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- Q. How do CommTraffic Service and CommTraffic Console exchange data on my computer?
- Q. I need to reinstall Windows, how do I save CommTraffic log files and traffic statistics?
- Q. What happens if I install a new network adapter or remove one?
- Q. I have CommTraffic and CommView installed on the same computer. When I use CommView to capture traffic and then stop capturing, CommTraffic seems to stop counting the traffic for all computers on my LAN except for the PC that it is running on. How do I resolve this problem?
- Q. When launching CommTraffic console, I get the following error message: "wininet.dll is not found". What should I do to use the program?
- Q. Can I create my own color scheme?
- Q. I'm on a switched LAN. Is CommTraffic capable of gathering statistics for all the stations connected to the switch?
- Q. I use the Cisco VPN Client. As soon as the VPN connection is established the machine blue screens. Why is it so?
- Q. Are there any known conflicts with other software?
Q. How do CommTraffic Service and CommTraffic Console exchange data on my computer?
A. CommTraffic Service listens on TCP port 4776, and CommTraffic Console connects to this port to exchange data with the CommTraffic Service. In the Home version, connections to CommTraffic Service are accepted only from your PC's IP address. In the Pro version, CommTraffic Service and CommTraffic Console can run on different computers, and you can establish a password-protected connection from Console to Service to read the data.
Q. I need to reinstall Windows, how do I save CommTraffic log files and traffic statistics?
A. If you would like to preserve the traffic statistics, you need to back up all files from the Logs subfolder of the CommTraffic folder. When you reinstall CommTraffic, just copy the files back to the new Logs folder.
Q. What happens if I install a new network adapter or remove one?
A. If you are running Windows 2000/XP, you don't need to do anything, your new adapter will be automatically added to the adapter list in CommTraffic (or the old one will be removed). If you are running Windows 98/ME, please uninstall CommTraffic, reboot, and then reinstall it.
Q. I have CommTraffic and CommView installed on the same computer. When I use CommView to capture traffic and then stop capturing, CommTraffic seems to stop counting the traffic for all computers on my LAN except for the PC that it is running on. How do I resolve this problem?
A. Both CommView and CommTraffic put the network adapter in special "promiscuous" mode to be able to monitor all traffic in the LAN segment. When you use CommView (or any other packet monitoring software) to monitor the traffic on your LAN and then stop the monitoring process, the network adapter exits promiscuous mode, therefore CommTraffic is no longer able to see the traffic of other computers on your LAN. Currently, the only solution is to restart the CommTraffic Service (please refer to the Service Manager chapter for more information regarding the service management) after you have finished capturing packets with CommView or other packet monitoring software.
Q. When launching CommTraffic console, I get the following error message: "wininet.dll is not found". What should I do to use the program?
A. You are getting this message because your version of Microsoft Internet Explorer is older than 4.0, Service Pack 1. Please upgrade to the latest version of Internet Explorer.
Q. Can I create my own color scheme?
A. Yes, you can download the scheme editor here. Please note that this editor is not officially supported, and we will not answer any questions regarding its features and functionality.
Q. I'm on a switched LAN. Is CommTraffic capable of gathering statistics for all the stations connected to the switch?
A. Unlike hubs, switches prevent promiscuous sniffing. In a switched network environment, CommTraffic is limited to capturing broadcast and multicast packets and the traffic sent or received by the PC on which CommTraffic is running. However, most modern switches support "port mirroring," which is a feature that allows you to configure the switch to redirect the traffic that occurs on some or all ports to a designated monitoring port on the switch. By using this feature, you will able to monitor the entire LAN segment. We wrote a white paper, Promiscuous Monitoring in Ethernet and Wi-Fi Networks, which covers these topics in detail.
Q. I use the Cisco VPN Client. As soon as the VPN connection is established the machine blue screens. Why is it so?
A. Unfortunately we don't support the Cisco VPN Client at the moment.
Q. Are there any known conflicts with other software?
A. Currently we know about conflicts with the following programs:
- Kerio Personal Firewall version 2.x: An incompartibility in the KPF device driver resulting in the Blue Screen of Death under Windows XP. This problem has been fixed in KPF 3.0.
- Checkpoint Firewall: Device driver incompartibility resulting in the Blue Screen of Death.