NetEqualizer News Blog

Release 8.4: Preview

We have been working hard on Release 8.4 and are excited to release the new features! Here are a couple of our favorites:

See an nslookup of a host directly below the IP address in RTR – This is a feature often requested by our customers with networks where an IP address translates to a hostname. For administrators with these networks, you’ll now be able to quickly see the hostname associated with an IP in every screen within RTR!

We’ve enhanced our messaging within RTR to help guide usage – This includes enhancements to error messages and status messages to make RTR even easier for you to use!

Look for more announcements on Release 8.4, currently planned for Dec/Jan timeframe, in upcoming newsletters.

DDoS In The Field

One of the challenges when creating a security tool is validating that it works when it really matters.

We have heard, via anonymous sources, that many of the high-dollar solutions out there create bloated, rotting piles of information, whose only purpose is to look impressive due to their voluminous output. These tools cover everything, leaving the customer to decide what to do; which is usually nothing or some misguided task.

These non-specific tools are about as useful as a weather forecast that predicts everything all the time. Rain, snow, wind, hot, cold, for everyday of the year. If you predict everything you can’t be wrong?

On the other hand, the reports from the field coming in for our DDoS tool are:

Yes, it works.
Yes, it is simple to use.
Yes, it takes action when appropriate.

We have confirmation that our DDoS tool, combined with our shaping algorithms, has kept some very large institutions up and running while under very heavy, sophisticated DDoS attacks.

The reason is simple:

We first look at the pattern of incoming packets in a normal situation. When the pattern reaches a watermark that is clearly beyond normal, we block those incoming circuits.

If needed, we can also take a softer approach, so the attacker is not aware we are throttling them. This is needed because in some situations outright blocking will alert the attacker you are on to them and cause the attacker to double-down.

When under DDoS attack you don’t need reports; you need immediate action. If you would like to discuss our solution in more detail feel free to contact us!

NE5000: Almost Ready for Primetime!
& Exciting Test Lab Results

Just a few minor tweaks and presto! Our new NE5000 will be ready to go! The test lab box is humming along with 125,000 connections per second, and pushing a sustained 8.5 Gbps up and 8.5 Gbps down without a hiccup.

There is nothing else out there on the market with that kind of shaping power close to our price point. The Layer 7 and deep packet inspection technologies are just way too CPU intensive to keep up with our price/performance curve. So what has happened since we last talked about our NE5000?

1. We revamped the Fiber Cards offered with it to take advantage of multiple CPU’s handling and processing interrupts. This boosted our speed and processing to go near line speed on 10Gig without sacrificing any shaping features.
2. Even the search features in the GUI connection table are lightning quick – running a table size of 250,000 entries!
3. It still comes standard with a DUAL power supply.
4. Failover Internal Fiber ports – there is nothing external to wire.
5. And the best part is… we lowered the list price from $30,000 to $20,000!

Now, you don’t have to create a new budget to get the security of a solid bandwidth shaper at those line speeds. Contact us if you are interested in a new unit or upgrading.

Imagine If…
What Would Help You?

As a networking tool vendor we cannot possibly figure out what is needed in the marketplace without the help of our customers! Many of our best features came directly from you!

Winter break is a time when we experiment with new exciting features and product ideas. If you get a chance, take a moment to think of that killer app that would help you, the IT administrator, with your job.

Imagine If…

There are no rules here! Feel free to be creative! Imagine a robot that goes around and does your job. What are some of the things you would want that robot to do?

Should we adopt your idea, we would also be open to sharing licensing and revenue. Please contact us with your thoughts!

Best Of The Blog

By Art Reisman – CTO – APconnections

Oh, how times have changed. I noticed this article from 2010 was getting some recent traffic in our blog. If you read it carefully you’ll see that our basic advice for capacity planning is still relevant. Only, I had to laugh at the specific examples and numbers we used as they are woefully out-of-date.

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After many years of consulting and supporting the networking world with WAN optimization devices, we have sensed a lingering fear among Network Administrators who wonder if their capacity is within the normal range.

So the question remains:

How much bandwidth can you survive with before you impact morale or productivity?

The formal term we use to describe the number of users sharing a network link to the Internet is contention ratio. This term is defined as the size of an Internet trunk divided by the number of users. We normally think of Internet trunks in units of megabits. For example, 10 users sharing a one megabit trunk would have a 10-to-1 contention ratio. If sharing the bandwidth on the trunk equally and simultaneously, each user could sustain a constant feed of 100 kbps, which is exactly 1/10 of the overall bandwidth…