NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: NEAL WEINBERG
on PRODUCT REVIEWS

10/25/01 - Today's focus: Visualware's VisualPulse 1.7

Dear Wincenty Kaminski,

In this issue:

* VisualPulse 1.7 is a top-notch tool for monitoring network
health
* Links related to Network World product reviews
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Visualware's VisualPulse 1.7

By Neal Weinberg

Visualware's VisualPulse 1.7 is a winning combination of
statistics and graphical interface that should be in every
network manager's bag of tricks.

VisualPulse 1.7 is a network monitoring tool that provides
network managers with detailed statistics on packet loss and
latency. VisualPulse sends Internet Control Message Protocol
ping packets at regular intervals and measures packet loss and
round-trip time.

VisualPulse is Web server-based and operates on Linux and
Windows platforms. While VisualPulse supports Windows 95, 98
and Millennium Edition, Visualware recommends deploying
VisualPulse on a Windows 2000 server in an enterprise
environment.

A feature of VisualPulse that we found particularly attractive
was its minimal client requirements. If you have a Java-enabled
browser, you can access all of the reporting and configuration
options of VisualPulse. VisualPulse requires Microsoft's Java
VM build 5.00.3167 or later, and the use of Internet Explorer
is recommended.

 The VisualPulse home page is extremely well laid out. All the
functions needed to configure and operate VisualPulse are
grouped into status, report and tool headings. The status group
is the heart of VisualPulse, containing links to a listing of
all systems being monitored, critical latency and packet loss
reports, and the system monitor.

The system monitor page provides a scrolling display of the
response time and packet loss for each system VisualPulse is
watching. If less than five packets have been lost, the host
name is highlighted in yellow. If more than five packets are
lost, it turns red. Packet loss is indicated by a vertical red
bar, and latency by a vertical black bar. This page was so well
designed that we could glance at it and get an immediate sense
of network health.

VisualPulse also provides a simple-to-use e-mail notification
feature. Plug in your mail server host name and the e-mail
address to which you want alerts sent and you're ready.

 With the number of bad guys hacking away on the Internet,
network managers might be nervous about putting a list of
critical systems and network performance statistics where
everyone can see it. Don't worry - VisualPulse gives
administrators a robust set of security options to keep the
black hats from gaining access to vital network stats.

The installation process was simple, and the documentation for
VisualPulse is excellent. Visualware provides online frequently
asked questions and a user's manual that is well written and
superbly illustrated with screenshots. We easily found answers
to all our questions and had no need to call technical support.

For the full report, go to
http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/2001/0924rev.html

_______________________________________________________________
To contact Neal Weinberg:

Neal Weinberg is features editor at Network World, in charge
of product reviews, Buyer's Guides, technology primers,
how-tos, issue-oriented feature stories and the Technology
Insider series. You can reach him at mailto:nweinber@nww.com.
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RELATED LINKS

Network management wares on tap at ComNet
Network World, 01/29/01
http://www.nwfusion.com/archive/2001/116098_01-29-2001.html

Riversoft helps identify net problems
Network World, 07/02/01
http://www.nwfusion.com/archive/2001/122328_07-02-2001.html

The archive for Reviews is:
http://www.nwfusion.com/reviews/index.html
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Copyright Network World, Inc., 2001

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