Here is a collection of frequently asked questions about Netrounds, including what it does, how it works, how to get started, how it affects your network among other things. Just click any question to view the answer.
Software probes can be provided free of charge (free 30-day trial). In case you rather prefer pre-installed hardware probes during your 30-day trial, we can arrange with demo units at an additional cost. Please contact us for a quotation.
Netrounds is truly unique as it is the first system that combines a full range of versatile testing features along with monitoring capabilities, all together in a cloud-based solution.
This means that you have access to a powerful server-based solution for a wide range of application, with a low risk since no investments are needed.
There are other solutions on the market that individually provide some of the functions in Netrounds, often at a cost level that is much higher.
In case you have leased pre-installed probes from Absilion, defect units (G100 or G1000) are returned to Absilion for replacement. You pay the shipping costs for the return of malfunctioning equipment and Absilion pays for shipping of the probe back to you. No other additional costs apply.
In case you have purchased the probes from a distributor, all RMA issues are handled by your distributor.
Yes that is assured. No Netrounds customer can access any another customer's measurement data. As always, make sure that your passwords you use are not easy to break. Each customer's data is protected from other customers and access to Netrounds is protected by SSL (using HTTPS). Inherent to a cloud service, Absilion will always be able to access each customer's stored data for maintenance purposes. However, this can be regulated in form of an agreement, in which Absilion promises never to retreive the data without the customer's approval.
The accuracy of the test results is very good. We have modified and optimized version of a Debian Linux distribution. Our implementation ensures that the packet processing always gets highest priority of the CPU.
Regarding PC hardware, for monitoring of UDP/TCP streams (each at a few Mbit/s), it is sufficient with a AMD Geode 800 MHz processor. This is what we use in our pre-installed G100 probes. For higher capacities, like generating bidirectional UDP or TCP at 1 Gbit/s, we recommend a Core2Duo (or similar) processor at 3 GHz, preferably with Intel network interfaces.
Netrounds is a multi-user server-based solution. The server is always a part of Netrounds, thanks to the cloud approach. As opposed to our competition, there is no need to separately deploy a costly server at your site in order to store/analyze all measurement results over time.
In one single platform, Netrounds combines performance tests (UDP/TCP), security tests, IPTV MPEG monitoring and browser-based quicktests. Netrounds is a complete toolkit for the network engineer for quick and easy troubleshooting and monitoring of SLA.
A hardware-based network performance test tool typically has better throughput performance in terms of packets per second. If you need to test the backplane of a high performing Gigabit or 10 Gigabit switch/router, using only 64 bytes packets, then a hardware-based solution is recommended. On the other hand, if you need to find bottlenecks in your network from a service point of view, Netrounds provides sufficient performance as the Netrounds probes easily can overload Gigabit links.
The bandwidth to/from the server is typically just a few kbit/s when tests or monitoring are running. If the probes are not "in use" there is virtually no traffic between the probes and the server.
No, when you use a USB probe all required software is embedded on the USB flash memory, even the operating system as well as all required test tools.
The USB probe uses your laptop hardware temporarily only. The laptop boots up based on the contents on the USB and as long as the laptop remains turned on, your laptop acts a high-performing network test probe.
The laptop will restore to normal state once the USB is removed and the laptop is restarted using a normal hard disk boot.
Yes, an on-site server can be installed. This will however require a volume commitment in terms of number of probes. This alternative is not offered on a monthly basis. Please contact us for more details.
No measurement traffic goes between your measurement probes and our cloud server. The probes only communicate with the server by sending measurement results and control traffic. Most post-processing of the measurements results are done at the server.
All measurements are done in real-time at each probe to achieve highest performance and accuracy. Periodically, the probes send their results to the server for post processing and storage.
In order to improve the user experience cloud servers are being located at different continents over the world.
In short, they are more or less indentical. What might differ is the actual PC hardware utilized by the probe, such as the number of network interfaces or CPU performance.
All Genalyzer probes are based on the same optimised and modified Linux operating system along with the same set of test tools, which means you can execute all tests and monitoring tasks regardless of which probe you select - downloaded or pre-installed.
All Genalyzer probes are complete appliances, which means they include an optimised and modified Linux operating system. Therefore, when you build your own downloaded probe, it does not matter what operating system your PC hardware used earlier - the probe will use the provided one.
As opposed to other alternatives using an application-based approach, our solution provides full control of the underlying hardware, instead of relying on any existing and uncontrollable operating system. This gives high precision in all tests and measurements.
Either choose our pre-installed probes (G100, G1000 or G10G), or build your own probes using any x86-compliant PC hardware.
We recommend installation on PC with a CPU clock speed higher than 500 MHz and with Intel network interfaces, using at least 256 MB RAM. You can transform your PC into either G-USB or G-HDD. Both are identical from a functional point of view. Use G-USB for temporary probe usage and G-HDD for permanent probe installation.
Local access to the probe is only needed to change the initial configuration of the interfaces, such as changing from DHCP addressing of the management interface to static addressing.
If you are using our pre-installed G100 embedded probe, please use a serial cable to connect to the probe and to access the configuration menu. Please refer to the configuration manual found at the "Support" menu once you are logged into your Netrounds server.
If you are using any of the other probes, please connect a keyboard and display to the probe to login to the configuration menu. This is also described in detail in the configuration manual.
For different reasons, no data is stored during time intervals when the management link towards the cloud server is lost. However, monitoring will continue automatically when the management link is up again.
If you are running a time-limited test, this will be cancelled in case the management link is lost.
During the autumn of 2011 we will release a new version that stores data locally on the probe if the management link temporarily is disconnected.
No, it does not matter what operating system (OS) you have on your PC/laptop prior to using it as a G-USB probe.
When you download and create your bootable USB memory, a custom OS is also included. Then, the laptop/PC boots this OS using your downloaded USB contents. You might even use a USB probe on a PC that does not even have a hard disk installed.
Note: Win XP, Vista or Win7 is required in order to transfer the downloaded and bootable image to your USB memory.
Yes, you can. The pricing is equal to 70% of the equivalent cost for a 36 month subscription. In addition to that, there is a yearly support fee to obtain regular probe updates and new test features. Please contact us if you are interested in purchasing probes.
No, for security reasons you can not access the probes directly to start/stop tests or retrieve results. Only the server is authorized to remotely interact with the probes.
You control all your probes conveniently through the cloud server.
Of course, you can use our custom-made local CLI menu on the probe to do basic administration and configuration of the probe.
No, this is not supported at the moment. We recommend installation on x86 PC hardware, preferably with a CPU clock speed higher than 500 MHz and with Intel network interfaces, using at least 256 MB RAM.
No calibration is needed for the probes in Netrounds. Calibration is most relevant for hardware-based components with extremely high accuracy (order of nanoseconds).
In case you have not activated your account to a paying customer before the 30-day trial expires, your account will be blocked. This means that you will not have access to your account.
After that, you still can activate your account within 60 days from trial start. If not, your account (along with any test results) will be deleted automatically when 60 days have expired.
Unless you activate your account, you will never be charged anything in case you do not want to continue using Netrounds.
There is no termination fee. As a paying customer, your subscription is automatically extended in 3 month billing periods with advance payment. This billing cycle can be considered the contract period.
You may cancel your subscription at any time within this period. The cancellation needs to be done no later than 2 weeks before the period ends, otherwise the subscription is automatically extended for another 3 months.
