| Application Performance Assessment
(APA) is a study that measures and evaluates the behavioral
characteristics of an application in terms of network traffic
flow and response time. An APA can measure application efficiency,
evaluate the applications architecture and transaction flows,
establish a baseline of the application transaction data volumes
and end-to-end response time, and identify anomalies and/or
bottlenecks in all application supporting devices (e.g. client,
servers, database, routers, switches, hubs, etc.). In addition,
the results of an APA can be used to estimate the impact of
varying network metrics will have on the applications response
time. By providing a performance “baseline”, an
APA provides a basis for proactive capacity planning and a focused
service level management program. As part of this engagement,
Adage will perform the following tasks:
- Identify and document critical transactions
- Create transaction mix
- Create Client Test Scenarios
- Run Test Scenarios and capture resulting data
- Analyzing Efficiency
- Extrapolate the impact of the move on response time
- Report initial findings
Capacity
Planning
The purpose of Capacity Planning is to analyze and predict
how a network and application will perform under various environmental
scenarios. Capacity Planning merges the results of a Network
Performance Assessment, an Application Profile, and a Traffic
Assessment to evaluate an infrastructure’s ability to
meet service level objectives and end-user expectations. Capacity
Planning tasks include creation of a baseline model that represents
the target infrastructure, creation of one or more capacity
planning scenarios, execution of “what-if” scenarios,
analysis of results, and if needed, optimization and verification
of planning scenarios. Some key deliverables included with
this offering are:
- Identifying appropriate user service levels to which
the environment must be tailored
- Pinpointing network or application infrastructure inefficiencies
or bottlenecks
- Developing "what-if" modeling scenarios to
determine the optimum network traffic patterns and application
architecture
- Crafting an implementation plan for ongoing policy and
service level management
Network Performance
Assessment (NPA)
The purpose of a Network Performance Assessment (NPA) is
to characterize the state and behavior of an existing network
infrastructure. It can identify network bottlenecks, insufficient
capacity for wide-area circuits, and sub-optimal operation
of network components. By providing a “baseline”
of network performance, this service provides the foundation
for infrastructure optimization and capacity planning.
The breadth and depth of a NPA can be customized to meet
a client’s specific needs, environment, and budget.
The breadth of an assessment refers to how many of the infrastructure
components will be evaluated. Adage can assess an entire network
infrastructure and all its associated components, or, and
more commonly, Adage can assess a subset of network components
which are most relevant to a specific performance issue. The
depth of an assessment refers to how much data collection
and what type of analysis will be performed against the network
components identified for assessment.
System Performance
Assessment
Adage’s System Performance Assessment service ensures
the success of your application deployment by:
- Establishing a performance baseline that identifies a
system’s configuration and performance attributes,
and provides a basis for comparing recent performance with
past and future performance
- Enabling evaluation of a network’s ability to satisfy
specific performance requirements and/or service levels
- Providing a basis for proactive resource and service
level planning
- Determining the readiness and impact of supporting new
business-critical services such as ERP applications and
converging data/voice/video services
- Maximizing return-on-investment for the existing network
infrastructure by fully exploiting its current capabilities
- Identifying performance bottlenecks and validating requirements
for network upgrades
Traffic Assessment
The purpose of a Traffic Assessment (TA) is to measure and
evaluate traffic flows across a network infrastructure. It
can identify the types of traffic flowing across a network,
protocol distributions, primary sources and destinations of
network traffic (top talkers), and how much traffic originates,
terminates, or transits a particular node or geographic region.
This type of information is crucial for supporting network
design and capacity planning decisions.
Traffic Assessments are almost always delivered in conjunction
with a Network Performance Assessment (NPA), and the results
of these two services directly complement each other. For
example, a NPA can identify what percentage of network resources
are being used, while a Traffic Assessment can identify what
applications and users are consuming those resources. Network
conversations are primarily monitored using RMON/RMON2 probes.
Adage’s Traffic Assessment helps to ensure the success
of your application deployment by:
- Identifying and categorizing the types of traffic traversing
a network
- Determining the types and distribution of network protocols
- Pinpointing primary sources and destinations of network
traffic (top talkers, top applications, etc.)
- Measuring how much traffic originates, terminates, or
transits a particular node or geographic region
- Supporting network design analysis including capacity
planning, and high-availability planning.
- Developing the design and implementation of traffic prioritization
schemes and QoS polices.
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