Frequently Asked Questions:

Does Insight require the installation of agents on my servers?
What network and server resources does Insight consume?
What platform does Insight support?
How does Insight collect information?
Can I use Insight to track the users of a server?
Can I use Insight to map the dependencies of an application?
Can I use Insight to track changes in my data centre?
How can Insight help me?
How is Insight licensed?
How long does it take to deploy Insight?
Can Insight handle encrypted traffic?
What applications does Insight discover out-of-the-box?
What is an Insight Fingerprint?
Can Insight discover and monitor my custom or home grown applications?
What kinds of analytics are available out of the box?
What is Insight Solver?
How does Insight integrate with third party tools?
How Do I need to install additional client software to use Insight tools?
How will installing Insight affect my data centre?
What professional services are provided with Insight?
What is an Insight SNAPSHOT?

Does InSight require the installation of agents on my servers?

InSight is a completely agentless, non-intrusive and non-invasive solution.

What network and server resources does InSight consume?

InSight does not consume any of your network or server resources. The only resources consumed are those on the appliance.

What platform does nLayers InSight support?

InSight is a software solution delivered on an appliance and is platform and application agnostic. The appliance is a secure and hardened IBM 1U X305 system running Red Hat Linux.

How does nLayers InSight collect information?

InSight uses a patent pending technology to passively collect information from you network. You do not have to install agents on your servers and InSight does not probe your network to gather information.

Can I use nLayers InSight to track the users of a server?

InSight provides you with a detailed list of clients for each server. In addition to knowing which clients are using your servers, you also receive a  demand graph that covers 24 hours and highlights the nature of the communication channel between the client and the server.

Can I use nLayers InSight to map the dependencies of an application?

InSight provides you with a continuous view of your applications and their inter-dependencies and as such supercedes any manual work attempting to find such dependencies.

InSight models discovers dependencies and hidden dependencies (a.k.a. non direct dependencies) of all tiers, including web, application, database, infrastructure and client.

Can I use nLayers InSight to track changes in my data center?

Since InSight continuously maps applications, it is capable of detecting changes in the application portfolio or even changes in the application behavior. You will be notified of any new applications or hosts popping up in your data center, as well as new dependencies that are introduced into your application.

How can nLayers InSight help me?

nLayers InSight solves many strategic business and operational challenges faced in today’s complex IT environments. Some examples are:

• License contract auditing
• Application and server optimization
• Disaster recovery planning and auditing
• Security & regulatory compliance
• Application troubleshooting and root cause analysis

Further information can be provided upon request.

How is InSight licensed?

InSight is licensed per appliance and is pre-installed with everything you need to discover and monitor your application infrastructure. InSight also provides separate solution packs for your strategic business initiatives as listed above.

How long does it take to deploy InSight?

InSight is typically deployed in less than an hour and can start optimizing soon after.

Can nLayers InSight handle encrypted traffic?

When encrypted traffic is used, InSight discovers the type of the traffic (e.g. HTTPS) as well as the dependency between the two hosts or applications that utilize the encrypted channel. nLayers Insight also tracks demand and utilization at the packet level.

In case of a client-server communication channel, InSight will be able to provide the number of clients using the server, their demand (in number of packets) and their behavior (when they are used).

What applications does nLayers InSight discover out-of-the-box?

InSight discover over 150 different protocols and applications out of the box. These includes all commonly used applications such as databases, application servers, web servers, infrastructure components (such as mail servers, name servers, etc.) and clients.

InSight can also be easily extendable to support home grown or custom applications (see below).

What is nLayers Fingerprint?

A Fingerprint is an XML based definition language to identify applications and protocols. InSight uses these fingerprints to discover the applications and protocols in your network. InSight ships with over 150 application and protocol fingerprints out of the box. You can easily create your own fingerprints for your custom and home grown applications within minutes or have our professional services team do this for you.

Can nLayers InSight optimize my custom or home grown applications?

InSight optimizes custom or home grown applications as long as they are visible on your network. While we will discover these applications, we may not necessarily identify them. However, you can easily create fingerprints for these applications using Fingerprint technology. Once these are defined, InSight will automatically begin including applications in the optimization process. InSight will then treat these as any other application and can monitor them for demand, utilization and behavior changes.

What kinds of analytics are available out-of-the-box?

InSight ships with detailed analytics on your inventory, dependency, and performance of your application infrastructure. In addition, nLayers InSight ships with a business initiative solution, nLayers InSight Solver (see below).

What is nLayers InSight Solver?

InSight ships with a number of packaged solutions that provide you with the answers and information you need for strategic business initiatives such as license auditing, server and software optimization, disaster recovery planning, security and regulatory compliance, application troubleshooting and root-cause analysis, and more.

How does nLayers InSight integrate with third-party tools?

InSight ships with a rich data interchange platform to exchange information with third party applications using convenient formats such as XML and CSV.

Do I need to install additional client software to use nLayers InSight?

InSight provides a rich web-based user interface and does not require installing additional client software. We recommend you use Internet Explorer 6.0 and above with Sun’s Java 1.4 plug-in as the browser.

How will installing nLayers InSight affect my data center?

InSight is a completely passive appliance and does not require installation of any agents, nor does it probe your network. The passiveness of InSight is guaranteed by the switch manufacturers (such as Cisco and others). You can rest assured that your data center will continue to operate normally without any interference from InSight.

What professional services are provided with nLayers InSight?

While InSight requires minimal training and implementation from your IT team, we provide a full suite of professional services for your deployment and customization needs.

What is nLayers SNAPSHOT?

A SNAPSHOT is a managed service offering built on the InSight solution.