ACEAnalyst

TM

TM
A n a l y t i c s f o r N e t w o r k e d A p p l i c a t i o n s
 Analytics for Networked Applications

Today’s enterprises rely on networked applications to conduct business. Poorly performing

applications result in loss of business productivity, impacting the bottom line. Yet,
performance problems with production applications are common, and new
application deployments are often delayed, or even fail, due to perform-
ance issues.

The end-to-end performance of networked applications depends

on complex interactions among applications, servers, and
networks. Performance must be managed throughout the
application lifecycle, starting before deployment, and con-
tinuing throughout operation and maintenance. Applica-
tion per formance management ensures that
applications perform effectively in production, that
Certify
application performance
systems have adequate capacity to support them,
before deployment
and that networks provide efficient connectivity to
meet service-level objectives.
Expedite
OPNET's ACE solutions provide performance man- production application
agement throughout the application life cycle. troubleshooting

“
ACE Analyst embeds expert knowledge about how
applications, servers, and networks interact, pro- Validate
"Performance management has to be
viding a comprehensive understanding of the end-to- post-deployment
viewed from an end-user perspective,
end performance of networked applications. Its changes
and application transactions need to be
tracked end-to-end through the entire powerful, intuitive analysis environment enables
infrastructure including client devices, application pre-deployment certification, validates
network connections, application planned changes, and accelerates troubleshooting per-
servers and databases. The IT opera- formance problems in production applications.
tions group will gain improved productiv-
ity and reduced troubleshooting time by
using integrated solutions that address ACE Analyst Return on Investment
this end-to-end requirement.”
Accelerate Problem Resolution

Milind Govekar
Research Vice President
” ACE Analyst quickly diagnoses the root cause of performance
problems. Actionable reports point to solutions that can in turn
Gartner, Inc. be validated in ACE Analyst before deployment.

Ensure Successful Application Deployment

ACE Analyst accurately predicts application performance before deployment,
and automates key aspects of infrastructure planning.

Manage Application Performance

ACE Analyst optimizes application performance to meet service level objectives, and to ensure efficient,
effective infrastructure investments.

Reduce Risks and Costs Associated with Post-Deployment Changes

Validate proposed changes in the OPNET virtual environment to avoid spending time and money in the wrong
places.

OPNET Technologies, Inc.

ACE Workflow
Clients

Capture
Application Traces NAM Blade

DB Servers
Easily deploy OPNET’s free, lightweight, and secure cap-
ture agents throughout your infrastructure, to capture Web Server
“fingerprints” of multi-tier application transactions.
Manage agents remotely via a Web browser.
Data Center ACE Agents

Visualize
Transactions
Understand application
behavior at the applica-
tion-transaction level and
network-packet level through a
series of intuitive, powerful, graphical dia-
grams. Visualize the interactions and
dependencies among clients, the network,
application servers, and databases.

Diagnose
Performance Problems
Leverage ACE Analyst’s transaction-level
decodes and automated diagnostic reports to
identify and resolve performance bottle-
necks. Decode captured application informa-
tion to identify, for example, the exact
application messages that cause unaccept-
able processing delays.

Validate
Solutions
Quickly evaluate the impact on end-to-end
response times by changing network
parameters or by modifying the applica-
tion design. Effectively plan for multi-
ple users, servers, and
applications, and determine
the network impact of new
application deploy-
ments.

Report
Results
Automatically generate standardized professional-quality
reports for network engineers, application developers,
and management.

“
“Our support and performance teams
regularly use ACE Analyst for produc-
tion troubleshooting and application
analysis prior to deployment. In 2006,
we analyzed 100% of our business
critical applications before they were
deployed to our network. Our success
using ACE Analyst to troubleshoot pro-
duction applications has motivated an
initiative to deploy OPNET’s free and
secure ACE Capture Agents to all
workstations and servers throughout
the enterprise."
OPNET Support Team
Fortune 500 Financial Company
” ACE Analyst simplifies the process of acquiring application transactions from your network. From the central
OPNET Technologies, Inc.
Capture Application Traces
Clients
ACE Analyst analyzes application transactions from
your QA lab or production network by directly captur-
ing packet traces from end systems utilizing free NAM Blade
ACE Capture Agents. Alternatively, where access to DB Servers
end systems is not available, ACE Analyst supports
Web Server
trace import from popular third-party network analyzers, App Servers
including Network General Sniffer, Cisco NAM, NetScout
nGenius, and from common utilities such as tcpdump.
Data Center ACE Agents
DEPLOY SECURE CAPTURE AGENTS
ACE agents are free, secure, and lightweight, and ideal for Leverage extensive coverage across your entire
network with unlimited secure capture agents
large-scale deployments. They can be incorporated in standard provided free with ACE Analyst.
workstation and server software images, or distributed using
email for simple installation by remote users. Agents are available for all major operating system environments.
MANAGE AGENTS CENTRALLY
ACE Analyst console, with one click you can perform coordinated transaction packet captures from multiple
network tiers. ACE Enterprise Management Server provides a Web portal interface for centrally managing
remote agents.
CAPTURE INTERMITTENT PROBLEMS
For intermittent performance problems, for which on-demand data capture is impractical, ACE supports con-
tinuous packet capture. Captured traces are stored locally in a rolling buffer at the end system. A targeted
transaction trace can then be selectively extracted and analyzed in response to a report of slow response
time. Packet captures can be scheduled if transactions are to be captured off-hours or during a pre-set time
window. ACE Capture Agents also simultaneously collect Windows performance statistics.
LEVERAGE END-USER-DRIVEN FORENSIC CAPTURES
With ACE Enterprise Management Server, at the click of a button, end-users can quickly and easily indicate
when they are experiencing a performance problem. This enables the easy capture and simplified retrieval of
a problematic transaction for forensic analysis and troubleshooting.
INTEGRATE WITH APPLICATION MONITORING
ACE Analyst integrates with active response time monitoring solu-
tions, including OPNET SLA Commander, to proactively identify
transactions with unacceptable response times, and automatical-
ly archive trace captures of the scripted multi-tier application trans-
action. Integrations with other monitoring solutions include Mercury
Interactive Topaz and LoadRunner, HP OVIS, Segue SilkVision, and
IBM Rational Robot.
SYNCHRONIZE MULTIPLE TRACES
ACE Analyst is unique in its ability to automatically synchronize and
merge application traces captured from different application tiers
that comprise a single end-to-end transaction. This makes ACE
best-in-class at analyzing multi-tier applications, especially in dis-
Easily browse large capture files to selectively
tributed production environments.
extract a targeted transaction trace.
Visualize Transactions

ACE Analyst graphically represents application behavior in a series of intuitive, powerful diagrams to expedite
the resolution of performance problems in multi-tier applications.

ISOLATE APPLICATION MESSAGE FLOWS

ACE Analyst allows you to view end-to-end behavior across an
n-tier network, and isolate specific conversation pairs using
advanced graphical filtering mechanisms.
VISUALIZE APPLICATION PERFORMANCE
ACE Analyst provides a full time-synchronized view of your
application’s behavior. Visualize application message turns
and system performance statistics at problematic tiers. Apply
pre-defined coloring and labeling schemes for protocol-specif-
ic visualizations including CORBA, SOAP, SMB, and MS SQL, or
create your own customized visualization schemes.
DRILL-DOWN INTO APPLICATION MESSAGES
Isolate specific conversation pairs using
advanced graphical filtering mechanisms.
“
“ACE Analyst has identified bottle-
necks attributed to application packet
sizing and capacity thresholds with
server processors as well as conflict-
ing applications. These accurate diag-
nostics were instrumental in
preventing costly network upgrades
and extensive server replacements. In
each of these instances, prior to
OPNET, the initial indicators pointed to
the network as the root cause while
all of the metrics and measurements
of the network indicated sufficient

ACE Analyst leverages detailed application and protocol available bandwidth.”

decodes to provide visibility into code-level application statements. Understand cause and effect by drilling
down to specific application messages. Vice President
Business Technology Planning
”
UNDERSTAND DEPENDENCIES IMPACTING PERFORMANCE Banknorth Group, Inc.
ACE Analyst graphically displays the dependencies among application messages to pinpoint processing
delays. ACE Analyst automatically deconstructs the application transaction to determine protocol delay,
error messages, retransmissions, and arrival times.
Drill-down into
transactions
between appli-
cation tiers to
identify the spe-
cific statement SERVER STATISTICS shows system
in the applica- performance at any tier.
tion code that is
causing the
problem.

APPLICATION MESSAGE CHART

shows the application requests and
responses between the server and
the client.

NETWORK PACKET CHART shows

packets at the network level. In
this example, a large application
message is composed of many net-
work packets.

PROTOCOL DECODE VIEWER

shows specific transactions
responsible for bottlenecks.

Customize visualizations by creating “balloon” labels Visualize application behavior from both system and net-
on packets or messages of interest. work perspectives, for a full time-synchronized picture of
your application's performance.

“
“As it turns out, expensive upgrades
were not required. By optimizing serv-
er configuration and TCP settings, net-
work resource efficiency was doubled,
and average response time reduced
by more than 10%.”
"OPNET's software enables us to
avoid unnecessary costs and improve
application performance."
District Manager
Business Solutions
AT&T
“If you consider the time that we’re
saving end-users, the amount of CPU
utilization we cut, and the speed with
which we got the problem solved, you
can see how a solution like ACE can
pay for itself pretty quickly."
Communications Network Specialist
Operations Systems Center
US Coast Guard
” ACE Analyst provides application-specific per- The AppDoctor Diagnosis tab explains specific sources of
OPNET Technologies, Inc.
Diagnose Performance Problems
ACE Analyst applies expert knowledge to automatically troubleshoot application data captured in the QA lab
or from the production environment, providing a detailed understanding of the end-to-end performance of com-
plex, multi-tier applications.
SUMMARIZE COMPONENTS OF DELAY
ACE Analyst generates summary reports that clearly show the factors that contribute to end-to-end response
time, including transmission and propagation delay, network congestion, protocol overhead, and processing
at each application tier.
AUTOMATE DIAGNOSIS OF PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS
ACE Analyst automatically analyzes the applica-
tion at each tier to assess potential bottlenecks
and provides recommendations for fine-tuning
application and network parameters to improve
performance. For example, determine if applica-
tion "chattiness" or TCP windowing between a
specific client and server are causing perform-
ance issues.
ANALYZE APPLICATION STATISTICS
Detailed ACE Analyst reports present a broad
range of important statistics, including processing
delays, network delays, response times, applica-
tion turns, and application messages. Thresholds
for key applications statistics are used to gener-
ate informative reports that characterize prob-
lems.
DECODE PROBLEMATIC TRANSACTIONS
formance analysis with the ability to display more delay and provides recommendations.
than 700 application and network decodes,
including support for Wireshark/Ethereal. Supported protocols include Oracle, Citrix (Citrix MetaFrame Pre-
sentation 3.0 and 4.0, Citrix MetaFrame XP), MS SQL, VoIP, HTTP, Web Services (.NET, SOAP, UDDI), CORBA,
Financial Information eXchange (FIX), SSL, FTP, SMTP, POP3, SMB, NetBIOS, Novell, Sun NFS, RPC, and Cisco
routing and VLAN. In addition, ACE Analyst provides a simple, powerful, scripting language for creating new
analyses and visualizations.
INTEGRATE WITH OPNET PANORAMA
Drill down into the application processing tier by leveraging Panorama’s transaction tracing, and server-based
metric collection and analysis. Panorama provides visibility into performance-critical Java and .NET applica-
tion code through a detailed, diagrammatic presentation of execution times at the method level, with drill-down
to specific application statements.
 AppDoctor summarizes the
sources of response time delay
in an intuitive pie chart.

ACE Analyst integrates with OPNET Panorama’s Java trans-

action tracing capability to offer a unique time-aligned view
of network and server traces.

Further drill-down allows users to identify the breakdown of classes

and methods that consume the most time.

“
“Through 2009, more than 80% of
application per formance and avail-
ability failures will be blamed on net-
work problems, but the network will
actually represent less than 20% of
the root cause.”
Gartner Presentation
“Network Management: Tools of the
Trade, Trends and Best Practices”,
Debra Curtis, November 14-16, 2006.
“I bought this tool out of self-defense,
because when applications don't func-
tion the way the user expects, the prob- response times of adjustments to key network parameters, such as latency, bandwidth, packet loss, con-
lem is always ‘the network is
dragging!’”
Director of Enterprise Networks and
Integration Services
Ahold USA
” work Planner provides the unique ability to model the behavior of the network end-to-end, including routers,
OPNET Technologies, Inc.
Validate Solutions
ACE Analyst provides an intuitive analysis environment for validating proposed changes to the application
design or network parameters. ACE Analyst also predicts the performance of applications in different deploy-
ment environments with advanced analytical modeling of response times in various what-if scenarios.
EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE IMPACT
OF APPLICATION DESIGN DECISIONS
ACE Analyst allows you to modify application messages within cap-
tured traces to quickly assess the projected impact of revisions to
the application code and behavior. ACE Whiteboard models appli-
cation behavior using an intuitive graphical interface. Modify ACE
Analyst files from previously captured transactions or create new
application models from scratch. Insert logic scripts into an ACE
Whiteboard file to model complex application-layer logic and behav-
ior, including user interaction with the application. Virtual transac-
tions created with ACE Whiteboard can leverage the full analysis Evaluate the impact on response times
capabilities of ACE Analyst. of changes to key network parameters.
PREDICT THE EFFECTS OF CHANGES TO NETWORK ENVIRONMENTS
With an easy workflow, QuickPredict offers a fast, detailed analysis of the projected impact on end-to-end
gestion, and TCP window size. To incorporate the impact of many simultaneous transactions, Multi-User
QuickPredict models response time in virtual environments encompassing multiple clients, servers, and appli-
cations, enabling automated planning for link capacity.
VALIDATE INFRASTRUCTURE READINESS FOR NEW DEPLOYMENTS
ACE Analyst tightly integrates with IT Guru Network Planner to perform comprehensive infrastructure readiness
assessments, providing analysis of the impact of the network on the application, and vice versa. IT Guru Net-
switches, servers, and the individual applications they support. Plan the deployment of new applications and
technologies such as VoIP and VPNs; right-size capacity to support projected traffic growth; achieve service
level compliance through QoS and traffic engineering;
and ensure network survivability and security.
Model response times in deployment scenarios encom- Architect and edit applications using ACE Whiteboard’s
passing multiple clients, servers, and applications, with intuitive graphical interface.
Multi-User QuickPredict.
Report Results

ACE Analyst automatically generates standardized, professional-quality reports for network engineers, appli-
cation developers, and management.

AUTOMATICALLY GENERATE ACTIONABLE REPORTS

“
“ACE is easy enough to use that even
a novice can leverage it to identify prob-
At the click of a button, ACE Analyst automatically creates professional-quality, structured reports including
lems that would ordinarily require con-
an executive-level summary of the full application analysis for management. A typical ACE Analyst report fea-
siderable expertise to uncover.
tures a hyperlinked table of contents, a detailed diagnostic section for troubleshooting and planning, and a
Because of ACE, every member of my
full appendix with suggestions and explanations to supplement this information.
team can make valuable contributions
CHOOSE FROM A VARIETY OF SPECIALIZED REPORT TYPES with half the effort.”

Choose from a variety of report types to make recommenda-

tions to management, and provide supporting diagrams,
graphs, and statistics.
Network Capacity Planner,
Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG)
”

EASILY CUSTOMIZE REPORTS

ACE Analyst diagnostic reports are available in Word and
HTML formats. Optionally select visualizations and sta-
tistics to include in reports, or automatically export ACE
statistics to a spreadsheet.

Share information with your team

and management, or with other IT
organizations, using ACE Web
reports. ACE Web reports provide a
vehicle for collaboration between IT
organizations, promoting coopera-
tion and reducing finger pointing.

Easily customize diagnostic reports with content of your

choice.
 Extend the Value of ACE Analyst
with Other OPNET Solutions

OPNET Panorama provides real-time performance analysis of complex Java/.NET applications by monitoring systems
and application metrics from within each server, across all tiers. Panorama extends the value of ACE by providing
enhanced visibility into performance-critical application code through a detailed presentation of execution times at
the method level, with drill-down to specific application statements. As a result, ACE Analyst provides a unique visu-
alization of time-aligned network and
server traces.

Identify top offenders with advanced deviation tracking.

Automatically correlate thousands

of application and system metrics
across multiple tiers to pinpoint a
handful of possible suspects. Analyze load test performance with an "inside" view
into your Java/.NET application.

Easily visualize historical trends.

SLA Commander generates synthetic transactions to

monitor the response time and availability of Web appli-
cations, generating alerts when performance falls below
acceptable levels. Active monitoring with SLA Comman-
der complements ACE Live by proactively detecting
issues even in the absence of user activity. SLA Com-
mander tightly integrates with ACE capture agents to
automatically capture and archive packet traces of slow
transactions for subsequent analysis in ACE Analyst.
Identify problem areas at-a-glance with an
intuitive web-based dashboard.

OPNET Technologies, Inc.

 ““Prior to our work with OPNET, IT engi-
neers spent a significant amount of
time analyzing trace data and perform-
ance metrics, frequently arriving at dif-
ferent and conflicting conclusions on
the cause of performance problems...
We want to spend less time firefighting
and spend more time focusing on Sun-
Trust’s strategic business goals.
OPNET is a key enabler in this transfor-

End-User Experience Monitoring & Real-Time Network Analytics

mation."
Powered by Network Physics®

ACE Live delivers an end-to-end solution that spans monitoring, measurement, and detection of violations. It
bridges seamlessly into uncovering the root-cause of application performance problems via rapid, integrated trou-
Manager
Network Planning and Engineering
”
bleshooting with OPNET’s ACE Analyst. ACE Live provides real-time visibility of all transactions and users across SunTrust Banks, Inc.
the enterprise, with detailed real-
time and historical information
about per formance, utilization,
route quality, ISP performance, and
end-user response times.

Quantify end-user response time by

components such as payload trans-
fer time, network latency, and
retransmission delay.

Network Planning and Engineering for Enterprises

ACE Analyst traces and ACE Whiteboard models can be used with IT Guru Network Planner to perform
detailed network planning to support application deployment or optimization. IT Guru Network Planner pro-
vides the unique ability to model the behavior of the network end-to-end, including routers, switches, servers,
and the individual applications they support. Users are better able to plan the deployment of new applications
and technologies such as VoIP and VPNs; right-size capacity to support projected traffic growth; achieve serv-
ice level compliance through QoS and traffic engineering; and ensure network survivability and security.

Plan for new technologies

such as VoIP, VLANs, VPNs,
and telepresence.
Validate backup capacity and configuration
with survivability analysis.

Potential capacity problems Predict the impact of network

growth and change.
 OPNET Customers About OPNET Technologies
(partial list)

Abbott Laboratories OPNET Technologies, Inc. is a leading provider of management software Kraft Foods
ACCOR Las Vegas Valley Water District
Accenture for networks and applications. OPNET's best-in-class solutions address: Logitech
Ashland Inc. Medtronic
Avery Dennison
application performance management, network operations, capacity Merck
Bank of Montreal NBC Universal
planning and design, and network R&D. OPNET solutions have been NCR
Bank of Oklahoma
Baptist Healthcare operationally proven in thousands of customer environments world- New York Life Insurance Co
BB&T Northern Trust Company
Blue Cross Blue Shield wide, including corporate and government enterprises, defense agen- Norwich Union Healthcare
BNP Paribas Factor Office Depot
BNSF Railway Company cies, network service providers, and network equipment Oracle
Capital One Financial PacifiCare
Cardinal Health manufacturers. For more information about OPNET and its products, Paychex Inc
Cargill PetroCanada
Cargolux Airlines visit www.opnet.com. PetSmart
Chevron Texaco RadioShack
Continental Airlines Saudi Aramco
CP Ships Scientific Games Corporation
CSX Technology Smithsonian Institution
Cummins Southern California Edison
CVS State Compensation Insurance Fund
Deutsche Post AG State Street Corp.
Ernst & Young Sunrise Senior Living
Exec. Office of the President
Family Dollar Stores Inc
Other ACE Solutions SunTrust Banks
Swiss Re
Fed. Aviation Administration Toronto Police Service
Federal Bureau of Investigation Total
Fed. Communications Commission TransCanada PipeLine
Federated Mutual Insurance
First American Title Ins. Co.
ACE Enterprise Management Server
TM
T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.
Twentieth Century Fox
Food and Drug Administration Centralized capture agent management for enterprises UnitedHealth Group
Freightliner Corporation U.S. Dept. of Commerce
GEICO Insurance U.S. Dept. of State
U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs
GlaxoSmithKline
GMAC Mortgage
IBM Global Services
ACE Live TM
VF Services
Vision Service Plan
Independence Blue Cross End-user experience monitoring and real-time network analytics. Waste Management
Intercontinental Hotels Group Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
Internal Revenue Service Xerox
Jacobs Engineering Zions Bank

Awards Forbes
For Financial Performance
NetworkWorld
200

Networld+Interop and COMDEX

Best of Show
NetworkWorld
Best of the Tests

SUPERCOMM
OPNET Technologies, Inc. Best E-Business Solution
7255 Woodmont Avenue
Network Computing Bethesda, Maryland 20814
Company to Watch phone: (240) 497-3000
email: info@opnet.com

NASDAQ: OPNT
www.opnet.com
© 2008 OPNET Technologies, Inc. OPNET, IT Guru, and OPNET Technologies are trademarks or service marks of OPNET.
Other trademarks or service marks appearing in this document are the property of their respective owners.
ACE Analyst includes: i) software developed by the OpenSSL Pro-
ject for use in the OpenSSL Toolkit (http://wwwopenssl.org/), ii)
software written by Eric Young (eay@cryptsoft.com), iii) software
developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contribu-
tors, iv) software developed by the Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan
and its contributors, and v) software developed by Yen Yen Lim and
North Dakota State University.
The ACE Decode Module is provided with comprehensive applica-
tion and protocol decodes from OPNET or other licensors. Addition-
al details available from OPNET.
ACE Analyst Plus is subject to one or more United States patents.