Learn about Network Monitor (netmon) 3.3

In this article we will show you the latest version of Network Monitor (version 3.3), support issues for Windows 7 and Network Experts features.

David Davis

In this article we will show you the latest version of Network Monitor (version 3.3), support issues for Windows 7 and Network Experts features.

Introduce

If you follow the readings on this website, you've probably read the series we introduced about Network Monitor. However, the Network Monitor version is now upgraded (released 3.3) with lots of useful features that you probably don't know about. Therefore, in this article we will mention the following:

New features of Network Monitor 3.3
What new 'network experts' features provide and how to use them.

With that content, let's first answer some basic questions about netmon first.

The nature of Network Monitor 3.3

Here are 5 essential questions and answers about Network Monitor:

1. What is Network Monitor?

According to the official definition of Microsoft, Network Monitor is:

' A tool used for observing network packets sent and received over a network connection or from a previously captured data file. In addition, the tool provides complex network data filtering options . '

In other words, Network Monitor is a protocol analyzer (protocol analyzer) or 'packet sniffer'.

2. How can Network Monitor help you?

It sounds interesting, but actually how can Network Monitor help you? Here the Network Monitor protocol analyzers can answer for you:

What is going on in your network
What device or type of flow is the cause of the delay
Why an application failed

Overall, it will give you insight into your network unlike other solutions!

3. What is the cost of Network Monitor?

Unlike many other protocol analyzers (costing hundreds of thousands of dollars), Microsoft's Network Monitor product is completely free.

4. Where can you find Network Monitor?

You can download the latest version (3.3) of Network Monitor from the Microsoft Download Center - Network Monitor 3.3.

5. Which operating system is Netmon compatible with?

One of Network Monitor 3.3's new features is that it is compatible with Windows 7. However, it can also be compatible with Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 Itanium version, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista ( 32 and 64 bit) and Windows XP (32 and 64 bit).

What's new in Network Monitor version 3.3?

Here are the new features in Network Monitor 3.3:

Frame Comments - when you analyze the frames that netmon sees, you can attach comments or comments and those frames for reference and reminders later.

Learn about Network Monitor (netmon) 3.3 Picture 1 Learn about Network Monitor (netmon) 3.3 Picture 1
Figure 1: Attaching a Frame Comment

Netmon API - This is an API that programmers can use to add or remove information from Network Monitor.
Autoscroll - Allows you to see the most recent packages in a capture when they are sent. You can click Autoscroll to enable this feature or freeze traffic.

Learn about Network Monitor (netmon) 3.3 Picture 2 Learn about Network Monitor (netmon) 3.3 Picture 2
Figure 2: Autoscroll's working process

Rick-Click Add-to-Alias - Allows you to quickly add aliases, previously you have to go to the alias tab and add new aliases by entering the IP address.
Tunnel Capture Support - Allows you to capture traffic on tunnel adapters in Windows Vista SP2, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7.
WWAN Capture Support - Capture traffic on broadband data card on Win7.
Experts to analyze your network captures - Experts is a separate application used to analyze the data that Network Monitor captures. You can install Experts and run them directly from the UI on the captured file. To search for experts, from a captured file, click Experts on the main menu and then select Download Experts .
Right-Click Go-to-Definition - Right-click a field in the Frame Details window and select Go To Data Field Definition or Go To Data Type Definition to see if the field is defined in the NPL parser.

For individuals, the best new feature is support for Windows 7, Autoscroll and Experts.

What is Experts and how do you use them?

The Experts feature of netmon 3.3 is an important feature. We have seen this feature before in thousands of dollars of data analyzers, so it is fortunate for us to get this feature from Microsoft's free data analyzer. Basically, Experts acts as a deep-rooted network administrator who can analyze the data and as assistants in speeding up data for you.

In other words, Experts will save you considerable time and give you answers to tough problems.

There are no Experts in netmon 3.3 that you need to download these tools from the Internet (completely free). To use experts, you must save the captured files, then reopen them. Note Experts will not work on 'live' data.

You can download Experts here.

Once you've done the capture, close, and reopen files, you can access Experts. You can access experts in two ways:

Right-click on a frame and go to the Expert menu .
Go to Experts menu from the drop-down menu.

Learn about Network Monitor (netmon) 3.3 Picture 3 Learn about Network Monitor (netmon) 3.3 Picture 3
Figure 3: How to use and check certain frames

Learn about Network Monitor (netmon) 3.3 Picture 4
Figure 4: Access the drop-down menu above

Expert shown here ( Top Users by Conversation ) is the Expert that we downloaded and installed.

Be aware that Experts are small programs that you install, just like any other application.

Here are the results of Top Users by Conversation Expert that we downloaded and installed:

Learn about Network Monitor (netmon) 3.3 Picture 5
Figure 5: Top Conversations by User results

These results can be classified by clicking on the headers. If you install the appropriate add-ins, you can create the results as graphs.

Currently Network Monitor Team has announced 2 Experts for users to download and make sure this number will be increased. Here are two Experts currently being offered:

Learn about Network Monitor (netmon) 3.3 Picture 6
Figure 6: Available Experts from Network Monitor team

If you don't see the Expert you are looking for, you can download the SDK and write your own expert!

Conclude

Network Monitor 3.3 has a lot of useful features such as support for Windows 7 and the built-in Experts feature. This is indeed a blessing for us as Microsoft continues to improve this effective network protocol analyzer.

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