Network Diagnostic Tools

Network protocol analyzers, such as Wireshark, that collect, filter, and store network traffic supply a superb view of each protocol layer with its headers, contents, and trailers. While Wireshark is essential for examining IP (Internet Protocol) traffic, it is not designed – nor intended –  to supply the intelligence required to identify and isolate system latencies and solve problems impacting wireless data collection operations.

Wireshark cannot provide the critical intelligence because Wireshark is a “listener”, not a participant. It cannot distinguish between wired and wireless latencies, much less application or device latencies. For example, consider the case of a mobile computer user experiencing poor performance: Wireshark can be configured to identify the affected mobile device and the total time of a complete transaction -- requiring a manual calculation – but is the latency in the application, the host network, the RF network, or the device? Wireshark cannot provide that information. Wireshark can confirm the frustrated user’s perception, but cannot provide any answers.

Solving Connectivity Issues

What is needed to solve mobile user performance issues is an active network participant designed to collect, correlate, and display the intelligence that supplies definitive fault isolation. This describes the Connect Virtual Appliance which provides not only the data, but also computes the precise timings for every component in the network: the application, the wired network, the wireless network, and the device. With this level of end-to-end visibility latency issues are quickly resolved.