Overview
The MLPPP Analyzer can be used to capture and decode a host of PPP protocols exchanged between pairs of nodes
over T1/E1 links. It provides useful analysis of the PPP, MLPPP, and MC-MLPPP protocols which includes distribution of
protocols, protocol fields, frame lengths and frame status.
A user can obtain detail analysis of the protocol and can perform various statistics measurements. MLPPP analyzer also
supports Packet Data Analysis module (requires additional license) to perform detail analysis
of MLPPP packets over IP and segregates them into SIP / H323 / Megaco / MGCP / T.38 Fax calls.
|
|
|
GL Communications supports the following types of MLPPP analyzers:
- Real-time MLPPP Analyzer with Packet Data Analysis (Pre-requisites: GL's field proven E1 or T1 internal cards or USB Laptop E1 or T1 external units, required
licenses and Windows XP (or higher) Operating System)
- Offline/Remote MLPPP Analyzer (Pre-requisites: Hardware Dongle and Windows XP (or higher) Operating System)
The Packet Data Analysis feature in Real-time MLPPP Analyzer is an outstanding tool for live monitoring of VoIP traffic. It can
segregate IP traffic into SIP / H323 / Megaco / MGCP / T.38 Fax calls, collect statistics, CDRs, detailed protocol traces, ladder diagrams. Users can also listen/record
audio and video data of a session in real-time, perform video analysis with ease and precision, get an exact picture of QoS (quality of the service), and a host of
other useful information about VoIP calls. For more information, refer to Packet Data Analysis in MLPPP webpage for more details.
In addition, GL’s T1E1 Analyzer includes client-server based MC-MLPPP Emulator
that can further help in analysis & emulation of MC-MLPPP, MLPPP, & PPP.
Screen Shot of MLPPP Analyzer Main Window
Main Features
- Supports a host of protocols PPP, MLPPP, Multi-class MLPPP, IPCP, BCP, PPP MUX CP, CRTP, BPDU, PAP, CHAP, SNMP, STUN, DNS, and DHCP.
- Ability to test and perform numerous measurements across WAN- LAN or LAN-LAN connection.
- Ability to test and analyze HDLC based PPP protocol, PPP SIGTRAN, and PPP over IP protocols in synchronous environment.
- Search and filtering capabilities for both real-time as well as offline analysis.
- Displays Summary, Detail, Hex-dump, Statistics, and Call Trace Views, the contents of this view can also be copied to clipboard.
- Summary View provides the information about few important fields (Dev #, Time Slot, Layer 3 Protocol, LCP message type and higher protocol specific
information like Destination and Source IP address, Destination and Source TCP as well as UDP port details, and so on).
- Statistics View displays statistics based on frame count, byte count, frames/sec, bytes/sec etc for the entire capture data.
- Hex dump view displays raw frame data as hexadecimal and ASCII octet dump, the contents of this view can also be copied to clipboard.
- Detail View displays decodes of user-selected frames from the Summary View.
- Also supports Packet Data Analysis module for real-time IP call analysis including SIP, RTP, MEGACO, H.323, & MGCP & T.38
Fax calls.
- Any protocol field can be added to the summary view, filtering, and search features providing users more flexibility to monitor required protocol fields.
- Supports decoding of frames with two MLPPP layers.
- Detail information of all the captured Frames or only the filtered frames can be exported to ASCII file for the further off-line analysis and printed.
- Capability to export Summary View details to comma separated values (CSV) format for subsequent import into a database or spreadsheet.
- Capability to export detail decodes information to an ASCII file.
- Multiple bundle of MLPPP traffic on various T1/E1 channels can be simultaneously decoded with-in same or different GUI instances.
- Ability to configure .INI file to customize sequence fragment format.
- Remote monitoring capability using GL's Network Surveillance System.
Additional features supported by MLPPP Real-time Analyzer:
- A single instance of the analyzer supports reassembly and decoding of multiple MLPPP bundles simultaneously.
Each MLPPP bundle is created by selecting groups of timeslots on various cards. Each group of timeslot selection can
have different data rates.
- Supports CRC selection with CRC-16, CRC-32, and CRC-NONE options for each link in MLPPP bundle.
- Various data transmission rates starting from fractional DS0 to DS1 (subchannels) are supported. Frames can be
transmitted/captured in either, n x 64 kbps, or n x 56 kbps data channels.
- The other variations accommodated in the software are inverted or non-inverted data, byte reversal or non-reversal, and
MLPPP options such as fragment format (long or short), & maximum differential delay.
- Ability to capture and decode both PPP routed protocols, PPP bridged protocols, MLPPP and MC-MLPPP streams of data.
- User can decode frames from the recorded trace files and can be played back using HDLC playback application.
Additional features supported by Offline MLPPP Analyzer:
- Trace files for analysis can be loaded through simple command-line arguments.
- Multiple trace files can be loaded simultaneously with different GUI instances for offline analysis.
References
- RFC 1661 Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) and Link Control Protocol (LCP)
- RFC 1662 Physical Layer and HDLC Layer
- RFC1990 Multi-link PPP bundles
- RFC2686 Multi-class extensions to PPP
- RFC 1332 The PPP Internet Protocol Control Protocol
- RFC 1877 PPP Internet Protocol Control Protocol Extensions for Name Server Addresses
- RFC 3518 PPP Bridging Control Protocol
- RFC 1144 Van Jacobson Compression
- RFC 3544 IPHC Compression
- RFC 2507 only IP Compression
- RFC 2508 Compressed RTP
- RFC 3153 PPP Network Control Protocol for PPP Multiplexing (PPPMuxCP)
Protocols Supported
The list of protocols that are supported by GL's MLPPP analyzer are as given below:
The supported protocol standards in PPP analyzer are PPP, PPP SIGTRANs.
| Supported Protocols |
Specification Used |
| PPP |
RFC 1331,1220,1333,1548,1661,1570 |
| IP |
RFC 791 |
| TCP |
RFC 793 |
| UDP |
RFC 768 |
| STUN |
RFC 3489 |
| SNMP(V1, V2) |
RFC 1157,1155,1902,3416,2863,2578,3418,2011,2012 etc |
| DNS |
RFC 1035 |
| DHCP |
RFC 1533, 2131 |
| RIP |
RFC 2453 |
| ICMP |
RFC 792 |
| VJ Compressed TCP/IP |
RFC 1144 |
| VJ Uncompressed TCP/IP |
RFC 1144 |
| Multiplexed PPP |
RFC 3153 |
| CRTP |
RFC 2508 |
| Cisco HDLC |
http://www.protocols.com/pbook/bridge.htm#CISCOROUTER |
| CHAP (Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol) |
RFC1334 |
| IPHC (IP Header Compression) |
RFC 2507, RFC 3544 |
| LCP (Link Control Protocol) |
RFC1570, RFC1661 |
| NCP |
RFC 801 |
| LQR (Link Quality Report) |
RFC1333 |
| MultiPPP (PPP Multilink Protocol) |
RFC1717, RFC1990 |
| Multi-class extensions to PPP (MC MLPPP) |
RFC 2686 |
| PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) |
RFC1334 |
| PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol) over HDLC |
RFC1662 |
| PPP-BPDU (PPP Bridge Protocol Data Unit) |
RFC1638 |
| BCP (Bridging Control Protocol) |
RFC 3518 |
| Internet Protocol Control Protocol Extensions for Name Server Addresses |
RFC 1877 |
| IPCP (IP Control Protocol) |
RFC1332 |
| PPPMuxCP |
RFC 3153 |
| SIP3261 |
RFC 3261 |
| MGCP |
RFC 3435 |
| MEGACO |
RFC 3015 |
| RTP |
RFC 2833 |
| RTCP |
RFC 3550 |
| H.263 |
ITU-T H.263 |
| H.245 |
ITU-T H.245 |
| H.450 |
ITU-T H.450.1 to H.450.12 |
| ISDN H.225 |
H.225 Q.931 Layer |
| T.38 |
ITU-T T.38 |
| MPEG2 |
RFC 2250 |
| RAS |
ITU-T H.225 |
| SCTP |
RFC 2960 |
| M2UA |
RFC 3331 |
| M2PA |
RFC 4165 |
| M3UA |
RFC 3332 |
| MTP3 |
ITU-Y Q.701-Q.705 / ITU-T Q.782 |
| ISUP |
ITU - Q.761, Q.762, Q.763 and Q.764 |
| SCCP |
ITU-T Q.711-Q.714 |
| SUA (SCCP UA) |
RFC 3868 |
| IUA (ISDN UA) |
RFC 4233 / RFC 5133 |
| TUP |
T-REC-Q.723-11/1988 |
| Test & Network Management Messages (ITU) |
ITU-T Q.703, Q.704 |
Click here to view the protocol glossary page for more information
Summary, Detail and Hex dump Views
The MLPPP analyzer application is invoked from the main menu of GL's T1/E1 Analyzer for real-time analyzer. The offline MLPPP analyzer is invoked from the
installation directory of the offline MLPPP Analyzer. The analyzer displays Summary, Detail, Statistics, and Hex dump views in different panes. The Summary View
displays Dev#, Time Slot, Sub Channel, Frame #, Time relative, Len, Error, Layer 3 protocol, LCP code, Seq No, Class, IPCP code, BCP code, Class, PPP Message
type, Source/Destination IP address, TCP Source/Destination Port, UDP Source/Destination Port, and so on. The User can select a frame in Summary View to
analyze and decode each frame in the Detail View. The Hex dump View displays the frame information in HEX and ASCII format.
Screen Shot of Summary, Detail and Hexdump Views
Real-time and Offline Analysis
The application supports reassembly and decoding of multiple MLPPP bundles simultaneously. Each MLPPP bundle will
reassemble packets from PPP links. Multiple cards can be selected for a single instance of analyzer to capture the frames
simultaneously. Users can capture and analyze PPP frames carried on n*DS0 channel in real-time and record all or filtered
traffic into a trace file. The recorded trace file can be used for offline analysis or exported to a comma-delimited file, or
ASCII file, or printed.
The real-time capturing requires users to specify timeslots, bit inversion, octet bit reversion, hyper channel selection, CRC, and mlppp options such as
Fragment format & Maximum differential delay. The maximum delay value (that is the maximum time the analyzer waits for the reassembly of the MLPPP fragment)
allows minimizing the sequence loss. The captured raw data can then be transmitted using HDLC Playback-file application.
Screen Shot of Timeslot selection
Filtering and Search
Users can record all or filtered traffic into a trace file. Filter and search capabilities adds a powerful dimension to the MLPPP Analyzer. These features isolate
required frames from the captured frames in real-time, as well as offline. In real-time capturing, filter based on length of frames can be set. The frames can also
be filtered after completion of capture based on Frame Number, Time, Length, Error, Layer3 Protocol, LCP Code, IPCP code, Sequence number, Mlppp class, TCP
and UDP source and destination port ,PPP Message type, and so on. Similarly, Search capability helps user to search for a particular frame based on specific
search criteria.
Screen Shot of Setting the Offline Filtering Criteria - PPP Protocol Stack
Screen Shot of Setting the Offline Filtering Criteria – PPP SIGTRAN Protocol
Stack
Screen Shot of Setting the Real-time Capture Filter
Statistics View
Statistics is an important feature available in MLPPP analyzer and can be obtained for all frames both in real-time as well as offline mode. Various statistics
can be obtained to study the performance and trend in the PPP network based on protocol fields and different parameters e.g. User Type (Key/Total/Field),
Statistic type (Frame count, Byte count, Frames/Sec) and patterns like Range List, Wild card.
Screen Shot of Statistics View
Enhanced Trace Saving Options
Users can control the captured trace files by saving the trace using different conventions such as trace files with user-defined prefixes, trace file with date-time
prefixes, and slider control to indicate the total number of files, file size, frame count, or time limit. This feature also allows the captured frames to be saved into a
trace file based on the filtering criteria set using display filter feature.
Screen Shot of Enhanced Trace Saving Options Window
Save/Load All Configuration Settings
Protocol Configuration window provides a consolidated interface for all the important settings required in the analyzer. This includes various options such as
protocol selection, startup options, stream/interface selection, filter/search criteria and so on. Any protocol field can be added to the summary view, filtering, and
search features from this GUI providing the users more flexibility to monitor required protocol fields. All the configuration settings done in any of these options
can be saved to a file, loaded from a configuration file, or user may just revert to the default values using the default option.
Screen Shot of Save/Load All Configuration Settings Window
MLPPP Packet Data Analyzer (PDA) is a real-time IP and VoIP analyzer that non-intrusively analyzes and captures live IP
traffic, and segregates them into SIP / H323 / Megaco / MGCP / T.38 Fax calls. It also collects statistics, CDRs, detailed protocol traces, ladder diagrams, and a
host of other useful information about VoIP calls.
Its real-time nature makes it an outstanding tool for live monitoring of VoIP traffic as well as long-term traffic statistics gathering. It can also monitor, report,
analyze, and capture calls for infinite time, limited only by the finite space of your hard disk or network hard drive.
For more information, refer to Packet Data Analysis in MLPPP webpage for more details.
Screen Shot of MLPPP PDA
Screenshots
Screen Shot of MLPPP Analyzer showing IPCP Protocol Decode
Screen Shot of MLPPP Analyzer showing LCP Protocol Decode
Screen Shot of MLPPP Analyzer showing ICMP Protocol Decode
Screen Shot of MLPPP Analyzer showing BPDU Protocol Decode
Screen Shot of MLPPP Analyzer showing PPP SIGTRAN Protocol Decode
Buyer's Guide:
Please Note: The XX in the Item No. refers to the hardware platform, listed at the bottom of the Buyer's Guide, which the software will be
running on. Therefore, XX can either be HDT, HDE, HUT, HUE, UTA or UEA depending upon the hardware.
* Specifications and features subject to change without notice.
Back to MLPPP Analyzer and Emulator Page
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-ppp-and-linkcontrol-layer.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-summary-detail-hexdump.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-timeslot.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-offlinefiltering.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-pppsigtranfiltering.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-real-time-capture.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-statistics-view.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/atm-web-enhanced-trace-saving-options.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-saveload-config.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/mlppp-pda-web-call-summary-detail-view.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-ipcpdecode.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-lcp-protocol-decode.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-icmp-protocol-decode.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-bdpu-protocol-decode.gif"))
![](javascript:myOpen("images/ppp-analyzer-web-pppsigtrandecode.gif"))
