Friday, March 23, 2012
FEATURED Now is the worst time ever to buy an Android phone
Android phones have never been as impressive as they are today. They have never been as responsive, as slim or as powerful. Their displays have never been more vivid or more stunning. Their data speeds have never been as fast. Competition is now hotter than ever before in the smartphone market and consumers are reaping the benefits. At its core, each and every new smartphone that launches is an engineering feat that simply could not have existed a few short years ago. And yet as amazing as the current crop of smartphones might be, there has probably never been a worse time in Android’s brief but storied history for savvy users to buy a smartphone.
A quick glance through the smartphone catalogs of each of the four major wireless carriers in the United States reveals a terrific array of Android handsets. There is certainly no shortage of gigahertz or gigabytes, and spec sheets in general have become laundry lists of cutting-edge technology. More importantly, of course, this new breed of Google-powered phones offers performance that is far more responsive and fluid than previous generations of handsets. But as impressive as these devices are, right now is a horrible time to buy any of them.
Things are about to get a whole lot better.
For tech savvy smartphone users, committing to a two-year contract is brutal. Mobile technology moves so fast that smartphones can seem outdated just months after they launch. While this trend is bound to continue, the degree to which new generations of Android phones outdo their predecessors will always ebb and flow. Handsets have been improving at a somewhat modest pace for the past year or so, but the next crop of smartphones to hit store shelves will represent a huge leap forward rather than a few short steps.
Two leading smartphone makers, Samsung and HTC, are on the verge of launching next-generation devices that will put today’s high-end handsets to shame. HTC has already unveiled its new One-series phones, and the two high-end models it showed off at Mobile World Congress are game-changers, plain and simple.
The HTC One X is the Taiwan-based company’s flagship smartphone for the first half of 2012, and it features a 1.5GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, a 4.6-inch 1,280 x 720-pixel Super LCD 2 display, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for 720p video chats, 1GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage, embedded 4G LTE and Sense 4.0 on top of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. All that technology, mind you, is squeezed into a gorgeous 9.27-millimeter-thick unibody polycarbonate case. The U.S. version of this handset will feature a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 16GB of internal storage, but the impact of this “downgrade” on the user experience is negligible — the phone is still lightning fast and beyond smooth.
HTC’s One S is a mid-range smartphone, though the term “mid-range” is used very loosely in this case. The device sports a 4.3-inch qHD AMOLED display, a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, an amazing 8-megapixel camera, 16GB of internal storage, Sense 4.0 and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, all packed within an even more slender 7.9-millimeter case made of Micro-Arc Oxidized aluminum.
While Samsung hasn’t yet unveiled its next-generation flagship smartphone, a series of exclusive BGR reportspaint a fairly comprehensive picture of the Galaxy S III. To start things off, we can expect the most stunning display ever to be used on a smartphone. This high-definition, 1080p-resolution, 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display will be to smartphones what Apple’s new Retina Display is to tablets. Toss in a 1.5GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos processor, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 4G LTE, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and a sleek ceramic case, and you’ve got one of the most remarkable mobile devices the world has ever seen.
In short, there probably hasn’t been a worse time than right now to buy a new Android phone and get locked in to a new two-year contract.
These next-generation Android phones will set a new precedent, and handsets that launch for the subsequent six to nine months will be playing catch-up. The chips within these new smartphones are faster, smaller and they consume power far more efficiently than the silicon that came before them. And while I haven’t yet had the opportunity to test the upcoming Galaxy S III, I have handled the One X and One S, and I can confidently say that they offer an end-to-end experience that is significantly better than what we see on the market today. The cameras alone, which are powered by a dedicated chip and are capable of capturing a RAW 8-megapixel image and returning to a ready state in just 0.7 seconds, are worth the wait.
These new smartphones will be slimmer, sleeker and more capable than anything on the market today, and they will still tout better battery life and more impressive performance. With HTC’s handsets ready to begin launching next month on AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, and the Galaxy S III set to be unveiled in April or May, Android fans would be wise to sit tight for now.
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Labels: Cell Phone, Managing cell phones and 3G cards in business, Smartphone
Samsung Galaxy Nexus review
by | Gerrit Vermeulen | January 20, 2012 |
Overall score
88%
9.5
Design & Build
9.5
Screen & Responsiveness
8.5
Cameras
9
Battery Life
8.5
Software
Developer: Google/Samsung
Platform: Android 4.0 (ICS )
Release date: Q1 2012
Genre: Android smartphone
Platform: Android 4.0 (ICS )
Release date: Q1 2012
Genre: Android smartphone
What’s more, it’s not only a new piece of hardware, but also comes with the latest version of Android version – Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0).
Does it measure up, or should it be filed under “meh”? Read on to find out!
Design and build quality
The front of the Galaxy Nexus, with the screen turned off, is almost featureless. The only things detracting from the smooth black surface are the earpiece and front-facing camera.There’s also a notification light at the bottom, below the screen, but you don’t know it until it starts pulsing. There are no hardware buttons on the front, as Android 4.0 makes provision for devices without them (though it doesn’t restrict manufacturers from using them).
On the left side is the volume rocker, while the right side holds the power/wake button and three pins for, presumably, connecting to a dock. The latter is positioned to be within easy reach of your thumb, and both protrude just enough to be easily found by touch alone, while not distracting much from the overall appearance.
The top is bare, while the bottom is home for the microUSB charging/data transfer port, as well as the 3.5mm jack. Most OEMs place the 3.5mm jack at the top of their smartphones, but I’ve always preferred having it on the bottom. Your phone might go into your pocket upside-down this way, but it comes out the right way up without any fumbling (and it’s not like your pocket cares how the phone is oriented).
The back is also fairly uneventful, except for the 5MP camera at the top-middle, with the single LED flash below it, a speaker at the bottom, along with some logos from Google and Samsung between them. The camera and LED are surrounded by a thin metal trim, highlighting them without crossing the gaudy line.
The casing of the Galaxy Nexus is plastic, but not the cheap kind. It feels solid and there were no strange creaks or squeaks. Overall, it feels like it can take some damage without snapping in half.
The back plate is also plastic, though it feels thinner and more flexible than the casing. It’s slightly textured, making it easier to grip, and it also doesn’t pick up fingerprints. It’s very easy to remove (there’s a small hole at the top for a fingernail and from there you essentially just peel it off), though it can be tricky to put back correctly.
The Galaxy Nexus measures at 135.5 x 67.9 x 8.9mm, and weighs just 135 grams – just 6g more than the Nexus S, but almost 20g more than the Samsung Galaxy S2.
Overall, the design is excellent. It’s clear that a lot of effort went into making the external hardware as unobtrusive as possible. The build quality is also quite good, though some may consider the back plate to be somewhat flimsy.
Internals
At the heart of the Galaxy Nexus is a TI OMAP 4460 chipset with a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU paired with a PowerVR SGX540 GPU. The latter is the same one found in the Nexus S and it is slightly puzzling why this has not received an upgrade.There’s 1GB RAM to fill your memory needs, along with 16GB or 32GB of internal storage. The Galaxy Nexus does not have an SD card, though there are reasons for this. For the sake of brevity, I’ll only say that including an SD card introduces a lot of tricky problems (for those interested, this Reddit comment explains it).
For connectivity, the Galaxy Nexus supports WiFi a/b/g/n, HSPA+ (up to 21Mbps down and 5.76Mbps up), Bluetooth (version 3.0), as well as NFC – more on the NFC later.
AnTuTu Benchmarks gave the the Galaxy Nexus a score of 5,299 (averaged over 5 tests), placing it behind the Samsung Galaxy Note, Motorola Razr, and Samsung Galaxy S2, but way ahead of the HTC Evo 3D, Sensation and Motorola Atrix.
The Galaxy Nexus screen
The first thing you’ll notice about the screen is that it’s big. At 4.65 inches, it’s definitely in the “large” category. It’s also worth noting that a part of the bottom of the screen will almost always display the on-screen Android buttons, so the amount left for viewing is probably closer to 4.5 inches.The display is absolutely gorgeous. It’s a Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280×720, which means that it has a pixel density of ~316PPI (close to, but not quite besting the ~330PPI of the iPhone 4 and 4S). It is a little sad that it’s not a Super AMOLED Plus display, but the extra room and resolution more than make up for it.
Reading, browsing, gaming, and viewing 720p videos on it were all a pleasure thanks to crisp text and bright, vibrant colours.
One of the things you might not actually notice about the screen is that, similar to its predecessor the Nexus S, it has a slight curve. While the benefits of this are up for debate, it certainly is a distinctive feature for the Nexus line.
Also worth noting is that there is no Gorilla Glass on the Galaxy Nexus. Not to worry though, as it can still take some punishment.
In terms of responsiveness, the Galaxy Nexus performed very well in general use (browsing, typing messages, swiping, etc.). AnTuTu Tester recognised up to 10 touch points on the screen, which is more than enough.
Sound and call quality
Call quality was great with neither side reporting any problems.Unfortunately, the same can not be said of the external speaker, which was exceedingly soft. In a slightly noisy venue, you’d be hard pressed to hear the phone ring.
Cameras
On the back of the Galaxy Nexus is a 5MP camera with a single LED flash capable of 2592×1936 pixel shots and 1080p video recording. On paper there’s nothing particularly remarkable about it, but paper only tells half the story.It’s touted as having “zero shutter lag” and it lived up to that. You can take a horde of shots in seconds and they generally come out quite well.
What’s more is that there’s a built-in panorama mode that just requires you to tap a button to activate it and then pan your phone across the scene.
Sure, the 5MP sensor means that your photos aren’t quite as high in detail as those phones with 8MP or 13MP sensors, but they’re still good quality.
The front-facing camera was quite impressive when using Face Unlock, and managed to recognise a face even in dim lighting conditions.
Video capture was great – it’s hard to argue with smooth 1080p. The video camera app also has a nifty time-lapse option and the ability to take a picture by tapping the screen.
Battery life
Battery life was excellent. Under heavy use (sending and receiving messages and e-mails, browsing, using social networks, listening to music, and even taking a few photos), you could easily get through a day with upwards of 30% battery life remaining.Under lighter use, you could go for two or three days without worrying.
Also worth noting is that the battery charges quite quickly. Using the bundled charger had the battery from 15% to 100% in just under two hours.
Software
New Nexus hardware (historically) means that there’s a new version of Android that it’s showcasing, and the Galaxy Nexus comes with Android 4.0, otherwise known as Ice Cream Sandwich (our review unit had 4.0.2). Android 4.0 merges the tablet PC and phone builds of Android and brings a multitude of updates with it.The first new feature is one which seems to have divided both users and onlookers – the new typeface, Roboto. I am no expert in this matter, so I’ll rather just say that I found it quite pleasant to read. Matias Duarte (senior director of Android UX) went into some detail about it on Google+ and there’s a very nice article on BoingBoing.
The lock-screen has received a new coat of paint. At the bottom centre of the screen is a circular lock icon which can be swiped right to unlock, and left to go directly to the camera. The notification bar can also be pulled down in the lock-screen, provided that you don’t have a lock-screen security mechanism set up.
Speaking of notifications: these can now be individually cancelled by simply swiping it to the left or right. Notifications can also contain richer elements – for instance, an audio player can display play/pause/skip buttons along with song info and an album cover.
Moving on to the home-screen, this has received some subtle tweaks. There is now a persistent search field at the top of the screen, though it doesn’t take take any widget space away from the user. There is a new folder system which allows you to create a new folder by dragging one app on top of another. The bottom shortcut bar now allows for four shortcuts (excluding the launcher icon), and these can be changed by users with other shortcuts or even folders. Scrollable widgets are now properly supported.
The launcher is now horizontally paginated – paging right brings up new pages from behind the current page, while paging left fades the current page into the background. Widgets are now incorporated into the launcher and are accessible via a tab at the top or by paging to the end of the apps. I don’t particularly like this implementation – I think it would have made more sense to have the swipe action switch between the apps and widgets tabs while keeping the vertical scrolling in specific sections.
With that said, for the first time, I don’t feel the need to replace the homescreen/launcher with a 3rd-party one.
One change that’s been somewhat controversial is the inclusion of on-screen software buttons instead of dedicated hardware buttons. At this point, it’s worth noting that software buttons are not intended to replace hardware buttons, but to offer OEMs the option to include either one.
At the bottom of the screen, no matter where you are in Android, are 3 buttons: “Back”, “Home”, and “Recent apps”. “Search” and “Menu” buttons now need to be implemented by app developers, which makes sense as not all apps make use of them.
However the “Menu” button is currently a bit of a mess. Depending on the app, it can be in one of three places: in the top right corner of the top action bar, in the bottom right corner of the bottom action bar, or (if the app has not been optimised for Android 4.0) in the bottom right corner next to the recent apps button. The first two locations are acceptable – app developers need the flexibility for their apps – the last location is just silly.
“Recent apps” isn’t technically new – it used to be a long press function of the “Home” button – but the UI for it is much different from previous phone versions. As in Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), apps are now in a scrollable list with their name and a shot of their current state. Swiping left or right removes the app from that list. It is not a “task killer” in the traditional sense, nor does it need to be.
The last new button to be introduced, is the optional “Up” button, located in the top left corner. This has caused some confusion, but hopefully the new Android Design website will clarify its use. Essentially, the “Up” button is for in-app navigation, while the traditional “Back” button generally takes you back to the previous screen viewed (though it can and does get more complicated than that).
The keyboard and text input in general have been upgraded. Word prediction is truly excellent and if it can’t find a correction, the word is underlined. Simply tapping on a word will select it, bringing up a list of suggestions along with the option to put the word in your dictionary. A feature that I find outrageously useful is that if a word gets wrongfully corrected, simply hitting backspace will revert it to what it was before correction.
Naturally, the browser gets a bump up. Bookmarks can now be synced with Chrome, pages can be saved for use offline, and tab management has never been easier (two taps creates a new tab and a tap and a swipe removes a tab).
There’s a new security feature that had some people (including me) chuckling when they figured out it could be fooled with a photograph, namely Face Unlock. It’s easy to configure, and during the set-up you are required to choose a secondary pin/password/pattern for when it can’t recognise your face. While Face Unlock is probably the least secure of all the mechanisms available, it’s the first one I can see myself using for an extended period of time without getting frustrated.
Weird PINs, convoluted passwords, and patterns that require all sorts of finger acrobatics make me want to throw my phone into a pool of lava, while Face Unlock is rather unobtrusive and even a little personal – your phone recognises you.
Next, there’s “People” – a new app that serves as a central location for contact information. Google+ ties in with it quite nicely, though it remains to be seen if other social networks will do something similar. One problem with it is that contacts aren’t merged, so you can end up with multiple copies of the same contact because of multiple accounts and/or Google+.
Of course, there are lots of other additions and improvements. Most of the Google apps and widgets have been updated; taking screenshots on the device is now possible (hold power + volume down); there’s a data usage monitor that allows you to limit mobile data usage; Android beam works really well – just hold two capable devices back-to-back and tap the screen to share; and many more that there’s simply not space to discuss.
Conclusion
If someone were to ask me which phone they should get for their next upgrade, I would have very little hesitation in recommending the Galaxy Nexus as one of their top considerations. It is a remarkable device into which a lot of care and attention has gone.However, the RRP of R6,999 – R7,299 can be a killjoy to some, but hopefully contract pricing will be more agreeable.
The Galaxy Nexus is the standard by which Android phones will be measured for the next year, and it has set the bar high. I’m quite excited to see what device manufacturers can come up with.
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Labels: Android, Samsung, Smartphone
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
QoS (Quality of Service)
On the Internet and in other networks, QoS (Quality of Service) is the idea that transmission rates, error rates, and other characteristics can be measured, improved, and, to some extent, guaranteed in advance. QoS is of particular concern for the continuous transmission of high-bandwidth video and multimedia information. Transmitting this kind of content dependably is difficult in public networks using ordinary "best effort" protocols.
QoS can be improved with traffic shaping techniques such as packet prioritization, application classification and queuing at congestion points. Using the Internet's Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), packets passing through a gateway host can be expedited based on policy and reservation criteria arranged in advance. Using ATM, which also lets a company or user preselect a level of quality in terms of service, QoS can be measured and guaranteed in terms of the average delay at a gateway, the variation in delay in a group of cells (cells are 53-byte transmission units), cell losses, and the transmission error rate.
The Common Open Policy Service (COPS) is a protocol that allows router and layer 3 switches to get QoS policy information from the network policy server.
See also: mean opinion score (MOS), VoIP (voice over IP), CoS [class of service]
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Class of Service (CoS)
Class of Service (CoS) is a way of managing traffic in a network by grouping similar types of traffic (for example, e-mail, streaming video, voice, large document file transfer) together and treating each type as a class with its own level of service priority. Unlike Quality of Service (QoS) traffic management, Class of Service technologies do not guarantee a level of service in terms of bandwidth and delivery time; they offer a "best-effort." On the other hand, CoS technology is simpler to manage and more scalable as a network grows in structure and traffic volume. One can think of CoS as "coarsely-grained" traffic control and QoS as "finely-grained" traffic control.
There are three main CoS technologies:
- 802.1p Layer 2 Tagging
- Type of Service (ToS)
- Differentiated Services (DiffServ)
802.1p Layer 2 Tagging and CoS make use of three bits in the Layer 2 packet header that can be used to specify priority. Since three bits does not allow for much sophistication in managing traffic, a new protocol, Differentiated Services (DS or DiffServ), has been developed in draft form by an IETF Working Group. Differentiated Services uses a different approach to managing packets than simple priority labeling. It uses an indication of how a given packet is to be forwarded, known as the Per Hop Behavior (PHB). The PHB describes a particular service level in terms of bandwidth, queueing theory, and dropping (discarding the packet) decisions.
The Differentiated Services protocol exists as a set of related working documents from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). [http://www.ietf.org/]
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Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Online support: Who sucks and who doesn’t
Rudolph Muller | February 23, 2012 | 14 Comments |
We put Telkom, Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Virgin Mobile and Neotel’s online support systems to the test
Telkom and Vodacom came out tops in a recent MyBroadband survey which set out to test the online support channels of South Africa’s largest telecoms operators.MyBroadband sent all the operators a simple request for information on slow broadband speeds, asking them for feedback on how to address the issue. The operators were asked to respond via e-mail (and hence not telephonically).
Here are the results.
Telkom (support e-mail sent on 11:35 on 21 February 2012)
Telkom immediately responded with an automated e-mail message confirming receipt of the e-mail and providing me with a reference number.
At 12:14 (hence only 40 minutes after the initial e-mail was sent) Telkom officially responded to the e-mail and provided the details needed to resolve the issue.
Vodacom (web support form completed 11:23 on 21 February 2012)
Vodacom immediately replied with an automated e-mail with the message “We are looking into your query and one of our consultants will contact you within 24 hours”. The e-mail also contained a reference number.
At 14:57 (3 hours 29 minutes after the initial e-mail) Vodacom officially responded with all the details to solve the problem.
MTN (web support form completed 11:28 on 21 February 2012)
MTN’s online support system does not have an auto-response system, and the company also did not respond to the online support request by the time of publication.
Cell C (web support form completed 11:31 on 21 February 2012)
Cell C responded immediately via an automated e-mail saying “We have received your query. One of our support staff will contact you shortly if necessary.” This is however where it stopped and there was no feedback from Cell C by the time of publication.
Virgin Mobile (web support form completed 11:41 on 21 February 2012)
Virgin Mobile immediately responded via an automated system, saying “Thank you for contacting Virgin Mobile SA Technical Support Team. We are eager to assist you and will be calling you in the next 4 hours.”
There was unfortunately no feedback from Virgin Mobile within the promised 4 hours, and by the time of publication the company still had not responded to the online support request.
Neotel (website was down and therefore no online support was available)
During the time of testing the Neotel website was down. It was therefore not possible to test Neotel’s online support.
*Please note that MyBroadband only tracked e-mail responses (we asked specifically to be contacted via e-mail), and there may have been calls directed at the numbers provided in the emails.
Email support test | |||
Company | Auto responder | Official response | Time to resolve issue |
Telkom | Yes | Yes | 40 minutes |
Vodacom | Yes | Yes | 3 hours 29 minutes |
Cell C | Yes | No | Not solved |
Virgin Mobile | Yes | No | Not solved |
MTN | No | No | Not solved |
Neotel | Website down | Website down | Website down |
Posted by Managed Communications and Solutions Infrastructure 0 comments
Labels: 3G, Cellphones, Managing cell phones and 3G cards in business, MTN, Neotel, Telkom, Virgin Mobile, Vodacom
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Review: Apparent Networks – PathView Cloud
by Aaron Leskiw, CCNA, MCSE, ITILv3, MCSA, A+
In the last few years the world has seen an explosion in services that are transforming IT, like virtualization, VOIP phones, and cloud computing. And, networks have become faster and more critical to the success of the business.
That shift raises a challenge for traditional network monitoring. The focus is moving away from managing servers and workstations that are all on the same LAN. Traditional device-based monitoring does a great job of reporting statistics for servers and network hardware. But, traditional tools usually don’t do a good job monitoring end-to-end performance – especially when part of the network is delivered as a managed service like MPLS. After all, who cares if your mail server is up, if network congestion is so bad that your users can’t get to it? And, if that congestion is on your service-provider’s core network, how would you ever know?
One solution is PathView Cloud, an innovative performance management tool from Apparent Networks. Available since late 2009, it is designed to appeal to small-to-medium enterprise customers.
As the “Cloud” part of the name implies, PathView Cloud is a hosted application. This makes it dead easy to deploy and run, since all the work of configuring and running database and web servers is done for you. The key to gathering measurements on your network is a small device called a MicroAppliance.
The MicroAppliance is included as part of the PathView Cloud license and it does the actual work of measuring network performance. It works by generating a very small stream of traffic, and then it measures how that traffic is returned to determine how well the network is performing. Perhaps best of all, it can do all of this for parts of the network that you don’t even manage yourself – like your site-to-site WAN connections. The traffic it generates is minuscule and won’t cause any network interruptions for users.
The MicroAppliance is shipped pre-configured to grab an IP address on your network and connect back to the PathView Cloud servers. I’ll admit I was sceptical before it arrived. After all, when does anything just “work” without any configuration? But the MicroAppliance turned out to work as advertized. I plugged it in to my LAN, and moments later it was available for configuration via the web-console. Even moving it around to other networks seemed to be no problem. The MicroAppliance worked every time with no additional configuration required.
Configuring paths to test is as simple as entering an IP address or Host name. Once paths are configured, the MicroAppliance will start monitoring the path from the appliance, to the target.
Service Quality Definitions (SQD) can be defined for each path. SQD’s identify conditions that will trigger alerts. As an example in the screenshot below, identifying a device as a File Server will cause alerts to trigger if connectivity is lost, or if latency rises above 50ms. There are a number of pre-defined SQD’s, or you can create your own.
It can send alerts by email when it detects a problem, and will automatically run a diagnostic report against the path. Administrators can log in to the web-based console to check status and run additional tests if necessary.
Apparent Networks recommends using one MicroAppliance at each of your sites, which enables another feature that traditional monitoring usually lacks: inside-out monitoring, or the ability to test the network from the perspective of your users. Send a MicroAppliance to one of your satellite offices, have a user plug it in, and instantly you can see network performance from a new perspective.
Diagnostics are surprisingly accurate. PathView Cloud quickly identified problems like duplex mismatches on network devices. It will indicate the percentage of certainty that a particular problem exists – helping you to focus your troubleshooting efforts on the most likely problems first.
There is also an option to run a data assessment test, which is useful for testing new services to ensure they are performing properly.
Another problem arises when testing across a WAN. If you have a 10Mb WAN link, PathView Cloud can only analyze 10Mb of traffic – it can’t expand back out on the other side to test your 100Mb LAN properly. This is a limitation of the WAN more than the tool, and one solution is to install a second
MicroAppliance at your remote site.
But, this does highlight that the tools are really only as good as the operator. PathView Cloud is simple to deploy and operate, but administrators still need a good foundation in troubleshooting networks. In all cases, an administrator needs to look at the results generated and ask themselves “Is this what I expect?” before assuming that a problem exists.
Another minor gripe is that it’s not easy to find the IP address of your MicroAppliance in the web-console. To find the IP, you have to go through several steps to eventually find it in a diagnostic report. When asked about this, Apparent Networks told us that they plan to add this feature in a future release.
A small nice-to-have feature would be the ability to temporarily pause monitoring for specific paths. For instance, suppose you were taking a device offline for maintenance and didn’t want to receive notifications for that path. You could delete the path, but then you’d lose all your historical data. It would be nice to be able to pause, or ignore paths temporarily without losing all of that information.
Finally, once last thing to keep in mind is that PathView Cloud isn’t really a replacement for your traditional monitoring tools. It can’t monitor disk space, it can’t receive SNMP logs, and it can’t measure HTTP application response time. It’s focused on monitoring performance and connectivity.
In spite of this, network performance is becoming so critical to business that it’s well worth adding this tool to your arsenal.
Despite these few faults, we’d still recommend PathView Cloud. It’s easy to configure, easy to use, and very reliable. It also has a wide range of uses, covering everything from monitoring and troubleshooting, to assessment, planning, and reporting. All of this functionality provides great value for the cost of a license.
Pricing is based on the number of MicroAppliances required. Service contracts start at $500 (USD) per year and include one free MicroAppliance, access to the hosted PathView Cloud server software, and the ability to monitor 55 paths.
Check out a Live Demo of PathView Cloud here, or take PathView Cloud for a test drive with a free 30-day trial.
That shift raises a challenge for traditional network monitoring. The focus is moving away from managing servers and workstations that are all on the same LAN. Traditional device-based monitoring does a great job of reporting statistics for servers and network hardware. But, traditional tools usually don’t do a good job monitoring end-to-end performance – especially when part of the network is delivered as a managed service like MPLS. After all, who cares if your mail server is up, if network congestion is so bad that your users can’t get to it? And, if that congestion is on your service-provider’s core network, how would you ever know?
One solution is PathView Cloud, an innovative performance management tool from Apparent Networks. Available since late 2009, it is designed to appeal to small-to-medium enterprise customers.
What Is It?
PathView Cloud is a tool that can monitor end-to-end performance of network paths and connected devices. For instance, you could monitor a connection to a remote office, and PathView Cloud will alert you anytime that path goes offline. It takes things one step further though, and will generate an alert any time the service quality of a path is in trouble – even if connectivity hasn’t been lost.As the “Cloud” part of the name implies, PathView Cloud is a hosted application. This makes it dead easy to deploy and run, since all the work of configuring and running database and web servers is done for you. The key to gathering measurements on your network is a small device called a MicroAppliance.
The MicroAppliance is included as part of the PathView Cloud license and it does the actual work of measuring network performance. It works by generating a very small stream of traffic, and then it measures how that traffic is returned to determine how well the network is performing. Perhaps best of all, it can do all of this for parts of the network that you don’t even manage yourself – like your site-to-site WAN connections. The traffic it generates is minuscule and won’t cause any network interruptions for users.
The MicroAppliance is shipped pre-configured to grab an IP address on your network and connect back to the PathView Cloud servers. I’ll admit I was sceptical before it arrived. After all, when does anything just “work” without any configuration? But the MicroAppliance turned out to work as advertized. I plugged it in to my LAN, and moments later it was available for configuration via the web-console. Even moving it around to other networks seemed to be no problem. The MicroAppliance worked every time with no additional configuration required.
Configuring paths to test is as simple as entering an IP address or Host name. Once paths are configured, the MicroAppliance will start monitoring the path from the appliance, to the target.
Service Quality Definitions (SQD) can be defined for each path. SQD’s identify conditions that will trigger alerts. As an example in the screenshot below, identifying a device as a File Server will cause alerts to trigger if connectivity is lost, or if latency rises above 50ms. There are a number of pre-defined SQD’s, or you can create your own.
What Does It Do?
PathView Cloud can help manage your network several ways:Monitoring
PathView Cloud excels at monitoring connectivity. It maintains a dashboard for each path that displays important information like Available Capacity and Latency, as well as number of hops to destination, and performance per-hop.It can send alerts by email when it detects a problem, and will automatically run a diagnostic report against the path. Administrators can log in to the web-based console to check status and run additional tests if necessary.
Apparent Networks recommends using one MicroAppliance at each of your sites, which enables another feature that traditional monitoring usually lacks: inside-out monitoring, or the ability to test the network from the perspective of your users. Send a MicroAppliance to one of your satellite offices, have a user plug it in, and instantly you can see network performance from a new perspective.
Troubleshooting
Suspect a network problem reaching one of your devices? If it’s not something you’re already monitoring, then try adding it as a path. Diagnostics are automatically run against new paths, and PathView Cloud will provide recommendations to fix any problems it discovers.Diagnostics are surprisingly accurate. PathView Cloud quickly identified problems like duplex mismatches on network devices. It will indicate the percentage of certainty that a particular problem exists – helping you to focus your troubleshooting efforts on the most likely problems first.
Planning
PathView Cloud is the perfect tool for planning a VOIP rollout. It can perform a voice readiness assessment which will test the network with simulated VOIP calls. It has options to simulate the number of calls, preferred voice codec, and handset or server manufacturer. The report provides a measured MOS score, and a dashboard-style readiness report.There is also an option to run a data assessment test, which is useful for testing new services to ensure they are performing properly.
Reporting
The Reporting module is basic, but provides a useful dashboard display of overall service quality, and a detailed breakdown of all service violations. A Top Offenders report also helps to identify problem paths that need attention. Reports can be exported to PDF for easy sharing.The Verdict
PathView Cloud is a great product, but it does have a few small flaws. One limitation arises when testing to some types of target endpoints. For example, testing to a router or switch may not give good results. Busy routers usually drop some ICMP packets, giving priority to normal traffic forwarding . In those cases PathView Cloud may not report true bandwidth numbers, and could incorrectly identify a packet loss problem. A solution to this problem is to plan to target endpoints like servers or workstations.Another problem arises when testing across a WAN. If you have a 10Mb WAN link, PathView Cloud can only analyze 10Mb of traffic – it can’t expand back out on the other side to test your 100Mb LAN properly. This is a limitation of the WAN more than the tool, and one solution is to install a second
MicroAppliance at your remote site.
But, this does highlight that the tools are really only as good as the operator. PathView Cloud is simple to deploy and operate, but administrators still need a good foundation in troubleshooting networks. In all cases, an administrator needs to look at the results generated and ask themselves “Is this what I expect?” before assuming that a problem exists.
Another minor gripe is that it’s not easy to find the IP address of your MicroAppliance in the web-console. To find the IP, you have to go through several steps to eventually find it in a diagnostic report. When asked about this, Apparent Networks told us that they plan to add this feature in a future release.
A small nice-to-have feature would be the ability to temporarily pause monitoring for specific paths. For instance, suppose you were taking a device offline for maintenance and didn’t want to receive notifications for that path. You could delete the path, but then you’d lose all your historical data. It would be nice to be able to pause, or ignore paths temporarily without losing all of that information.
Finally, once last thing to keep in mind is that PathView Cloud isn’t really a replacement for your traditional monitoring tools. It can’t monitor disk space, it can’t receive SNMP logs, and it can’t measure HTTP application response time. It’s focused on monitoring performance and connectivity.
In spite of this, network performance is becoming so critical to business that it’s well worth adding this tool to your arsenal.
Despite these few faults, we’d still recommend PathView Cloud. It’s easy to configure, easy to use, and very reliable. It also has a wide range of uses, covering everything from monitoring and troubleshooting, to assessment, planning, and reporting. All of this functionality provides great value for the cost of a license.
Pricing is based on the number of MicroAppliances required. Service contracts start at $500 (USD) per year and include one free MicroAppliance, access to the hosted PathView Cloud server software, and the ability to monitor 55 paths.
Check out a Live Demo of PathView Cloud here, or take PathView Cloud for a test drive with a free 30-day trial.
Posted by Managed Communications and Solutions Infrastructure 0 comments
Labels: network management, pathview
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