CommTraffic Tutorial
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®CommTraffic
Tutorial
Traffic Accounting Made Easy
Copyright © 1996-2004 TamoSoft, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
About This Tutorial
This informal tutorial was created to address the frequently asked questions posed by users who
are either new to network monitoring tools or those professionals who haven't had experience with
CommTraffic. If you need formal, detailed help documentation, just click F1. This tutorial is not
intended to cover all aspects of the product's functionality. Rather, it's a brief walk-through that
will familiarize you with CommTraffic and demonstrate its most exciting features, useful tips and
tricks.
CommTraffic is easy to use, but to get the most out of it, we recommend taking the time to read
this tutorial. Let's move on; this won't take too long!
Keeping an Eye on Seconds and Bytes
Setting Up CommTraffic for the First Time
This chapter is the longest one, but there is a good reason behind this: Configuring CommTraffic
properly is the key to getting correct results. The program's configuration is aimed at one
important thing: We need to "tell" CommTraffic what and how to count.
To calculate the data in your network environment accurately, you should first consider what you
are going to monitor with CommTraffic, and what settings will be needed for that. The
Configuration Wizard is the tool that will guide you through this process. The ...
CommTraffic® Tutorial Traffic Accounting Made Easy Copyright © 1996-2004 TamoSoft, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
About This Tutorial This informal tutorial was created to address the frequently asked questions posed by users who are either new to network monitoring tools or those professionals who haven't had experience with CommTraffic. If you need formal, detailed help documentation, just click F1. This tutorial is not intended to cover all aspects of the product's functionality. Rather, it's a brief walk-through that will familiarize you with CommTraffic and demonstrate its most exciting features, useful tips and tricks.
CommTraffic is easy to use, but to get the most out of it, we recommend taking the time to read this tutorial. Let's move on; this won't take too long! Keeping an Eye on Seconds and Bytes Setting Up CommTraffic for the First Time This chapter is the longest one, but there is a good reason behind this: Configuring CommTraffic properly is the key to getting correct results. The program's configuration is aimed at one important thing: We need to "tell" CommTraffic what and how to count. To calculate the data in your network environment accurately, you should first consider what you are going to monitor with CommTraffic, and what settings will be needed for that. The Configuration Wizardis the tool that will guide you through this process. TheioaturignfCo n Wizardwindow appears once you've installedcoCTrmmfiaf your computer. Alternately, you on can launch it in theViewpane by clickingSettings > Network => Wizard. =
Even though we don't necessarily have to know the network layout details to get started, let's briefly discuss them. Usually, you connect to the Internet by using a modem (that may be plain old dial-up, ADSL, or cable modem), but there are other connection types, e.g. a direct Ethernet connection or Frame Relay. Sometimes a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection is being used on the top of these connections. Additionally, you may be sharing the Internet connection between a number of office or home computers via a Local Area Network (LAN). Most common network configurations are summarized below: 1.The computer is not connected to a LAN If your computer is not connected to a LAN, i.e. you don't share your connection with other users and are interested only in your own traffic; selectThis is a stand-alone computer.
Then, if you have a dial-up or VPN connection to the Internet, selectWAN Miniportin the adapter list. If you're connected via an Ethernet adapter (e.g. your ADSL modem cable may be plugged into the network adapter rather than a USB port), select the name of this adapter in the list:
2.The computer is connected to the Internet via a LAN. If your computer is a part of a LAN but doesn't have direct connectivity to the Internet, i.e. it uses another computer as a gateway; select theThis computer is a part of a LANoption in the first step of theWizardand then select the adapter name in the network adapters list:
ClickingNextor several ranges of your LAN's local IP addresses. will populate the list with one This will let CommTraffic calculate Internet traffic for all computers on your LAN:
Note:Monitoring traffic for the entire LAN segment is always possible if the workstations are connected using a hub. Unlike hubs, switches prevent promiscuous sniffing. In a switched network environment, CommTraffic is limited to capturing broadcast and multicast packets and the traffic sent or received by the PC on which CommTraffic is running. However, most modern switches support "port mirroring," which is a feature that allows you to configure the switch to redirect the traffic that occurs on some or all ports to a designated monitoring port on the switch. By using this feature, you will able to monitor the entire LAN segment. For more information, please refer to the "FAQ" chapter of the product help file. If you want CommTraffic to monitor only the traffic of the computer on which it has been installed, clear the list of the local addresses and go to the next page. On the next page, clickDetect to have the list populated with the local IP addresses that should be excluded from monitoring:
If your computer is connected to the Internet via a proxy server, you will be able to specify the address(es) and port(s) of your LAN's proxy server(s) on the next page:
3. The computer is a gateway, i.e. it is directly connected to the Internet. Normally, such a computer functions as a network server and has two network adapters (or interfaces, this term is also widely used): one is connected to the ISP (e.g. via a modem), and the other one is connected to the LAN. It is possible to monitor either of these network interfaces, but you should bear in mind some important distinctions. Monitoring the external interface (ISP connection) allows you to monitor Internet traffic for the entire LAN, including the server itself. If that's what you need, just select This computer is a gateway to the Internet (WAN). I want to monitor the total Internet traffic for the entire LAN.
After clickingNextname of the network interface to be monitored.you will be able to select the This should be the "external" interface, the one being used to connect the server to the Internet. One more important thing: It's advisable to look at the IP addresses assigned to the LAN hosts:
If they look like 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x, it is very likely that the LAN hosts use Network Address Translation (NAT) or a proxy server to access the Internet. If that's the case, detailed information on the LAN hosts' Internet traffic will not available: All the traffic will be attributed to the server. But you probably want to have detailed information on each LAN host. No problem, just read the next paragraph. 4.gateway, but you are interested in per-host Internet trafficThe computer functions as the LAN statistics. In theWizard, selectThis computer is a gateway to the Internet (WAN). I want to have detailed information about Internet utilization by every LAN host:
The peculiarity of this configuration is that you will have per-host statistics for your LAN, with the exception of the gateway server. After clickingNextwill have to select the name of the you adapter being used for connecting the server to the LAN:
The next page will list one or several ranges of your network's local IP addresses. Leave only those ranges that pertain to your LAN:
If your computer is connected to the Internet via a proxy server, you will be able to specify the address(es) and port(s) of your LAN's proxy server(s) on the next page:
We're done; CommTraffic is ready to go! It's worth mentioning in this tutorial that your network configuration is may be more complex than any of the standard configurations described above. But don't worry: Even further fine-tuning is possible. The advanced settings can be accessed in theView by clicking paneSettings => Network. By using advanced formulas, you can control the way CommTraffic counts traffic. This feature originates fromCommView, another application byTamoSoft, which is intended for network packet analysis:
You can learn more about advanced rules by reading the help file that comes with CommTraffic. Configuring Graphs and Statistics Statistics, time periods, display settings, tray icon, floating monitor, and more Now that we have set up CommTraffic, it's time to look at what information we can obtain about the Internet traffic. Double-click on the CommTraffic icon in the system tray area (it looks like the green letter M): The main window of theToolBox will appear on the screen. The applicationView on the pane left side can be used for displaying connections details and statistics, as well as for changing the application settings. The first page that you will see is theMonitorpage. It is divided into two or several sections that display data as graphs:
SincecoCmmrTfaif a highly customizable interface, there are many ways of changing the has Monitorpage layout so that the necessary information is presented by the application in the most convenient form. Right-clicking on any section brings up a context menu. You can use it to add and delete sections, as well as to change the contents of theTotalarea, measurement units (Bits per second or Bytes per second), graph scale and type (lines, peaks, and polygons), grid type, and many other options. Browse through this menu and you'll surely find a way to customize the program to look the way you like! At the top of each section, you can see the current, average, and maximum data transmission rates. At the bottom, you can see the totals. By clicking on the word showing the current display type (Volume, Time, Expenses, or Alarms, right underTotal, enclosed in rounded brackets) you can make CommTraffic switch to a different data representation, i.e. data volume, connection time, Internet expenses, and preset alarms. You can double-click onTotalto change its contents:
