TracePlus/Ethernet

Monitoring and Performance Analysis plus Packet Capture for Ethernet Networks

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Now compatible with 64 bit OSs (Windows XP x64, Windows 2003 Server x64, and Windows Vista x64)

Minimum System Requirements

• Windows NT 4.x, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows XP x64, Windows 2003 Server, Windows Vista Home/Business/Ultimate Editions (32/64 bit)
• Pentium 3 or AMD Athlon 1.2 GHZ or greater
• 256 MB RAM
• 15 MB disk space

Installation

Need Assistance with using TracePlus?

The following links will help you get started with TracePlus/Ethernet:

Online FAQ - http://www.sstinc.com/faq.html. There is also a menu item called View Online FAQ on the Help menu of your TracePlus product which links to this page as well.

Installing TracePlus/Ethernet for optimal network monitoring - http://www.sstinc.com/network_traffic.html

Managed Switch compatibility list - http://www.sstinc.com/switches.html

Configuring SPAN for Cisco managed switches - http://www.sstinc.com/cisco_span.html

TracePlus®/Ethernet is saying "Could not open the requested adapter"

There are five scenarios in which the message "could not open the requested adapter" will appear:

1. TracePlus was installed on this machine more than once, and the registry entry for the device driver used by TracePlus is pointing to a file that no longer exists. TracePlus installs the PCASp50.SYS driver (for the network adapter) in the registry key:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PCASp50
   

   To correct this problem, select "Reset TracePlus Ethernet Service" from the TracePlus group on the Start menu. Reboot your machine after running this utility. This works 99% of the time.

   
   
2. The drivers that TracePlus uses for the network adapter are also used by several other companies for their networking products, including WildPackets Etherpeek and the LinkSys WMP11 Wireless network adapter. If you have another product on your machine that uses the same drivers, and they are not the latest versions, TracePlus will not be able to open the network adapter.
    

   Search for PCASp50.SYS on your machine and see if you have multiple copies of this file. If you do, then you have more than one product using the same drivers.

   
   
3. The network drivers used by TracePlus/Ethernet work with *MOST* network adapters, but there are adapters, especially newer ones that we haven't tried. Note that the problem is not with the adapter itself, but the drivers that were written to support them. If indeed there is an incompatibility with the network adapter drivers, more than likely we will not be able to fix it.
    
4. You have selected a miniport or "pseudo" network adapter. Miniport drivers appear as "WAN Miniport (IP)". "Pseudo" network adapters include drivers as the "Direct Parallel", and "RAS Async Adapter" . TracePlus is not compatible with these types of drivers.
    
5. You are trying use TracePlus/Ethernet on Windows 2000 Server with Terminal Server installed. This problem is detailed in Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q259131. We will not have a fix for this until the 1st quarter 2003.

In any event, first try to use the solution described in scenario 1: Select "Reset TracePlus Ethernet Service" from the TracePlus group on the Start menu. Reboot your machine after running this utility. This works 99% of the time.

When I try to choose a network adapter, the list does not show any adapters

TracePlus dynamically loads its NDIS protocol drivers when the application is launched. However the Windows NT 4.x/2000/XP/2003 Server security model does not allow applications to load and unload device drivers when the logged-in user has no administrative privileges

If you encounter this issue, use "regedit.exe" to delete the following keys in your registry, then reboot your machine and restart TracePlus.

Windows 98/ME

Windows NT 4.x/2000/XP/2003

Using a packet analyzer when you are connected to a network switch

There are three ways you can use a packet analyzer if your local PC is connected to a switch:

• Some switches have a dedicated "network monitor" port which sees a copy of all traffic routed by the switch. This is known as "switch monitoring". You can install a packet analyzer on a PC which is connected to this switch monitor port.
   
• Some switches can be programmed to route a copy of all traffic on one or more ports to another specific port. This is known as "switch  monitoring", "port mirroring", or SPAN. You can install a packet analyzer on the PC connected to that port.
   
• You can attach a hub between the switch and the server, or a router and the firewall. Attach a PC to the hub. Install a packet analyzer on the PC attached to the hub. This will allow you to see all traffic between the server and the switch. 

Remember that a switch only passes traffic through the a port on the switch if a packet is specifically addressed to that machine, or the packet has a broadcast address. If you don't use one of the above methods, you will only see packets routed to and from your local machine only.