protocol analyser

communications, hardware, networking, testing, tool Any

device that captures and interprets the network traffic

between two or more connected computer systems. The traffic

can then be decoded so that it is possible to see what

processes are occurring.

By examining the flow of traffic, protocol analysers can be

used to find out where problems (such as bottlenecks or the

failure of a network device) are on a LAN.

Advanced protocol analysers can also provide statistics on

the traffic that can help to identify trends that may in

future lead to further problems with the network.

(2000-07-24)