[OT] network monitoring/visibility appliance

Mailman List Mirror (Read Only)
1

I apologize for the off-topic post, but I'm at my wits end trying to
"rediscover" a peice of equipment I came across a few months ago but
some how lost the datasheet/bookmark too. The appliance was a standard
1U rackmount "pizzabox" that spoke a whole variety of protocols
(IS-IS, BGP, OSPF, MPLS + TE, etc). Basically, the pitch was you
plugged the box into your network, and it spat out a pretty map with
all sorts of interesting information without having to poll (much). I
realize there might be more than a few of these products, but I've
somehow managed to avoid all of them in my search.

Please contact me offlist if you might be familiar with a/the device
described above. Thanks

Regards,
aaron.glenn

2

Just to ignore your wishes and reply on-list :slight_smile:

Other folks may be interested. The general area is known as "route
analytics". The box you are talking about may be from Packet Design (the HP
solution is OEMed from them, I believe) or Ipsum networks. This is separate
from modeling and simulation tools like Cariden, Opnet, and Wandl which all
offer some greater or lesser degree of routing protocol support.

I believe the original idea for these boxes was to target service providers,
but enterprises are also quite interested in the field, especially with the
growth of RFC2547 VPNs. A box like this can help an enterprise keep track of
the BGP advertisements and any OSPF/EIGRP redistribution at their sites
(which can number in the thousands).

Sales of these products are pretty small now, but that may change. Imagine
doing data correlation between IGP (or BGP) convergence and dropped calls on
a softswitch across a few thousand sites.

My personal opinion is that questions about Internet/WAN technology vendors
on a _high_ level are perfectly appropriate for NANOG - at least as much as
"is xyz down?" :slight_smile: More in-depth stuff ("how do I configure my GSR to dance
the lambada") belong on the appropriate NSP lists...

3

Just to ignore your wishes and reply on-list :slight_smile:

OK, I'll bite. (-:

Other folks may be interested. The general area is known as "route
analytics". The box you are talking about may be from Packet Design (the HP
solution is OEMed from them, I believe) or Ipsum networks. This is separate
from modeling and simulation tools like Cariden, Opnet, and Wandl which all
offer some greater or lesser degree of routing protocol support.

After hitting send, of course, I came across both Packet Design's and
Ipsum's product; neither of which are the manufacturer I had in mind.
However they do perform the same functions.

I believe the original idea for these boxes was to target service providers,
but enterprises are also quite interested in the field, especially with the
growth of RFC2547 VPNs. A box like this can help an enterprise keep track of
the BGP advertisements and any OSPF/EIGRP redistribution at their sites
(which can number in the thousands).

The box I'm referring too was marketed towards MPLS, traffic
engineering, and QoS visibility and monitoring. Had a handsome
visualization tool as well.

My personal opinion is that questions about Internet/WAN technology vendors
on a _high_ level are perfectly appropriate for NANOG - at least as much as
"is xyz down?" :slight_smile: More in-depth stuff ("how do I configure my GSR to dance
the lambada") belong on the appropriate NSP lists...

While I agree wholeheartedly, I started actively following NANOG less
than a year ago, during which nearly every discussion had someone
questioning it's relevance and on-topic-ness; which, frankly, was and
still is, off putting.

I apologize being so vague about all this - a fuzzy photographic
memory is both a blessing and a curse. I don't remember the
manufacturer, or what I was even looking for when I came across it.
All I recall is a limegreen-ish box in the datasheet pdf; a mention of
how, by being able to speak MPLS and it's ilk, the appliance didn't
have to poll devices, nor was it a point of failure; and a strong
focus on its traffic engineering and QoS visibility features. After
looking at Packet Design and Ipsum, neither is the product I'm trying
to "rediscover".

Many thanks for the off-list replies. If anyone has any clue what I'm
referring too, on or off list replies are welcomed.

Regards,
aaron.glenn