Performance Monitor will track and monitor several aspects of hardware and software functionality and processing, including the status of the network card and how well it is sending and receiving data packets. Performance monitor will not, however, monitor the state and welfare of the data once it has been placed on the network cable or media. Network monitor serves to do this.

Veterans will consider the Network Monitor as a miniature network analyzer, or ’sniffer.’ A sniffer is a tool that can be plugged into a network that will track every packet that hits the network cable at that point. The sniffer can decipher the packets, determine where they come from and where they’re going, and also the contents of the packets themselves. Furthermore, a hardware sniffer, which is a handheld device, can be plugged into different parts of the network to better track and isolate problems. Software-based sniffers can be installed on computers, with many identical features that are found on the hardware equivalents, without the benefit of portability. This negative is offset by the additional interface and analysis tools that are inherently available with the Windows integration of the tool.

The difference between a sniffer and Network Monitor lies in the fact that Network Monitor can only capture and monitor data going to and coming from the server itself, and not all data that passes on the network.

By default, Network Monitor is not installed with Windows Server 2003, which makes it woefully underutilized by the standard administrator. This is another tactic used by Microsoft to steer novices away from potentially-dangerous content. Unlike REGEDIT or other commands that are intentionally left off of the desktop and start menus, there is no native or impending doom associated with Network Monitor: its sole danger lies in the amount of overhead required to gather network data and (probably more importantly) the potential for an innocent administrator to peep into otherwise sensitive information crossing the network.

Network Monitor is, however, easily installed through Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. From within the Windows Components section, Network Monitoring tools can be found as a component of Management and Monitoring Tools. The installation requires the Windows Server 2003, so be prepared.

Once Network Monitor is installed, it can be accessed through any of the Administrative Tools methods, or by typing NETMON on the run line, which will open the Explorer folder, where you can double-click on NETMON.EXE, and quickly navigate to any capture logs from that point.