How You Trace Packets

Packet tracing is a valuable tool for troubleshooting network connectivity problems. CA NetMaster NM for TCP/IP provides the following packet tracing facilities:

SmartTrace

Is the integrated real-time packet tracing facility for CA NetMaster NM for TCP/IP. SmartTrace lets you do the following:

Initiate a trace, and view the results in real time.
Define trace criteria using a panel interface.
Export trace data to libpcap or CTRACE format, enabling you to use the trace data with other packet tracing viewers.

CTRACE

Is a menu-assisted facility for starting and stopping IBM's component trace (SYSTCPDA) to obtain and view traces of IP packets. Using this facility, you can initiate a trace without having to know the commands required to start CTRACE.

Packet tracing has several access points:

The Packet Tracing Menu enables you to maintain SmartTrace definitions and records. The menu also provides an option to access CTRACE. You can enter the /SMART shortcut to access the menu.
For SmartTrace, the following access points are available:
- You can initiate a trace by using a line command from the IP Node Monitor, IP Resource Monitor, or a connection list.
- You can initiate a trace from resource management menus (for example, the Stack Management menu, which you access using the /STACK shortcut).