Points to Remember

• Cable testers are used at the Physical layer and are of two types, low spectrum and high spectrum.

• Low spectrum cable testers (scanners) provide information about the MAC layer such as the actual amount of network utilization and packet error rates.

• High spectrum cable testing involves checking for impedance mismatch, crimps, and various other physical problems in metallic and fiber cables.

• Digital interface testing tools cannot test media signals from Ethernet, Token Ring, or FDDI or protocol-related issues on a communication channel.

• Protocol analyzers provide details about the network traffic and protocol paths and offer potential solutions to critical network problems without affecting network performance.

• A protocol analyzer works in two modes: capture and display.

• Examples of protocol analyzers are Sniffer Pro and Ethereal.

• Different management tasks include fault detection and configuration, performance, and resource management.

• Examples of Cisco IOS commands are debug diagnostic and show process cpu.

• SNMP works on the Application layer and allows management of fault detection and network recovery.

• The four major components of an SNMP framework are managed devices, management server, management protocol, and management information model.

• Cisco WAN Manager (CWM) performs all the major functions of a network management system while CiscoView and Cisco DFM perform partial network monitoring functions.

• An EMS manages fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and security within a network.

• The Architecture for Voice, Video, and Interface Data (AVVID) network infrastructure provides many network layouts in a common IP environment.

• All solutions available with CiscoWorks, an EMS application, are based on the AVVID architecture guidelines.

• Applications to optimize and configure WAN links include CiscoWorks Internetworks Performance Monitor (IPM) and CiscoWorks ACL Manager.

• Modeling and simulation techniques perform stress testing and network reconfiguration and are used to redesign a network setup.

• The Cisco Service Level Management Suite provides the complete “What If” simulation techniques for determining the network performance baselines in different situations.

• The NetSys Connectivity Service Manager uses the View, Isolate, Solve, Test, and Apply (VISTA) methodology for diagnosing and troubleshooting network problems.

• The NetSys WAN Service Manager provides simulations to analyze the behavior of Cisco devices and their effect on network performance.

• A traffic generator utilizes Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) and Network Verification Services (NVS).

• The four types of Cisco IOS commands are show, debug, ping, and trace.

• Cisco IOS commands are used to view status information, debug at different levels, and check connectivity and routing status.