Paessler Blog
Archive for Category "Admin's Toolbox"
2011-Mar- 2
sFlow Tester: A New Testing Tool from Paessler (Freeware)
Today we released a new free testing tool for system administrators, the “sFlow Tester” which helps to analyze and debug sFlow monitoring setups. This freeware tool accepts sFlow data packets (which are usually sent by switches/routers) and displays data about it. It helps you to test the configuration of your sFlow capable routers.
Just configure a sFlow device to send data to the computer running the sFlow tester, and you can see the received packets including all important property information, such as sFlow version, IP source and version, sample and data format, or Ethernet and protocol type.
2009-Feb-10
Five Free and Quick Ways to Create Beautiful Network Maps Online
In order to make the results of your network monitoring available in your Intranet or for customers we recommend using the "Maps" feature of PRTG Network Monitor in conjunction with a map of your network. Visualized results make it much easier for your users to understand the situation of your network. Here are a samples for (rather simple) network maps including live monitoring data (created with PRTG 7): 
But how do you create a map of your network? There are paid-for options, e.g. Microsoft Visio, and other programs that you must install locally on your computer. But in many cases using one of the following free online options may serve you well for a quick map!
2008-Nov-11
Packet Sniffing Debug Tool Updated
Our Card Packet Counter is a small tool that shows live stats and a short term statistical history about the network data packets and streams passing a local network card. Using the Packet Sniffing Engine of PRTG Network Monitor it looks at all network packets that pass a specific network card. It was mainly developed to debug technical issues between PCs and the packet sniffing engine which is built into PRTG Network Monitor. But it is also a very useful tool for other network problem finding situations - and it's free.2008-Jan- 8
Installation of PRTG Traffic Grapher on Ubuntu Linux
You do not need a Windows based computer (and a Windows license) to use most of PRTG's features. You can also run PRTG Traffic Grapher 6.x on Linux. Using the "Wine Library" (which emulates Windows system calls) you can run PRTG like most other Windows apps on Linux systems. Of course some hardware/driver-based features like Packet Sniffing do not work. For this tutorial the following steps will- create a virtual machine in VMWare Workstation 6,
- install Ubuntu 7.10 onto the virtual machine,
- install Wine 0.9.52 onto Ubuntu and
- install PRTG 6.x onto Ubuntu/Wine
2007-Feb- 1
Fiddler HTTP Debugging Proxy
Fiddler (by Microsoft) is an interesting HTTP Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and the Internet. Fiddler allows you to inspect all HTTP Traffic, set breakpoints, and "fiddle" with incoming or outgoing data.2007-Jan- 7
Remotely fixing a PC via the Internet - Free & Instantly
Every once and a while you come across the task to remotely control a PC across firewalls, NATs etc. We are not talking about controlling a PC or server in your LAN or VPN (where you have full control over the firewalls, NATs etc.). In such a case I still prefer Windows Remote Desktop for its speed inside your own network. I mean fixing a client's PC, a co-worker's notebook in an Internet Cafe, or even Mom's PC without the need of travelling there.2006-Nov-23
Microsoft enters the Virtual Appliances Arena
Microsoft now offers preconfigured virtual machines that enable you to test drive setups of some of their server systems using MS Virtual Server 2005 R2.2006-Nov-15
Admin's Toolbox: Webpage elements download timing analysis
A new interesting online tool helps you to analyze how a browser downloads the elements of a page. All single HTTP requests with their timing are shown in an easy to read graph.2006-Oct-25
Admin's Toolbox: Sending large files by email
We have all seen this: You want to send a multi-megabyte file to someone, but most mail accounts and mail servers don't work with files beyond a few megabytes. But there are some website services that come to the rescue: They enable you to send large files. The solution: You upload the file to the service website and simply mail the download link to the recipient.2006-Oct-20