NetPriva® [ Network Performance On Demand™ ]
| Contact | Search |
End Point Direct - How it works

NetPriva End Point Direct, "EPDirect", is software that runs on remote office, branch office, and home office PCs. EPDirect monitors and shapes WAN traffic directly to the end points, i.e. the user PCs in the remote offices, with some important extra capabilities to deterministically identify applications and users! It also identifies traffic by URL and Citrix ICA priority tag.

The EPDirect components are shown in the diagram are (a) NetPriva Agent software on each user's PC, (b) a NetPriva Collector file for statistics collection and shaping policy control data on an "always on" PC or server on the LAN or on a remote server, and (c) a NetPriva Console anywhere on the network to manage the EPDirect.

EPDirect is transparent to PC users and requires no local administration. There is no appliance equipment required. Only the WAN related traffic is monitored and shaped.

The basis of the EPDirect solution is that all outbound desktop traffic originates from a user's application. Similarly inbound traffic terminates at a user's application.  EPDirect automatically identifies all applications that run on the PC, including custom developed applications, identifies the application user, and identifies the traffic originator by URL. 

Objectives / Tools NetPriva Layer 7++ Layer 7
Increase control Application, User, URL, Citrix ICA Application
Increase accuracy Deterministic detection Heuristic packet inspection
Increase scope Works in encrypted data network Limited to non encrypted / compressed
Reduce TCO Software on existing branch PC hardware Needs specialist appliance

Layer 7++ is NetPriva patent pending method of identifying WAN applications and users. NetPriva's method is deterministic and absolutely accurate as compared with the inherently approximate heuristic methods used by network appliances that rely on pattern matching or "application signatures" and "deep packet inspection".

NetPriva's Layer 7++ method avoids the expense of network performance appliances required for the intensive computation involved in basic Layer 7 pattern matching. In addition, with NetPriva EPDirect, application identification works even in encrypted network environments.

NetPriva's patent pending Peer Signaling Protocol (PSP) technology enables NetPriva Agents installed on LAN “end points”, such as desktop and laptop PCs, to communicate and negotiate access to the WAN, including the Internet, according to application and user bandwidth management policies.

NetPriva  bandwidth management policies enable dynamic bandwidth allocation and guaranteed bandwidth for each "important" application. Typically these are based on a "white list" of applications and users agreed with business management to reflect business service level and priority needs. This approach serves to align the network performance to real business needs. The policies are easily set up and managed through the NetPriva Console.

The effect of the NetPriva policy for an application is to provide guaranteed minimum bandwidth to the application (including the URL and Citrix ICA priority tag levels) covered by the policy. It can be specified as a % of the WAN link bandwidth or as absolute bandwidth in Kbps or Mbps. The policy is dynamic and comes into operation whenever there is congestion on the link. It does not restrict the bandwidth of other applications on the link if there is no important application traffic, or no congestion on the link.

Policies are easily set up on the NetPriva Console (see screen shot) and are stored by a NetPriva Collector installed on one of the LAN user PCs or a branch office or other remote server and are accessed on demand by the NetPriva Agent on each end point.

WAN application and user network statistics, including end to end round trip times, are captured by the NetPriva Agent installed on each desktop and collected by the NetPriva Collector for instant recall of any network scenario and for historical analysis and reporting.

The highly granular NetPriva application and user network statistics are stored in a relational database offering highly flexible and granular reporting from per second to per month reporting levels. As shown above, the statistics data can be accessed via the NetPriva Console in a variety of "Top Ten" data graphical views. Each view has instant drill down facilities to establish the root cause of a network performance problem "as it is happening" or as it happened at an earlier time. The database can also be accessed via SQL query tools and a choice of third party report writers, including Crystal Reports.

NetPriva network statistics data also facilitates capacity planning (sizing) for each WAN link based on actual observed traffic patterns on your network (as compared with theoretical estimates) to ensure it accommodates the total minimum bandwidth required for the time sensitive "important" application and user combinations that may be active at any one time.

Your preferred third party tool may be used for software distribution of EPDirect to remote locations. Included are Microsoft/SMS, Altiris, CA/Unicentre, HP/Radia, IBM/Tivoli, LANDesk,  Novell/ZENworks, WinInstall, SiteKeeper, or Symantec/Ghost. 

NetPriva Console displays real time and historical network data flows at granularities from one second upwards. Commonly used "Top ten" drill downs into the data are set up "out of the box" as part of EPDirect.

The importance of the per second granularity is that it captures the transient peaks that may point to the cause of a network performance problem. Such peaks are just not visible in a per minute, or worse, per five or ten minute view that are still commonly provided to users and customers to support service level questions and debates or arguments.

In addition, instant replay is available for any period earlier the same day, or on a previous day, week or month. In addition to the NetPriva Console views, this data is also available in SQL format to provide extensive reporting options. 

One or more spikes in a link dataflow chart may indicate unusual or inappropriate usage by an application or user. With just a few clicks various drill down charts will point to the cause of the problem.

The screen shot shows the application programs as identified by their .exe that were running at the time an their respective usage of the WAN link at the time. This provides certainty of application identification even in encrypted traffic environments.

Similarly, the user drill down chart shows the active users as identified by their user name on the WAN at the specified time.

Additional drill down may be into the applications run by one or more users. This combined with the application views provides the way to quickly and easily find the root causes of network response problems and set appropriate control policies.