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Tip of the Month

February 2003

What’s in a Name? (Table, that is)

The Peek products automatically provide you with the source and destination physical (MAC) and logical (network layer) address, but oftentimes it’s beneficial to have additional information associated with the address.

1. If you see an address that you want to assign a name to, it’s as easy as a right click. From Packets, Nodes, Peer Map and the Expert tab you can right click and use the “Insert Into Name Table.” Give the entry a name, and if you like, a color. The “Node type” can be set and then the associated icon will be used when you look at the peer map.
2. The Peek products will automatically attempt to determine a name for an address based on the packets on the network. Or, if you’d like, you can explicitly “Resolve Names” against a DNS Server. Choose the nodes in which you’re interested, Right Click and choose “Resolve Names.” A DNS query will automatically be sent out and the resolved name(s) added to your name table.
3. Which brings us to the fruits of your labor. All of the named devices can be viewed and edited from the name table: View/Name Table. If you’re not seeing your named devices in the Packets view, it’s probably because you need to make a few simple changes. Make sure you’ve got the “Source” and “Destination” columns turned on. Also, check that the View/Display Format has the “Name Table Entry” checked as well as the appropriate address type checked.

Curious about how to do more with the name table? Search the product Help with the phrase “Name Table” or better, come to WildPackets Academy WP101 Network Troubleshooting Methods class where the application of this and troubleshooting methodologies are discussed in detail.