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Network Traffic Data Monitoring

Parsing and Displaying Captured Network Data

Packet View data visualizer is a two-part window. First part displays each monitored packet parsed according to installed set of protocols. Second part displays raw packet contents. Cursor navigation may be synchronized between two parts.

Each packet is matched against one or more of loaded protocol definition files and if matched successfully, all protocol fields are shown in the top part of the Packet View visualizer. For each field, its name, value, starting address and size are displayed. If field consists of other fields, you may expand it by pressing the little plus icon or pushing the Right button on the keyboard.

Capture Filter

A filter is a single condition which follows the synax of Protocol Definition expressions. It can refer to any field in captured packet and use any supported logical or arithmetic operator.

You can set the capture filter when you start new or configure running monitoring session. You can either select one of the predefined filters or create your own.

Display Filter

Display filter affects the packet displayed in the current Network Packet View window. It does not affect packets in other opened Network Packet View windows for the same session or packets being recorded to a log file. It differs from Capture Filter, which, on the other hand, affects what packets are allowed to "enter" Network Monitor and thus changes the behavior of both logging and all opened data visualizers for a session.

If you change the display filter, it by default affects only future monitored packets. If you want to apply a new filter to already monitored packets, make sure the "Affect only new packets" box is cleared. Note that the session will be suspended during window update, which can take a long time.

Graphical Data Analyzis (Network Statistics)

This data visualizer is capable of displaying the graphical relationship for various monitored data statistics. It has the following counters: Packets/Sec, Bytes Total/Sec, Bytes Received/Sec, Bytes Sent/Sec.

You can configure this visualizer in an outstanding number of ways: you can scroll horizontally to view any portion of data, change the horizontal scale, change the vertical scale or use the auto fit option to automatically fit all data on the screen. You can even change the scale for each variable individually!

You can switch the graphic from polyline to curves with gradient fill to make the visual appearance more comfortable. Use the Copy or Export commands to copy the bitmap or export it to the file in various formats, including PNG and JPEG.

This visualizer also displays variable statistics in the table, which is visible below the plot data. It displays the maximum, average, total and last values for each variable.

Click anywhere on the plot to place a measuring line, which will scan the monitored data, displaying the momentary values for you.

Session Recording (Network Monitoring)

All Device Monitoring Studio visualizers work in real time - you monitor the device and see the packets in visualizers. If you need to record a session and analyze it later, use the session recording!

There are variety of options available for you: you can use Auto Start Recording feature to automatically start recording of new monitoring session; use Start/Stop Recording command to selectively start and stop recording. You can even name the individual data stream!

If you forgot to start recording, use the Save to Log command to save monitored data to a log.

Log File Playback (Playing Back Recorded Network Data)

The Playback tool window lists all recorded log files, grouping them either by device name or by recording date. For each log file various information is displayed, including the log file size and the list of streams. To playback the log file, select the stream, configure the visualizers, select the time range and playback speed and start the monitoring session.

You can change the speed of playback at any time later as well. The unique Continuous mode allows you to quickly transfer stream data into visualizers.

Device Monitoring Studio provides you with a way to manage the recorded logs via the commands in the menu and popup menu.

Defining Custom Protocols

Network Monitor comes with a lot of pre-installed protocols. This feature also allows the customer to add the definition of the custom protocol to Network Monitor. After this, the application will start parsing and decoding all matching packets according to custom protocol definition.