Capsa Network Analyzer Professional Edition is a powerful tool for network monitoring.
It is not a tool for home users, unless they’re very unusual; this is a program aimed at those whose job includes knowing what’s going on with their network at an extremely technical level.
It’s a good fit for a small or medium-sized business.
Often, getting the kind of information this program delivers requires PERL scripts and deep command-line voodoo; Capsa displays and sorts it all in a surprisingly intuitive way.
What it doesn’t do, of course, is provide the training needed to interpret the data.
If DNS, SMTP, and IPV6 sound more like bad Scrabble draws than technical terms, Capsa probably isn’t a tool you will find useful.
Assuming you do understand all the jargon, though, Capsa Network Analyzer can reveal an incredible amount about what’s happening on your network.
You do need to be conversant with your network’s topology to deploy it correctly, but fortunately, there is a guide showing common configurations. Once installed, Capsa tracks the constant flow of information in and out of the network, displaying the data in a variety of views.
Capsa’s interface follows all the of the Windows guidelines, but it still takes a bit of fiddling to understand how the various selection options work.
Basically, you drill through and filter data using two controls: the tree view on the right and the tabs arranged along the top, and what you see is the intersection of those choices. In addition, you can view or hide specific columns, and of course sort the data.
Perhaps most important, you can set up filters on the analyzer to limit what data is recorded–for example, you may wish to track only e-mail for a specific user, or all HTTP requests to a given URL.
This might be done in order to simplify locating a specific problem with the network–one user who does not get their e-mail, or one site which consistently times out, or a problem which you suspect is related to malware on your system.
Capsa Network Analyzer is extremely useful if you know what to look for. If you don’t, it is likely you will be lost in a maze of twisty little protocol reports, all alike.
Some of the new features of Capsa Network Analyzer:
Brand New and Improved Network Analysis Experience
Capsa 7.1 introduces a new network analysis flow: you are able to control from capture source, filter, to network profile and analysis objectives. Unlike traditional network analyzer software which provides non-distilled data in one place and requires you to find the information yourself, Capsa 7.1 allows you to decide what you want it to provide.Your Own Dashboard, Important Parameters in One Place and in Graphs
Dashboard is new in Capsa 7.1. It’s like an airplane dashboard displaying all the important parameters in one place and in graphic and intuitive charts. It is fully customizable; you can decide what you want to see and how it looks like. If one dashboard is not enough, just create as many as you want!Record Network Profile, Boost Working Efficiency
Either you are a network administrator who walks around different departments and deal with daily network issues or a consultant who needs to go about to your client’s place and do a regular analysis; network profile can be very useful. Capsa 7.1 allows you to set and save network profiles for different environments (departments, clients), making you analysis more customized, accurate and efficient.Set Your Analysis Objective, Perform Customized Analysis
For different analysis objectives, Capsa 7.1 is able to provide different critical data and filter out the irrelevant. It’s easy like “Hey, I need to analyze Email application, give me only the data related” and Capsa 7.1 will do it for you. Some analysis objectives are predefined, some more can be customized and will be added in the future.Powerful Customizable Alarms
In Capsa 7.1, you are able to customize dozens of alarm trigger combinations such as total traffic, protocol, conversations etc. You’ll be immediately notified with the critical parameters and related information to help you promptly deal with it. If you are not around, no problem, an alarm log will be made and critical information will be saved.Replay Analysis, Reproduce History Network Events
With Capsa 7.1 you are able to not only start a new capture but also import multiple packet files and replay the packet flow. So you can reproduce what exactly had happened during a history period of time. In case you are not nearby when a network issue arises, you have to power to analyze it afterwards.
Anyone with a general interest in the real guts of what happens between then you type the URL and when the page shows up might find Capsa interesting, but the pricing marks it as purely a professional tool.
You can download the demo or buy this tool here: Capsa Enterprise Edition
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