Replay: Apptimer - Performance Utility

 

I found this helpful utility at http://www.passmark.com/products/apptimer.htm through my internet travels.

AppTimer is a (from their website) "AppTimer will run an executable a number of times and time how long it takes for the application to reach a state ... before exiting the application. After each run of the application AppTimer will attempt to close the application in an automated fashion while logging the startup time measurements to a log file."

The key point to understand from this software is that AppTimer can measure time how long it takes for your application to reach the state where the user input is being accepted before exiting the application. For example if you use this to launch word and open a document, Word's application launch may be recorded, as well as opening the document.

The first plus that caught my eye was that this is a portable app, no installation required. I'm always looking for another utility for my troubleshooting USB drive.

I will run a test to see how I can use it in the field.

You should play with this utility on your computer to get the hang of it before going across a network.

Enjoy

Replay: A Fluffy Cloud

 

This is another popular slide from the Fluke XG Tour I did back in the day where I talk about how different network equipment might be tested differently.

Trying out Windows winget

 

This long-awaited feature from Windows has been available since Windows 10 and few people know anything about it.

I will admit this is more of a ‘desktop’ thing but even network analysts find themselves installing software or building remote troubleshooting tools for various reasons.

Winget is an alternative way of installing or upgrading software. I find this particularly helpful on my remote troubleshooting/network management computers.

Replay - Looking for HTTP Login Credentials With Wireshark

 

In this video I show you how to use Wireshark and where to look to find the login and password of a HTTP session.

Enjoy

Can’t Manage To Get Your Management Port?

 

A lot of my test equipment has ‘Management’ ports where you can remotely access the tool, pull data, etc. Unfortunately, most of the time the tool needs to sit in a data center where it gets pretty cold after a while, or a wiring closet where the room is typically limited and hot.

The problem I encounter is that the client won’t have an extra ethernet port to connect to. In some cases, if I have a spare switch, and if the customer switch isn’t configured for port security, I’m good to go. Sadly, that is the minority of the cases.

In the ’90s a few clients called me Mr. MacGyver because I would figure things out on the fly. So, I have come up with some creative ‘temporary’ solutions to access your tools.

Powerline; I have used powerline adapters to connect to the tool’s management port and then I use another powerline unit to connect to my computer. This is the easiest solution but only works about 50% of the time in most offices due to a variety of electrical issues, filters, etc.

Wi-Fi; There are 2 options here. One is to connect a wireless access point to the tool’s management port and create an SSID to connect to. I have a few ‘travel’ routers that are super small (the size of a deck of cards), powered via USB or battery, and can be configured as an access point or wireless station. The issue is that you need to be within range. The second option is to use the travel router as a wireless client, configure it as you would your workstation, and now you can connect to the tool from anywhere on the clients’ network.

Just make sure you get the ok from the client’s security team 😉