Distinct Corporation announced the release of version 5.1 of Distinct Network Monitor, its network monitoring and statistical reporting product for IT and software engineering professionals that helps pinpoint problems with network traffic and provides detailed statistical information about that traffic. When collecting only network statistics, a new database file will even be automatically opened when no more data can be written to the first one.

    This new version removes the stress from needing to be at a specific system at a specific time because it is now possible to schedule packet captures and network statistics to run and stop at specified times. Enhanced Statistics module with new Report Builder. Distinct Network Monitor version 5 saves all statistical sampling to an Access database. It comes with a separate report building application that allow administrators to get different views of the statistical sampling taken on their networks.

    With Network Monitor automatically doing all the capturing, all that is left for the administrator to do is to run the reports needed by management to monitor network activity and these too can be scheduled to run automatically on a daily basis. The combination of Distinct Network Monitor and its ReportBuilder allows automated network traffic monitoring and reporting letting the IT professional concentrate on other areas of network management.

    With the new scheduling feature, IT professionals no longer have to remember to start and stop Distinct Network Monitor when trying to build a constant record of traffic during specific time periods. All they need to do is to set the parameters to be used for the capture, such as a special filter and schedule the monitor to start and stop at any given time. It is now possible to automate a daily capture from 6.00 am to 6.00 pm or start a capture at any time of night without needing to be present.

    In addition to pre-built report templates, the new ReportBuilder allows to create custom templates tailored to specific needs. Reports include Bandwidth calculation for both IP traffic as well as all network traffic, IP applications, IP traffic by system, detailed reports for HTTP and FTP traffic and many more. ReportBuilder comes with its own scheduler allowing you to conveniently run reports overnight. Reports can be run on live captures or completed captures.

Other features new in version 5
    - Enhanced capture driver and parsing capabilities. Distinct Network Monitor version 5 has an enhanced capture driver as well as the ability to scroll through very large capture files fast. Additionally it now allows users to fine tune buffer sizes to enhance performance on a system basis.
    - The ability to search packet captures for packets while the capture is still active, making it even easier for you to track down live problems.
    - A new Packet Generator for software developers and network administrators needing to test custom packets on their networks.
    - A user-definable live-statistics window that can be customized to span from a quarter of an hour to two hours of the most recent traffic.
    - Additional Tools have been added. Among these is a utility application that can be run to discover systems that are currently active on your network and identify several server types such as FTP, SMTP or HTTP.

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