyzer to collect "live and real-world" signal, performance, and spectrum data during wireless network site surveys, allowing the IT staff to measure wireless network performance and RF coverage in the most scientific way possible to design the WLAN network for an optimal AP count, placement and configuration.

• Design and deploy the most accurate indoor & outdoor wireless LAN network (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) correctly the first time and prevent costly rework & IT complaints
• Collect real-world data by performing unique true end-user experience (WLAN throughput, data rates, retries, losses) measurements
• Minimize expensive wireless LAN performance impact due to RF interference sources by performing simultaneous spectrum analysis in a single walk through Simulate "What-if" scenarios to prevent or minimize costly repeat survey walks
• Single-click WLAN network readiness verification for Voice over WiFi and Location Services
• Confidently certify the network for any design/application requirements using customer-ready pass/fail assessment reports
• Customize reports enabling efficient hand over of results based on WLAN design/application requirements
• SurveyPro version 8.6 (for PRO and EXPT models of OptiView XG) is fully compatible with the latest Wi-Fi technology, 802.11ac. With the use of an external USB .11ac radio, SurveyPro 8.6 and the OptiView XG network analyzer can be used to do comprehensive site surveys and simulations for .11ac networks.

Multiple Radios

Multiple radios on the OptiView XG enable you to run AirMagnet WiFi Analyzer and Spectrum XT together to view non-WLAN interference for every channel in the RF spectrum. The multiple radios also let you run Spectrum Analyzer along with Survey Pro to detect interference during surveying eliminating a second walk through for interferences after surveying.

Managing Network and Technology Changes

Advanced network discovery – finds devices, networks and problems in seconds

As soon as OptiView XG is connected to the network, it automatically begins to discover devices on the network, with no interaction required, by monitoring traffic and actively querying hosts. IT staff can immediately see what is on the network and where it is connected, by switch, slot and port number. They can investigate and quickly locate “suspect” devices and with minimum effort and identify problems associated with device misconfigurations.

The OptiView XG categorizes devices by type: interconnect (routers, switches), servers, hypervisors, virtual machines, printers, SNMP agents, VoIP devices, wireless devices, and other hosts. Additionally, networks are classified by IPv4 and IPv6 Subnets, VLANs, NetBIOS Domains and IPX Networks, and Wireless Networks together with host membership within each classification. Network devices that may be experiencing problems are also discovered.

Most network analyzers and troubleshooting tools have limited visibility in today’s networks: usually a single broadcast domain or VLAN, but the OptiView XG Network Analysis Tablet can also be configured to perform a discovery of up to 30,000 devices on an off-broadcast domain subnet to extend its discovery beyond the broadcast domain or local VLAN boundaries, across your enterprise network, into remote sites and users. Generate up-to-date HTML and PDF format inventory reports of devices both on the attached network and also on networks at remote sites.

Automated network mapping

The faster engineers can "see" what is going on in their network, to know who is on the network and where they are connected, and what the path is from "here to there", the faster they can get to root cause when troubleshooting performance issues. This is especially true for maintenance organizations or system integrators who often troubleshoot an "unknown" network. The problem is that traditional methods (CLI or element managers) take too long and present complex data that's often hard to interpret and difficult to correlate.

Using OptiView's patented discovery engine, users now have a network analyzer with mapping features that can interact with the network in a flexible map-based user interface to quickly visually identify configuration and topology issues, speeding problem solving.

Version 13 provides two new key capabilities for network mapping. First, v13 provides visibility of unmanaged, unknown devices – including WLAN access points. View these potential 'rogue' devices in both the discovery list and see them in a network map, along with the devices connected to them. Secondly, mapping of VoIP phone endpoints provides complete documentation for Unified Communications deployment projects.

Documentation is an essential step for any project, such as pre-deployment network assessments and new technology rollouts, but it can take too much time to complete. From the graphical map-based user interface, one click sends the map data through a Visio file generator, creating instant, professional network documentation. Ideal for enterprises or service organizations, OptiView XG's network mapping function saves hours of manual labor, allowing documentation to keep up as the network changes, or provide instant maps for client projects.

Discover and test through wireless connections

OptiView XG has the unique capability for fast discovery through a wireless connection. This keeps you aware of the network around you even when you moving through your site. You can unplug from the network and still be confident that the tablet is analyzing your critical devices through a wireless connection, even when moving to a different location – without losing any data. This offers a perfect solution for testing roaming handoffs.

VoIP and wireless device discovery

The OptiView XG will discover VoIP devices including call managers and IP phones from Cisco®, Nortel®, Avaya® and Mitel®. Device capabilities and configurations may be viewed, allowing the user to easily identify and correct configuration issues during VoIP deployment.

The OptiView XG also discovers and categorizes wireless LAN controllers, lightweight access points, intelligent access points and wireless clients. Detailed device information is provided from Cisco Wireless LAN controllers and LWAPs, including the wireless networks associated with the controller, the SSIDs, security and QoS parameters, the lightweight APs being controlled and the 802.11 protocol in use.

IPv6 Discovery

The OptiView XG will discover and display complete IPv6 network and device inventory including routers, switches, wireless AP's, DHCP6 servers and hosts. It enables you to identify active IPv6 devices in the network and those that may have problems in single-stack IPv6 networks. Router advertisements are analyzed and the OptiView XG displays detailed router information and settings. Easily identify applications that may be communicating using both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols.

Detect devices using tunneling mechanisms and identify the tunnels in use. Undetected or unauthorized tunneling could represent a serious security risk.

Network Navigator

Whether troubleshooting performance problems or making changes, engineers need to understand "who and what" is on the network and where they are connected. This is especially true for maintenance organizations or system integrators who often troubleshoot an "unknown" network. The problem is that traditional methods (CLI, or element managers) take too long and present complex data that's often hard to interpret and difficult to correlate. OptiView XG's Network Navigator uses Link Layer Discovery Protocol data (LLDP, and CDP for Cisco switches) to generate a simple diagram of a switch's "network neighborhood". In/out interface IDs are shown along with device names. If OptiView XG detects any problems, they are indicated on the device.
The engineer simply clicks through the diagram to navigate the devices and paths to see whether any problems exist in a particular network area, showing exactly where further analysis is needed. The diagram can instantly be saved as a PDF or HTML formatted report.

Real-time in- depth infrastructure device analysis speeds analysis

Get granular, real-time (updated every 30 seconds) interface utilization and errors for determining if excessive traffic is the cause of performance problems. This granular data can be collected for 24 hours. Interfaces can be quickly sorted by I/F index, utilization, broadcasts, errors, or collisions.

In-depth analysis, including:

• A tabular view of all switch port configurations, including the identity of each host and where it is connected.
• A graphical view of utilization and error rates on each switch port to see over-subscribed or error ports at a glance.

Quickly determine if performance problems are related to link speed or duplex misconfigurations, over-utilization or excessive hosts on a port.

VLAN discovery and analysis

Determine if connectivity problems are related to VLAN configuration by seeing information such as:

• VLANs that are configured on the switch
• Interfaces that are members of each VLAN
• Identification of trunk or uplink ports, together with the trunking protocol in use
• Identification of which hosts are members of each VLAN.

Router and WAN link analysis

In-depth device analysis identifies router ARP cache or routing table errors and also provides visibility to manage and troubleshoot costly WAN links. See WAN link configuration, a graphical display of utilization and error rates and identification of specific error types on ISDN, Frame Relay, T1/E1, T3 and ATM links.
Built-in telnet and web browser allow reconfiguration of devices directly from the OptiView XG.

Network connectivity and link validation

Get an ultra-fast read on where you are connected, the type and speed of link, nearest switch, local traffic, DHCP/DNS services, and whether you have a viable internet connection. This dashboard is ideal for quickly validating moves, adds and changes.

Reporting and Documenting

You can generate reports from virtually any screen the analyzer can display. This includes, dashboards, panels, and any of the main screens, i.e. , Discovery, Problems, Traffic Analysis, etc., with detailed reports. Many reports allow customization of content, as well as header information and logo. Reports can be saved in either HTML or PDF. This makes project documentation fast and easy, and can be used as part of a network assessment and baselining effort, providing comparable data for future reference.

Automated network mapping

The faster engineers can "see" what is going on in their network, to know who is on the network and where they are connected, and what the path is from "here to there", the faster they can get to root cause when troubleshooting performance issues. This is especially true for maintenance organizations or system integrators who often troubleshoot an "unknown" network. The problem is that traditional methods (CLI or element managers) take too long and present complex data that's often hard to interpret and difficult to correlate.

Interface and device inventory reports can be instantly created in CSV format, for use in other systems and documentation processes

Using OptiView's patented discovery engine, users can now interact with the network in a flexible map-based user interface to quickly visually identify configuration and topology issues, speeding problem solving.

Documentation is an essential step for any project, such as pre-deployment network assessments and new technology rollouts, but it can take too much time to complete. From the graphical map-based user interface, one click sends the map data through a Visio file generator, creating instant, professional network documentation. Ideal for enterprises or service organizations, OptiView XG's network mapping function saves hours of manual labor, allowing documentation to keep up as the network changes, or provide instant maps for client projects.

Wireless Network Mapping

Save HOURS of manual labor! By enhancing the automated mapping feature released in Version 11, OptiView XG can now use data from wireless LAN controllers (WLCs) to create wireless network connectivity maps. The content of the map can be filtered by selecting one or more SSIDs, desired WLAN frequency bands, device and security types. Map details are user configurable, including link rates, channels used, AP mode and capacity, client count by AP, and more. Wired infrastructure connections show the entire network – from end-to-end – so you are never without updated documentation of your network! Clicking the report icon instantly generates a Visio document of your displayed map.

Network Performance Testing

Engineers managing enterprise or service provider networks now have a single tool for measuring performance and analyzing complex network and application problems. The Network Performance Test feature (NPT, available in OptiView XG versions 10 and higher) allows users to test and troubleshoot high performance links across wide area networks, campuses, or within data centers and sites. NPT quantifies the performance of the network in terms of bandwidth, latency, jitter and loss up to line-rate 10 Gbps, giving engineers solid data about the capabilities of their infrastructure and its ability to support current and future applications.

XG's Network Performance Testing is used to:

• Analyze network and application performance problems
• Assess network performance prior to deployment of new services such as video or VoIP
• Validate the performance of new infrastructure elements and critical links within their data center
• Independently determine if their service providers are meeting agreed upon service levels (SLAs)
• Test whether required QoS is being maintained end-to-end

More Flexible and Powerful than Other Testing Methods

Based on ITU-T Y.1564, a comprehensive standard for testing real-world Ethernet performance, OptiView XG's NPT provides enhanced performance compared to older standards such as RFC2544, including:
Faster - the NPT capability measures all key performance Service Level Criteria (SLC's)—availability, throughput, frame loss, delay, and delay variation (jitter)—in a single test instead of multiple independent tests.
Fixed Test Times - a single lost frame during an RFC 2544 throughput test requires it be run again, so a test may take many times its set length. ITU-T Y.1564 tests only need to run one time for a complete measurement.
Thorough measurement of SLA requirements — including Excess Information and Excess Burst Rates (EIR/EBR), and availability. Measures delay and jitter on every frame in the test, as opposed to a single frame in the middle of one test period.
More Flexible — supports up to 8 simultaneous flows with independent destinations, acceptance criteria, CoS and VLAN settings.

Additional Capabilities:

• Graphical Path Analysis pinpoints the location of performance degradation.
• Bi-directional testing, from operational levels (for troubleshooting) up to full line-rate 10 Gbps (for validation)
• Flexible Layer 2 and Layer 3 settings including source and destination MAC and IP addresses, VLAN settings, TOS with DSCP or IP precedence, UDP port number and frame contents
• Complete setting of Service Acceptance Criteria limits for availability, throughput, frame loss, delay, and jitter (delay variation)
• Thorough reporting with pass/fail indication based on Service Acceptance Criteria

Traffic generation

Assess network readiness for new deployments by determining the impact of a new application, or the addition of network users, by stressing your network with simulated traffic – up to full 10 Gbps.

Protocol type, frame size, frame rate, percentage utilization and number of frames to transmit are user configurable, along with the type of traffic: Broadcast, Multicast or Unicast.

Selecting an IP protocol allows you to select Time to Live (TTL) parameters and TOS (QOS) parameters such as Minimum Delay, Maximum Throughput, Maximum Reliability, Minimum Monetary Cost and Maximum Security to ensure correct routing configurations.

Throughput Testing

In combination with an additional OptiView XG Network Analysis Tablet (for 10 Gbps throughput) or OptiView Management Appliance, an EtherScope™ Network Assistant, or LinkRunner™ AT 2000 Network Auto-Tester (up to 1 Gbps), the XG throughput test measures bidirectional data flow between the two Fluke Networks’ devices to validate LAN and WAN throughput capabilities.

The Throughput test allows you to configure the following parameters:

• Data speed (up to10 Gbps) – maximum rate is determined by the link speed and duplex.
• Frame size – choose from seven different frame sizes or select sweep to run the test on seven preset frame sizes. OptiView XG provides support for jumbo frames up to 9000 bytes.
• Content – select payload for all 1s, all 0s, alternating 1s and 0s or random.
• Test duration can be 2 seconds to 18 hours.

Test results can be viewed in a tabular or graphical format. The Rate Format tabular view indicates the local and remote transmit and receive rates together with the total percentage of frames received by both devices. Switching to tabular Frame Format view shows the number of local and remote frames transmitted and received, together with the total percentage of frames received by both devices.

General Features

Remote user interface and access

User account configurationSimply point a web browser at the IP address of a correctly configured OptiView XG Tablet to retrieve saved reports and capture files. You can also install a Remote User Interface (UI) and use your PC to remotely access an OptiView XG over a TCP connection. Once the Remote UI is installed, simply give the interface the IP address of the OptiView XG and see the default dashboards. You can then create your own remote dashboards to get your own view of the network.

Communications between the OptiView XG and Remote UI can be encrypted. A single portable OptiView XG will support thirty-two remote sessions for collaborative troubleshooting or opening of multiple sessions on a PC to provide a remote “NOC” view. The OptiView XG features a separate management port for “out-of-band management” independent of the network under test port. When using the remote interface, all dashboards created are stored on the user’s PC, allowing further customization for each remote user.

Profile Management

For engineers who move between sites or different clients, OptiView XG (version 12) enables saving instrument settings as site- or client-specific profiles, speeding instrument reconfiguration when moving between different networks. This makes XG an even more powerful and convenient tool for systems integrators, consultants, security/compliance auditors and other field teams.

User accounts

Through the user accounts screen, you can add and modify security information for each individual OptiView XG user to prevent unauthorized use of certain features for compliance with regulatory requirements. This also allows users access to powerful troubleshooting features such as SNMP, while keeping the community strings hidden. Features that can be disabled include packet capture and decode, traffic generation, remote user interface and OptiView XG configuration.

Context sensitive help

Help is contextually linked to each screen in the OptiView XG. While that help screen is displayed, you may select other information from the table of contents, choose an index entry, or perform a full text search on any help topic or term.

Removable hard drives

See what’s happening on your classified network by connecting one single tool that ensures any sensitive data stored on your network analyzer’s hard drive never leaves that environment. Network information discovered by the OptiView XG Tablet can be stored on the removable hard drive, allowing the OptiView XG to be moved from classified environments of different levels and between classified and unclassified systems by simply removing and replacing the hard drive. Extra, pre-configured drives are available separately.