How to troubleshoot Internet App?

[sohtnax]

I am using version Sniffer 4.5, and would like to use the software to see if I can find the root of a problem we've been having at a client site.

We have web based software in which clients can enter data as well as pull up reports. At one site in particular, the users have been complaining about reports taking 15 minutes to come up and frequent IE errors. I'd like to find the root of this problem or at least prove to them that it is in fact their network. Does anyone have any filters I could use or setting suggestions? This client has a HUGE network.


Thanks!

 

[portable]

The best way to find out what exactly is happening on the NW is to have sniffers on the client and server segments, run captures and use the Multi Trace Option feature of the Sniffer nPO Manager product to trace a packet from client to server and back and find out where the bottleneck is.

Maybe you can apply filters for conversations between any one client and the application servers and see the server response time. Some possible problems could be...
Problem 1. The request and \ or response take a long time to get to \ from the server due to Network delays.
2 possible solutions could be ...
1.1 Find out who or what is choking the network. You could take a look at the top 10 talkers and the top protocols. If it's non business related, you would need to clamp down on those talkers.

or

1.2 Find out if the NW link is maxed out. Maybe it's time to upgrade the equipment....?

Problem 2. The request gets to the server quickly, but the server takes a long time in processing it and generating. This could be because the server is not configured properly - if it's a database, you may need to tune the queries and optimize them. Maybe you've reached the maximum connection limit of the server and need to invest in another server. If you have multiple servers, maybe the load balancing is not working. The solutions will vary in each case.

Regarding IE crash, it would probably be because invalid data is being sent from the application to the client. Or, in case the client requires some JRE, or 3rd party controls - maybe there is a version mismatch or missing component on the client.

 

[nevismanuk]

How do I set the timestamps to record the lenght of request and response packets for TCP sessions.