Review: Colasoft Capsa Network Analyzer 6.9 R2 Enterprise Edition
Author: Erik Eckel
September 17th, 2009Review: Colasoft Capsa Network Analyzer 6.9 R2 Enterprise Edition
Colasoft's Capsa Network Analyzer simplifies real-time network analysis. In addition to packet decoding, the approachable packet capturing, monitoring and analysis tool helps network engineers diagnose and solve network and bandwidth issues.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Colasoft Corporation
- Product: Capsa Network Analyzer
- Version: 6.9 R2 Enterprise Edition
- Operating systems: Windows 2000, Windows XP (32- and 64-bit versions), Windows Server 2003 (32- and 64-bit versions), Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit versions), Windows 2008 (32- and 64-bit versions) and Windows 7 (32- and 64-bit versions).
- CPU: P4 1.2GHz or faster
- RAM: 512MB
- Free Trial: Capsa Network Analyzer
- Price: $549
Who's it for?
The Colasoft Capsa Network Analyzer Enterprise Edition aids systems engineers and network administrators responsible for managing corporate networks. Any technology professional tasked with ensuring smooth enterprise-wide network performance requires a reliable network analysis tool; Colasoft Capsa is just such a utility.
What problem does it solve?
The Capsa Network Analyzer is an easy-to-use network monitoring tool that collects critical information about network traffic, data packets and origination and destination data. The packet sniffing software provides powerful monitoring and reporting features, including graphing and diagnostic utilities, which help busy administrators and engineers quickly locate, diagnose and troubleshoot network issues.
Standout features
Simplicity - Colasoft's Capsa network analysis tool is simple to install and easy to operate. Further, Capsa is easily customized. The packet analysis application boasts a wide range of easily altered settings and options for a vast array of parameters, including network adapters, packet types, physical addresses and more.
Powerful diagnosis - By combining real-time network monitoring and data recording with several integrated analysis and diagnostic tools, Capsa presents enterprise administrators with a powerful tool for determining the cause of network bandwidth issues and bottlenecks. Often the primary challenge when combating network slowdowns is tracing the source of bad packets or abnormal traffic generation. The software includes a Diagnosis console that lists events separated by OSI layers and enables sorting by severity, source address or event type to help speed recovery. A special Matrix view is available, too, that depicts connections at-a-glance, further enhancing diagnosis.
Comprehensive reporting - Capsa records considerable information. The network analysis software captures traffic statistics, bandwidth usage, data packet information for more than 300 protocol types, origination and source addresses, physical addresses, error rates and more. But its reporting tools are what prove valuable in helping administrators make sense of all that network information thanks to simple reports and graphical network representations.
What's wrong?
Limited OS Support - Many enterprise administrators use Linux or Macintosh operating systems. Colasoft's Capsa network analysis software, however, only works with Windows operating systems. Chances are some enterprise engineers would benefit from support for the packet sniffer on their mobile phones, too, but that may be asking too much.
Bottom line for business
Enterprise environments regularly present network challenges. Network administrators and systems engineers must possess potent tools capable of quickly determining the source of problems. With support for hundreds of protocols, real-time monitoring and simple graphical status representations, Capsa Network Analyzer assists enterprise professionals in maintaining secure, well-performing networks.