Network Monitor and System Monitor in server 2003

Two common tools, Network Monitor and System Monitor, are useful in monitoring your system. While both can be used to gather some information related to network performance, Network Monitor is the tool you will use most often to analyze network traffic and gather information about communication between two computers. The following table compares the features of Network Monitor and System Monitor.

Characteristic	Network Monitor	System Monitor
Data collected	Captures packets (or packet fragments) and their contents. Reports statistics about network traffic.	Monitors system statistics, producing counters and charts of system performance. Monitors local system components including disk, processor, memory, and network statistics.
Data reports	View contents of sent and received packets. View network traffic statistics.	View graphs of system performance and counters.
Event tracking	Configure triggers to stop capture or execute a command based on a specific network traffic event (or packet type).	Configure alerts to log an entry, send a message, or run a program when a counter reaches a specific threshold.
Identifying captured data	Configure filters to capture only specific packets or to display only certain packets.	Select objects and counters to identify the statistics you want to track.

You should know the following facts about Network Monitor:

• The free version of Network Monitor that comes with Windows can only monitor traffic to and from the local computer.
• To capture all network packets, use the SMS version of Network Monitor.
• Even when using the SMS version, you cannot capture packets sent to other computers on other segments through a switch. (Switched traffic is only sent to the segment where the destination computer sits.)
• Use Dedicated Capture mode with Network Monitor to ensure you capture all packets.