Network Instruments Link Analyst
Core Features

Keep your network services and devices up and running 24-hours a day with Link Analyst!

Download Link Analyst Brochure

Transform network data into strategic business information for use in analysis, trending, resource planning, and more.

• Actively discover devices across the network
• Produce dynamic reports with ease
• Manage network performance and monitor resources
• Detect network abnormalities and failures
• Configure alarms for instant notification
• View data from any workstation
• Integrate with other solutions, including the Observer® family of network analyzers

This powerful, intuitive solution provides the functionality you need to work proactively to ensure your network and your business remain up and running. Stay alert, stay informed, and make better network decisions.

Dynamic Reporting

Customize, view, expand, and compare reports for in-depth analysis on routes, devices, and groups. Track statistics over time for use in network trending and resource planning.

Report types include:

• Alarms
• Business Group Status
• Device Events
• Response Time
• Alarm Log
• Inventory and Discovery Reports

View Data Remotely with Web Reporting

Link Analyst provides easy-to-read reports from anywhere on the network.

• Arrange Views
  Sort charts by alert status, name, or number of good, marginal, or poor polls with a single click
• Access Reports
  Review and compare information from one or more selected time periods
• Password Protection
  Protect data from unauthorized parties by limiting user access

Run Inventories for Asset Management

Keep track of and monitor changes in items such as removable hard drives or installed software within devices.

• Run automatic inventories or take snapshots
• Create alarms for specific WMI and SNMP objects
• Schedule inventories and run reports

Historical Data Analysis

Solve small problems before they become big ones by tracking historical response statistics, including degradation.

• Review routes and response times for any recorded event or timeframe
• Log all statistics for historical interpretation and baselining (choose days, months or years)
• Record device performance
• Identify whether a problem is intermittent or ongoing

Device & Route Monitoring

Know which devices, routes, and IP services are up or down and how they’re performing. Intuitive graphical or table-based displays make it easy to access the information you need.

SNMP & WMI Monitoring

Harness the power of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), and configure custom reports and alarms on any statistic the device can provide. Data is stored for long-term trending and analysis.

• Gather information on: Active Directory Servers, Host Resources, Internet Information Servers, Printers, Router Utilization, SQL Servers and Switch Utilization, or create your own monitor.
• Monitor virtual servers and workstations
• Set user-configurable alarms and thresholds
• Graph statistics over time

Verify Quality of Service (QoS) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

With Link Analyst you can monitor the severity of network degradation and spot trends that may indicate an impending failure.

• Audit network performance to ensure existing SLAs are in compliance
• Configure service level tracking for any device
• Quickly identify lapses in 3rd party agreements

Obtain Point-to-Point Route Analysis

Link Analyst also offers complete Route Mapping.

• Obtain graphical and table-based displays of a route between Link Analyst and any device reachable via IP, including response time between hops
• Monitor the performance of the connection between two devices
• Track uptime and response time for QoS and SLA verification

Event Notification

Be alerted when a device is unreachable or has poor response time. Alarm on SNMP or WMI objects, such as when CPU or memory usage exceeds a certain threshold.

Link Analyst’s alarms are highly customizable. Set alarms and adjust thresholds to alert you instantly to problems or changes in critical devices and routes.

• View alarms by Business Group/Route
• Drill down for device status details
• Graph and compare alarm data over time

Active Discovery

Create Device and Route Maps in Minutes

Link Analyst’s active discovery ability helps you generate a map of any segment or group of systems on your network. Review current network assets with a visual grade of current response times. Drilldown functionality is available for individual station statistics. Tabs for group-specific details show device addresses, response time histories and configuration status.

Map Local and Remote Networks of Any Size

• See not only what devices are connected to the network, but how they are connected
• Obtain both a graphical and table-based display of a network, network segment, or remote locations on the WAN
• Monitor response time and performance of devices anywhere on the network within minutes

Link Analyst Integrates with Observer® for Complete Network Analysis

Link Analyst fully integrates with the award-winning Observer analysis console. Install Observer and Link Analyst for comprehensive network monitoring and fault analysis.

First, select any network device, probe or SNMP agent inside Link Analyst. Second, right-click on that device to run deeper analysis with Observer. With Link Analyst and Observer you can:

• Start Packet Captures on selected devices or device pairs
• Create filters on selected devices or device pairs
• Review Real-Time Statistics on any selected probe or SNMP agent
• Export Link Analyst alias lists to Observer
• Import Observer alias tables into Link Analyst maps

By associating a probe with a specific map, Link Analyst can take full advantage of Observer’s Distributed Network Analysis (NI-DNA™) architecture allowing instant monitoring of local or remote segments.