Storage Modules

For IP-based storage systems, including SAN and NAS, the ExtraHop platform analyzes all transactions traversing the network in real time, extracting health and performance metrics for clients and servers, including application-level details contained at L7 such as methods and errors.

  • Proactively fix potential problems with trend-based, early-warning alerts for storage latency
  • Determine the root cause of application slowdowns with cross-tier, correlated visibility across storage, database, web, and network tiers
  • Audit storage usage with metrics for reads, writes, and metadata requests for each user
  • Pinpoint problem files by analyzing transaction details for individual servers and server groups
  • Select the right WAN optimization candidates for SAN and NAS systems

ExtraHop iSCSI Module

Continuously monitor iSCSI transactions for early warning of SAN latency issues that can affect application performance. The ExtraHop iSCSI Module helps IT teams quickly pinpoint storage resource contention for virtualized environments with real-time analysis for initiators, responses, errors, sessions, reads, writes, and header and data digest statistics. Additionally, the module tracks iSCSI OpCodes, rejects, and logins.

Learn more about the ExtraHop iSCSI Module.

ExtraHop NFS Module

Monitor and tune the performance of NAS systems using the Network File System (NFS) protocol. The ExtraHop NFS Module analyzes transactions to and from the NAS system and extracts real-time metrics for responses, errors, retransmissions, reads, writes, and aborts. The ExtraHop NFS Module tracks NFS methods used and individual counts for both TCP and UDP.

Learn more about the ExtraHop NFS Module.

ExtraHop CIFS Module

Troubleshoot slow application performance and identify problem files in NAS systems using the Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol. The ExtraHop CIFS Module extracts real-time file transfer metrics such as responses, errors, reads, writes, and locks. Additionally, the ExtraHop CIFS Module displays counts for each CIFS method used and summary statistics for errors, methods, users, and files.

Learn more about the ExtraHop CIFS Module.

The ExtraHop system monitors CIFS, NFS, and iSCSI transactions in real time

Storage Performance Problems Can Impact Overall Application Performance

Storage performance problems for either SAN or NAS systems can have a dramatic effect on overall application performance. Poorly timed or slow network backups can consume critical bandwidth and storage contention can cripple application performance.

As IT organizations grow their storage environments and expand virtualization efforts, they require an application performance management (APM) solution that recognizes the impact of storage performance on overall application response. Many traditional APM tools do not measure discrete storage response time and instead include it in their database response times, thereby limiting visibility into this crucial piece of the application infrastructure. Gartner Research predicts that by 2013, only 20% of Global 2000 companies will be able to measure storage I/O latency as part of their APM efforts, up from less than 5% in 2010.*

The ExtraHop platform performs real-time analysis for all transactions passing between underlying storage systems and the VDI clients, databases, and other application components that are dependent on them. With this solution, IT Operations and Application Support teams can easily determine the latency of back-end storage components and how that affects the performance of other elements of the application delivery chain. This approach is completely passive and does not require any invasive probes or agents. ExtraHop supports popular protocols for network-attached storage (NAS), such as CIFS/SMB and NFS, as well as iSCSI for IP-based storage area networks (SANs). See how ExtraHop compares with other APM products.

* “APM Technologies Must Monitor Storage I/O Latency,” Gartner Research, September 2010