Using Systems Management Server to Analyze Your Network Infrastructure

Monitoring Your Network

An important aspect of preparing for Windows 2000 deployment is understanding your network. You need to answer questions such as:

Which network links and segments have limited capacity?
Which protocols are used?
Where are the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Windows Internet Name Service (WINS), and similar servers?

Transferring the Windows 2000 source files to remote sites takes considerable network capacity. Installing Windows 2000 from shares requires even more capacity, but it needs to be available on local area networks. Verifying which protocols are used and where all the network servers are located helps to ensure that your plans include all relevant details.

SMS includes Network Monitor and related features to help you analyze your network and answer these and similar questions. You can use Network Monitor to display the activity levels on each network segment, as shown in Figure 8.4. You can also use Network Monitor to capture network packets. You can then review these packets to see which protocols are being used and which computers are providing services. Network Monitor includes a feature, called Network Monitor Experts, that even produces a table of protocols and the percentage of frames and bytes used by each protocol.

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Figure 8.4 SMS Network Monitor

You can configure the Network Monitor Control Tool to continuously monitor network activity for unauthorized DHCP and WINS servers. You supply the tool with the address of the DHCP and WINS servers you are aware of, and it displays the addresses of any other DHCP and WINS servers that it sees packets for.

The chapter "Using SMS for Network Maintenance" in the Systems Management Server Administrator's Guide describes the use of Network Monitor in detail.

Note

Windows 2000 includes a version of Network Monitor. However, that version of Network Monitor only monitors traffic to and from the computer it is installed on, including broadcasts. The SMS version of Network Monitor monitors all network traffic on the segments that it is configured to monitor. The SMS 2.0 version of Network Monitor also includes other enhancements, such as Network Monitor Experts.