2-5
ATM Switch Router Troubleshooting Guide
78-6896-01
Chapter 2 Troubleshooting Tools
Third-Party Troubleshooting Tools
Network Analyzers
To accurately troubleshoot your ATM network, you should have the following analyzers:
• Simple cell generators and analyzers to test high-speed ATM and Broadband Integrated Services
Digital Network (BISDN) transmission and protocols.
• Signaling generators to test ATM equipment, service installation, and the interworking of
broadband services. They help manage the performance of broadband networks, and guarantee
end-to-end quality of service (QoS).
• Physical layer analyzers to provide physical, convergence, and ATM cell testing capabilities and
transmission test functionality.
Most physical layer analyzers can perform many of the following functions:
–
Traffic generation
–
Cell error and cell loss measurements
–
Cell delay measurements
–
Traffic capture and playback
• Network analyzers (or protocol analyzers) decode the various protocol layers in a recorded frame
and present them as readable abbreviations or summaries, detailing which layer is involved
(physical, data link, and so forth) and what function each bit or byte content serves.
Most network analyzers can perform many of the following functions:
–
Filter traffic that meets certain criteria so that, for example, all traffic to and from a particular
device is captured
–
Time-stamp captured data
–
Present protocol layers in an easily readable form
–
Generate frames and transmit them to the network
–
Incorporate an “expert” system in which the analyzer uses a set of rules, combined with
information about the network configuration and operation, to diagnose, solve, or offer
potential solutions to network problems
