Monitoring Your Network

This section describes the following tools for monitoring your network:

• The Network Monitor protocol and agent, which you can use with System Monitor to obtain network statistics.
• An SNMP agent that allows you to monitor, from an SNMP console, remote connections to computers running Windows 98.

Using Microsoft Network Monitor

The Windows 98 compact disc includes a protocol driver and an agent for Microsoft Network Monitor. The protocol driver provides performance counters that can be viewed by using System Monitor if you want to assess certain network traffic statistics for network driver interface specification (NDIS) version 5.0 protected-mode network adapters. The Network Monitor Agent, which runs as a Windows 98 service, works with the protocol driver for use with the Microsoft Network Monitor application. You can use this application to detect and troubleshoot problems on LANs, WANs, and Microsoft Remote Access Service (RAS) connections.

Note

The Network Monitor application is provided with Microsoft Systems Management Server, a client-server system that allows administrators to perform key management functions for distributed computers from a central location.

Installing the Network Monitor Agent and Driver

When you install the Network Monitor Agent, the protocol driver is also installed automatically. You must have both the agent and the driver installed if you want to use the agent with Network Monitor to conduct remote captures of network traffic to and from a computer running Windows 98.

However, if you want only to view the performance counters in System Monitor and you want to prevent anyone from gaining access to the local computer by way of the Network Monitor Agent, you can choose to install only the protocol driver.

Note

The Network Monitor application uses NetBIOS to control the remote-capture computer. If you are using the IPX/SPX-compatible protocol to connect the agent and manager computers, you must enable NetBIOS support for IPX/SPX.

To install the Microsoft Network Monitor Agent on a single computer

1. In Control Panel, double-click Network, and then click Add.
2. In the Select Network Component Type dialog box, double-click Service.
3. In the Select Network Service dialog box, click Have Disk.
4. In the Install From Disk dialog box, type the path to the Tools\Reskit \Netadmin\Netmon directory on the Windows 98 compact disc, and then click OK.
5. In the Select Network Service dialog box, select Microsoft Network Monitor Agent from the Models list, and then click OK.

To install only the Microsoft Network Monitor protocol driver

1. In Control Panel, double-click Network, and then click Add.
2. In the Select Network Component Type dialog box, double-click Protocol.
3. In the Select Network Protocol dialog box, click Have Disk.
4. In the Install From Disk dialog box, type the path to the Tools\Reskit \Netadmin\Netmon directory on the Windows 98 compact disc, and then click OK.
5. In the Select Network Protocol dialog box, select Microsoft Network Monitor Driver from the Models list, and then click OK.

Running Network Monitor Agent

You can run Network Monitor Agent as a service, or you can start and stop the agent as an executable application.

To start Microsoft Network Monitor Agent

• On the Start menu, click Run, type nmagent in the Open box, and then click OK.

Network Monitor Agent is removed from the system each time you log off and must be restarted for each user who logs on if the agent is not scheduled to run as a service.

To run Network Monitor Agent as a service

1. In Registry Editor, select the following registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices

2. On the Edit menu, select New, and then click String Value.
3. Type a label for the value name, such as nmagent, and then press ENTER.
4. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
5. In the Value Data box, type nmagent.exe.
6. Click OK.

If Network Monitor Agent has been started as a service, it continues to run after a user logs off. You can, however, type a command to stop running the agent, whether the agent was started as a service or run from the command prompt.

To stop Microsoft Network Monitor Agent

• On the Start menu, click Run, type nmagent -close in the Open box, and then click OK.

Configuring the Network Monitor Driver

You can configure options for Network Monitor by defining properties for the Network Monitor protocol driver.

To configure the Microsoft Network Monitor protocol driver

1. Make sure that Network Monitor Agent is not running and that System Monitor is not monitoring the performance statistics provided by the Network Monitor protocol driver.
2. In Control Panel, double-click Network, and then double-click Microsoft Network Monitor Driver.
3. In the Microsoft Network Monitor Driver Properties dialog box, click the Password tab. You can define the password that users must specify to capture data, view capture files, or access the computer remotely. The following options are available:
   • If you want to change any previously defined password, type a password in the Old Capture Password area.
   • If you want to define a password to restrict users to viewing only previously saved capture files by using the Microsoft Network Monitor application, type a password in the Display Password area.
   • If you want to define a password to authorize users to connect to the computer and capture files by using the Microsoft Network Monitor application, type a password in the Capture Password area. You can define only one password for all network adapters on a computer with multiple adapters.
   • If you want to allow free access to the computer by anyone running the Microsoft Network Monitor application, make sure the No Password check box is selected.
4. If the computer has more than one network adapter, click the Describe tab, and then select the network adapter you want to monitor.

   You can also define a description for each network adapter in this dialog box, so that the administrator running the Network Monitor application can determine which adapter to select.

5. Click the Advanced tab. In the Value box, type the user name to be shown when an administrator running the Network Monitor application selects the Identify Network Monitor Users command.

   This additional information, which is similar to a comment, is not updated or changed if another user logs on to this computer.

Using an SNMP Agent

For networks that use Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) for system management, Windows 98 includes an SNMP Agent that conforms to the SNMP version 1 specification. This agent allows you to monitor, from an SNMP console, remote connections to computers running Windows 98. After this agent has been installed, you do not need to make any other modifications to client computers to use SNMP.

Installing Microsoft SNMP Agent

The SNMP Agent is implemented as a Win32-based service and works using Windows Sockets over both TCP/IP and IPX/SPX. The extension agents are implemented as Win32 dynamic-link libraries (DLLs). (For more information about writing SNMP management information bases [MIBs] under Windows 98, see the Microsoft Windows Platform Software Development Kit.) The configuration information for the RFC 1156 extension agent is placed in the registry under the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SNMP\Parameters

To install Microsoft SNMP Agent

1. In Control Panel, double-click Network, and then click Add.
2. In the Select Network Component Type dialog box, double-click Service.
3. In the Select Network Service dialog box, click Have Disk.
4. In the Install From Disk dialog box, type the path to the Tools\Reskit \Netadmin\SNMP\ directory on the Windows 98 compact disc, and then click OK.
5. In the Select Network Service dialog box, select Microsoft SNMP Agent from the Models list, and then click OK.

   If you are prompted to specify the location of additional files, specify the path to the Windows 98 source files on a shared network directory or on the Windows 98 compact disc.

Configuring Microsoft SNMP Agent

Use System Policy Editor to set the following policies for the computer:

If you want to configure the Windows 98 SNMP Agent to send traps to a community other than the public community, you must either edit the registry directly or add a new system policy.

To add SNMP communities by editing the registry

1. In Registry Editor, select the following key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SNMP\Parameters\TrapConfiguration

2. On the Edit menu, select New, and then click Key.
3. Type the name that you want to specify for a new community.
4. Create a new string value for each console to which SNMP should send traps:
   • The first value name should be 1, the second value name should be 2, and so on.
   • The value data must be the IP or IPX address of the SNMP console to which traps will be sent.
   • You can use Registry Editor to create new string values or to modify the string value by using commands on the Edit menu.

The following screen shows an example of what the registry should look like after adding a new community named Prv1.

To add SNMP communities by using system policies

1. Start a text editor, and open the Windows.adm file in the INF subdirectory of the Windows directory.
2. Add an entry in the section named CATEGORY !!SNMP, specifying the following new values:
   • Name Of New Policy, which defines the text that you want to appear in System Policy Editor for this policy. You do not need to include "!!" if you use quotation marks around the name. The "!!" string is used only for Windows 98 localization, and the strings are defined at the bottom of Windows.adm.
   • Name Of New Community, which defines the name of the community for which you are adding support.

The following shows the complete syntax for this entry:

POLICY "Name Of New Policy"
    KEYNAME
    System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SNMP\Parameters
                \TrapConfiguration\Name Of New Community
    PART !!Traps_PublicListbox LISTBOX
        VALUEPREFIX ""
    END PART
END POLICY

Note

The registry key and value names are case-sensitive. Also, the registry key name (System\...\Name Of New Community) must be one continuous line in the Windows.adm file.

For example, the following adds a policy for a community named Prv1:

POLICY "Traps for Prv1 Community"
    KEYNAME
System\CurrentControlSet\Services\SNMP\Parameters\TrapConfiguration\Prv1
    PART !!Traps_PublicListbox LISTBOX
    VALUEPREFIX ""
    END PART
END POLICY

After editing and saving Windows.adm, you can see this new policy by running System Policy Editor and selecting the Computer policy under Network named SNMP. You can use this policy exactly as you would use the policy named Traps for Public Community.