Diagnostics in MainView for IP

In MainView for IP, you can perform actions that provide diagnostic information.
  • When performing a ping in the Ping view, you can control the ping by also specifying the size of the ping (up to 65 kilobytes) and the number of repetitions (up to 32 echo messages).

    Pings help you determine the following information:

    • Network connectivity (whether the IP address is considered valid)

    • Destination host status (whether the destination host is operational)

    • Network loading and speed (how long it takes the replies to return)

    • Network errors (percentage of packets that are lost)

  • In the Traceroute Information view, you can perform a traceroute and view information about the traceroute. Traceroute information helps you pinpoint delays in your network.

    A traceroute is a series of pings that progress outward in incremental hops from the MainView for IP product address space (PAS) to the final destination for which the trace was requested. By default, each hop is sent three requests; the time taken to respond is determined from these requests.

  • In the Packet Tracing views, you can quickly start, stop, write, or display a trace on a packet. The Packet Tracing views provide all of the TCP/IP header and packet data to help you diagnose a problem on your network.

    Note

    The Packet Tracing view displays all of the packet data or the amount of data that has been specified in the Pkt Len field.

  • In the Packet Tracing view, multiple active traces are available for TCP/IP stacks. If a packet matches the filter for multiple traces on a given TCP/IP stack, it can be traced for each started packet trace that it matches.

  • In the Packet Tracing view, you can write a RAW packet trace to a data set in the raw IBM component trace format. This file is used as input into interactive problem control system (IPCS) to format the packet trace output, or to any other IBM utilities (for example, Stayton formatter). This file is also sent to IBM as diagnostics for debugging purposes.

  • In the Packet Tracing view, you can write a packet trace to a data set in SNIFFER format. This file is used as input into Wireshark.

  • In the Packet Headers view, you can display header information for packets that were traced. The packet headers will be written to MainView history files. The Log Packet Hdrs field must be set to YES when the packet trace is started.

  • In the Socket Tracing views, you can start, stop, write, or display a trace on a socket. The Socket Tracing views provide detailed information about a socket call, including all socket parameters and return codes.

Warning

If you are tracing a packet or a socket, and you cancel the PAS, you might receive an abend. BMC recommends that you shut down the PAS normally or stop the trace.

The following table describes the views that provide detailed information about pings, packet traces, socket traces, and traceroutes.

Diagnostics views

View

Description

PINGT

Ping Table view where you can add PING entries

PINGD

Displays information about a ping that you have performed

PKTTRACD

Displays details about a packet that has been traced

PKTTRACF

Lets you specify the filtering parameters for displaying or writing packet traces

PKTTRACE

Lets you start, stop, write, or display a trace on a packet

PKTTRACH

Displays details about packet headers for packets that have been traced

SKTTRACD

Displays details about a socket that has been traced

SKTTRACF

Lets you specify the filtering parameters for displaying or writing socket traces

SKTTRACE

Lets you start, stop, write, or display a trace on a socket

TRACERTE

Lets you perform a traceroute, and then displays information about the traceroute

TRACED

Displays information about the number of hops that were required to trace the IP address, and the time (reported in hundredths of a second) that was required to perform each hop

Trace analyzer (PTF BPN2471 applied)

With MainView for IP, you can quickly diagnose a network problem by running a packet trace and displaying packets or offloading the packet trace to a file.

The trace analyzer function provides an in-depth analysis of the packets. This includes a detailed analysis of all the TLS handshaking messages that establish a secure connection between the client and server. The user can view the cipher suites, session identifier, protocol version, certificates, and other data exchanged during the handshake process.

As you may be required to secure all TCP connections, failures from the SSL/TLS negotiation between the client and server are common and requires diagnosis. The trace analyzer highlights all handshaking failures such as expired certificates, revoked certificates, and invalid protocols.

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