Do you think of networks as quiet and colorless entities? New tools from the AG Group (800-466-2447 or 510-937-7900) and MR Mac Software (800-566-7622 or 619-453-2845) won't dazzle multimedia fans but do promise network monitoring with a clearly audiovisual approach.
The AG Group's NetMeter uses network-traffic and -protocol data gathered by the firm's Satellite application to create graphs, QuickTime movies, and audible representations of LAN activity. The 11 NetMeter modules, which can be used in combination, provide several output types: text, strip chart, vu meter, traffic light, QuickTime movie, music, and speech. Managers can set NetMeter to alert them when network utilization exceeds a certain level and to provide visual or aural indicators for each protocol running on the LAN. For example, you might create one meter that sounds a musical note when overall network utilization exceeds 10 percent and another to say "Surf's up!" when HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) packets -- indicating users surfing the World Wide Web -- account for a particularly high percentage of the total. NetMeter sells for $395 with the required Satellite application; current owners of Satellite can buy NetMeter separately for $149.
Devices rather than traffic are the purview of Network Scout ($295), from MR Mac Software. Network Scout tracks which devices are on the network and alerts you if selected Macs, printers, or other nodes on an AppleTalk or TCP/IP network go down. Network Scout can also inform you if software servers, such as FileMaker Pro databases or group-scheduling applications, crash -- even if the host machine is still running. The program offers notification by e-mail, pager (a full version of PageNow from Mark/Space Communications is included with Network Scout), voice, or an on-screen display or alert.
