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    LANDesk(R) Manager 1.51: Wire Management Usage Tips

    Contents:

    • ADMINISTRATOR AND SOFTWARE PROBE WORKSTATION CONFIGURATION
    • PROMISCUOUS MODE
    • WIDE-AREA NETWORK ENVIRONMENT
    • WINDOWS* ENVIRONMENT
    • TRAFFIC MONITOR USAGE TIPS
    • APPLICATION MONITOR USAGE TIPS
    
    

    ADMINISTRATOR AND SOFTWARE PROBE WORKSTATION CONFIGURATION

    
       Follow the guidelines below for administrator and Software Probe
    
       workstations. We recommend that these workstations use NETX v3.22 or 
    
       higher. LANDesk(R) Manager v1.51 ran successfully with v1.1 VLMs.
    
    
    
       Administrator: Use LSL and IPXODI v2.0 or higher. We recommend that the 
    
       administrator workstation use a Software Probe to collect data for
    
       Traffic Monitor and Application Monitor. If not, follow the Probe
    
       configuration  below.
    
    
    
       Note:     APV.EXE is no longer needed for Application Monitor.
    
    
    
       Probe: Use the LSL.COM and IPXODI.COM supplied with LANDesk Manager on
    
       the Spry Drivers diskette. They are placed in the ODI subdirectory of
    
       the  administrator's LANDESK directory (the default is
    
       SYS:\LANDESK\ODI). Also,  use the LAN driver supplied in the appropriate
    
       subdirectory for the type of  network (Ethernet or Token Ring) for the
    
       type of network interface card.  Each MLID driver has a sample NET.CFG.
    
       Only 1 Ethernet frame type is active.
    
    
    
    

    PROMISCUOUS MODE

    
       Traffic Monitor and Application Monitor (probe) use promiscuous mode 
    
       (pmode) LAN drivers to allow a NIC to monitor all packets on your
    
       network  segment and log in to the network at the same time. Without a
    
       pmode ODI  driver, a NIC processes only packets addressed to it or
    
       broadcast packets.  Intel tested LANDesk(R) Manager with the drivers
    
       listed in TMONITOR.TXT, which  is accessed by the Traffic Monitor icon
    
       in the Control Panel Read Me folder.
    
    
    
       Token Ring NICs with the IBM Tropic chip set cannot support pmode. IBM
    
       will  not modify the Tropic chip set to allow pmode. Without a pmode LAN
    
       driver,  Application Monitor and Traffic Monitor give a "no devices
    
       found" message.  Token Ring NICs without a Tropic chip set work in
    
       pmode. Since only a probe  or administrator workstation need pmode
    
       drivers, we recommend using either  an Intel TokenExpress or Madge Token
    
       Ring card (two Token Ring boards  tested with LANDesk Manager). Contact
    
       sales about evaluating an Intel TokenExpress card.
    
    
    
    

    WIDE-AREA NETWORK ENVIRONMENT

    
       Some WAN routers are set to filter SAP packets.  The Software Probe uses
    
       SAP Type 0x102 to advertise it's presence on the network.  If this SAP
    
       packet is filtered out, then LANDesk(R) management consoles on other
    
       segments will never see that probe.  For details on configuring your
    
       router to pass this SAP Type, contact your router manufacturer.
    
    
    
    

    WINDOWS* ENVIRONMENT

    
       Because of the workstation overhead Windows* requires, the number of
    
       packets  per second on your network segment may cause promiscuous mode
    
       to produce a CPU bottleneck that is not an issue with DOS-based
    
       products. The following  information does not apply if you use Software
    
       Probe on a DOS workstation.
    
    
    
       For years, Intel has shipped three DOS-based NetSight products that use 
    
       packet drivers to monitor network traffic. These products process high
    
       numbers of packets per second on your network segment with a 386 CPU.
    
       When a Windows-based product attempts to process the same traffic, the
    
       CPU must handle the high demand for Windows screen refreshes in addition
    
       to processing every packet on your segment. We've noticed the following
    
       limits:
    
    
    
         *  For a 386DX/25 PC, a peak of 1500 packets/second
    
    
    
         *  For a 386DX/33 or 486SX/25 PC, a peak of 2000 packets/second
    
    
    
         *  For a 486DX/33 PC, a peak of 2500 packets/second or higher
    
    
    
         *  For a 486DX2/66 PC, a peak of 3000 packets/second or higher
    
    
    
       These numbers are estimates. If network traffic saturates the CPU, press
    
       Ctrl-Alt-P to take the NIC out of promiscuous mode (pmode) and allow the
    
       CPU to "catch up."  Press Ctrl-Alt-P again to reactivate pmode. The CPU
    
       may saturate so quickly that Traffic Monitor and Application Monitor may
    
       appear to not even load.
    
    
    
       Parameters in the WIN.INI file control the VxD (Virtual Device Driver)
    
       that  Application Monitor and Traffic Monitor use to capture and process
    
       packets on the segment. You may be able to increase the number of
    
       packets your PC can handle by placing the following lines in your
    
       WIN.INI file (interrupt has to be spelled as shown below.) These
    
       parameters are described in the LANDesk(R) Manager User's Guide.
    
    
    
            [PMON]
    
            InteruptHoldTime = 100
    
            InteruptHoldRate = 5 
    
    
    
    

    TRAFFIC MONITOR USAGE TIPS

    
       A record of all packet activity on a network segment is recorded in
    
       Application Monitor's system log, but Traffic Monitor does not save any
    
       statistics by default.  You can configure Traffic Monitor to record
    
       statistics if you add a [Traffic] section to your WIN.INI file. For
    
       details on configuring this, see topic #5 in TMONITOR.TXT, which is 
    
       accessed by the Traffic Monitor icon in the Control Panel Read Me
    
       folder.
    
    
    
       Note: Unfortunately, this feature is unsupported in LANDesk(R) Manager
    
       1.x.  If you have problems with this feature, then you may want to
    
       upgrade to LANDesk Management Suite, which includes integrated reporting
    
       for all the tools.
    
    
    
    

    APPLICATION MONITOR USAGE TIPS

    
       The following steps document how to set Priority Applications in
    
       LANDesk(R)  Application Monitor. When Application Monitor executes, it
    
       displays the  Daily Application Tally. This display shows the most
    
       active applications  from a list of over 200 applications identified by
    
       Application Monitor.  With this information, you can quickly determine
    
    
    
       which applications are  being used and their relative volume.
    
    
    
       Note:     All of the data that makes up the Daily Application Tally is 
    
       available by choosing Detail|System Log. This log indicates who is using
    
        the application and, in many cases, what files are being processed.
    
    
    
       The process of building a custom Application Tally List involves
    
       demoting  and promoting applications to the Application Tally List. Once
    
       a custom  list has been configured, it can be saved for later use.
    
    
    
       Follow these steps  to build a custom application tally:
    
    
    
            1. Choose Setup|Edit Priority Applications.
    
    
    
            2. Demote applications from the list (see below).
    
    
    
            3. Promote applications to the list (see below).
    
    
    
            4. Close the Priority Applications dialog box.
    
    
    
       By saving this list, the user can call it up and use it at any time. The
    
        following two procedures accomplish this.
    
    
    
       To demote an application
    
    
    
            1. From the Applications Menu, select the application to demote.
    
    
    
            2. Choose Edit|Demote Application from the Tally Graph.
    
    
    
            3. Repeat until all unwanted applications are removed.
    
    
    
       To promote an application
    
    
    
            1. Choose Applications|More Applications
    
    
    
            2. Select the application you want and choose OK.
    
    
    
            3. Repeat until you have selected all the applications you want or
    
            until the Application Tally List is full (8 applications).
    
    
    
       To save an Application Tally List
    
    
    
            1. Choose Setup|Edit Priority Applications.
    
    
    
            2. Choose File|Save Application File As.
    
    
    
            3. Enter a file name and choose OK.
    
    
    
            4. Choose File|Close.
    
    
    
       To reload an Application Tally List
    
    
    
            1. Choose Setup|Edit Priority Applications.
    
    
    
            2. Choose File|Open Application File.
    
    
    
            3. Enter a file name and choose OK.
    
    
    
            4. Choose File|Close.
    
    
    
       The applications displayed in the Daily Application Tally change to 
    
       reflect the loaded list. If Auto Configuration is on, this is changed 
    
       after the configuration interval has expired. To keep the list 
    
       permanently on the screen, Auto Configuration must be turned off.
    
    

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