Agilent EEsof EDA Virtual Network Analyser Software

Agilent EEsof Genesys virtual network analyzer software for creating S-parameter libraries, synthesizing narrow and broadband matching network in lumped

232Analyzer is an advanced serial port protocol analyzer software

232Analyzer is an advanced serial port protocol analyzer software, which allows programmers, engineers and others to control, monitor and analyze serial port (RS232 / RS485 / RS422 / TTL, etc.) activities.
232Analyzer allows you to control and monitor serial devices right from your PC. It supports data input and monitoring in Hexadecimal, Decimal, Octal, Binary and ASCII formats. It also allows you to change / monitor RS-232's line states: RTS, DTR, CTS, DSR, DCD, and RI. All data and signal flows are logged in the Communication Window, which can be saved as .txt, .doc or .rtf files for further analysis.
232Analyzer comes with many advanced features, such as:


- Being able to monitor communications between serial devices with timestamps;
- Programmable Buttons: Send up to 32 commands with a button click;
- Auto-Response: Automatically respond to incoming data / signals;
- Macros: Up to 64 steps of Logic and Timer processes for handling sophisticated serial devices;
- Checksum Calculator: Advanced checksum bytes calculator.


232Analyzer is useful for controlling, testing, developing, and debugging serial devices, control software and firmware. It is widely used in industrial and commercial control and automation systems (our customers include Siemens, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Schneider Electric, Ericsson, etc.). The FREE Limited Version has no time limitation, so feel free to use or distribute it.

How to choose Analyzer??

Choosing a protocol analyzer is not something that you should jump right into. There are several good candidates out there. The three most popular ones that I know of are Sniffer from Sniffer Technologies aka Network Associates), Etherpeek and Ethereal I used to recommend a fourth candidate from Novell but they seem to have stopped supporting their software based analyzer. I haven't seen any new protocol decodes released for several years.

The cost of these ranges from free (in the case of Ethereal) to more than $10,000 for a fully equipped Sniffer package from Network Associates. I encourage you to get an eval copy of the above mentioned sniffers and run them through their paces. Etherpeek and Ethereal can be downloaded while Sniffer will require you to fill out a form and someone will call you in a couple of days to follow up.

You won't have to delve deep into the guts of a packet or need to decode the parts that make up a packet frame to see a problem. When I have used a protocol analyzer in the past, I have found problems by finding abnormal traffic on the network. Just like your anti-virus software, you should also keep the protocol decodes up to date. This will allow you to see the traffic that is on the wire.

Most of the vendors will offer some type of training to help you use their product to its fullest. One last option comes from Laura Chappell. Laura travels the world giving seminars on how to use protocol analyzers and has written several books on the subject. for packet trace files she has made available for download and for books she has written on the subject. If you have the chance, go hear her speak either at Novell's Brainshare conference or at other events. This is money well spent!

A Packet Sniffer?? Whats That??

A packet sniffer (also known as a network sniffer, network analyzer or protocol analyzer or, for particular types of networks, an Ethernet sniffer or wireless sniffer) is computer software or computer hardware that can intercept and log traffic passing over a digital network or part of a network.[1] As data streams flow across the network, the sniffer captures each packet and eventually decodes and analyzes its content according to the appropriate RFC or other specifications.


On wired broadcast LANs, depending on the network structure (hub or switch), one can capture traffic on all or just parts of the traffic from a single machine within the network; however, there are some methods to avoid traffic narrowing by switches to gain access to traffic from other systems on the network (e.g. ARP spoofing). For network monitoring purposes it may also be desirable to monitor all data packets in a LAN by using a network switch with a so-called monitoring port, whose purpose is to mirror all packets passing through all ports of the switch. When systems (computers) are connected to a switch port rather than a hub the analyzer will be unable to read the data due to the intrinsic nature of switched networks. In this case a shadow port must be created in order for the sniffer to capture the data.

On wireless LANs, one can capture traffic on a particular channel.

On wired broadcast and wireless LANs, in order to capture traffic other than unicast traffic sent to the machine running the sniffer software, multicast traffic sent to a multicast group to which that machine is listening, and broadcast traffic, the network adapter being used to capture the traffic must be put into promiscuous mode; some sniffers support this, others don't. On wireless LANs, even if the adapter is in promiscuous mode, packets not for the service set for which the adapter is configured will usually be ignored; in order to see those packets, the adapter must be put into monitor mode.


[edit] Uses
The versatility of packet sniffers means they can be used to:

Analyze network problems.
Detect network intrusion attempts.
Gain information for effecting a network intrusion.
Monitor network usage.
Gather and report network statistics.
Filter suspect content from network traffic.
Spy on other network users and collect sensitive information such as passwords (depending on any content encryption methods which may be in use)
Reverse engineer protocols used over the network.
Debug client/server communications.
Debug network protocol implementations.

[edit] Example uses
A packet sniffer for a token ring network could detect that the token has been lost or the presence of too many tokens (verifying the protocol).
A packet sniffer could detect that messages are being sent to a network adapter; if the network adapter did not report receiving the messages then this would localize the failure to the adapter.
A packet sniffer could detect excessive messages being sent by a port, detecting an error in the implementation.
A packet sniffer could collect statistics on the amount of traffic (number of messages) from a process detecting the need for more bandwidth or a better method.
A packet sniffer could be used to extract messages and reassemble into a complete form the traffic from a process, allowing it to be reverse engineered.
A packet sniffer could be used to diagnose operating system connectivity issues like web,ftp,sql,active directory,etc.
A packet sniffer could be used to analyse data sent to and from secure systems in order to understand and circumvent security measures, for the purposes of penetration testing or illegal activities.
A packet sniffer can passively capture data going between a web visitor and the web servers, decode it at the HTTP and HTML level and create web log files as a substitute for server logs and page tagging for web analytics.