Functionality
26 PATROL DashBoard User Guide
The server automatically discovers infrastructure devices, such as routers, LAN
switches, and probes, as well as all of their physical and logical interfaces. The server
then collects and stores SNMP statistics and provides intuitive performance-data
navigation in real time or for any specified historical view.
On critical performance parameters, PATROL DashBoard automatically sends e-mail
notifications or alerts to your network management platform when a threshold is
crossed.
PATROL DashBoard can program the standard application response-time (ART)
management information base (MIB) to obtain the application response time for
traffic to and from an RMON2 probe or a Cisco router using a Cisco Service
Assurance Agent (SAA), and then automatically diagnose whether the network is
responsible for any application slowdown.
A PATROL End-to-End Response Timer peer (PETE in this book) measures response
time from one end of a data exchange (a transaction) to the other. The data exchange
occurs in either of the following ways:
■ A Windows script is executed by a PATROL End-to-End Response Timer robot
(also called a PETE agent) that uses the Windows API to emulate a client/server
application. The PETE agent is the client entity; the PETE peer is the server entity.
■ You execute an Internet recorded script that emulates Web-based transactions
from a browser that is connected to an e-business Web site.
PATROL DashBoard processes, displays, and programs protocol information by
using data received from an RMON2 probe or a Cisco device using NetFlow. Protocol
data can be displayed at the interface, host, or exchange levels. The interface level
displays protocol distribution information about a network segment. The host level
displays protocol distribution for the host that you specify. The exchange level
displays protocol distribution for traffic between two hosts, a host and a network, or
two networks.
PATROL DashBoard offers useful reports, such as Exceptions, Points to Watch, and
Top Talkers reports. For more information about these reports, see Chapter 8,
“Generating Reports,” on page 239.
PATROL DashBoard can regularly export all or part of its repository and statistics to
an Oracle database that uses the Common Information Model (CIM) format. It also
manages the logs so that the database will not fragment, and you are not required to
do any housekeeping. Several PATROL DashBoard systems can export data to a
single Oracle database, because the systems automatically negotiate access.
