PingPlotter Pro 5.00.8

Overview

All network administrators need to have various tools available in order to monitor the status of a network, as well as identify and troubleshoot problems that appear over time. If you’re looking for a good general purpose network monitoring and troubleshooting tool, then PingPlotter Pro is one choice that you shouldn’t ignore. It has several features that a network admin needs, such as remote tracing, native web interface, a configurable alert system, TCP/UDP/ICMP tracing, as well as network performance visualization. It’s actually a very professional program that can help in various situations; keep on reading for more details.

Installation

The installation procedure is easy and short. In fact, it consists of only a few steps with no settings at all, making the whole procedure effortless. The main installation process finishes in a small amount of time, allowing you to start using the program only a few minutes after downloading it.

PingPlotter Pro includes no malware (e.g. viruses, Trojans, etc.) and has no additional 3^rd-party advertised apps either.

Supported operating systems are Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 (32 or 64-bit systems).

Interface

First-time users will be greeted with some brief instructions on how to use the program plus an introduction to its features and functions.

The program has a nice and solid interface, and once you reach the main window, you will see that it’s not very hard to get used to. At the top is the menu bar, and right below it are all open tabs for tracing different targets. Yes, that’s right, the tabbed interface makes it easy to trace multiple targets at once without sacrificing space in the window.

In each tab you enter the desired target, make a couple of configurations if you wish (trace interval and focus time) and hit the green “play” button at the top left corner in order to start the tracing operation.

The statistics will be shown in an organized manger in the rest of the window.

Pros

One of the most useful features of the program is its ability to draw timeline graphs of the packet loss and latency over hours, days or weeks, consequently making it quite easy to identify the existance of a problem. Additionally, performance is tracked at every point between you and the target, creating an even more detailed analysis of the connection.

Of course, as we mentioned above, you can monitor multiple targets simultaneously. This is mainly used for comparing performance and defining the possible issues in a smaller domain.

Also, it’s possible to monitor VoIP networks and troubleshoot them with jitter and mean opinion score graphing.

automate some tasks or extend functionality by using the built-in scripting engine is possible as well.

You can set alerts in order to be notified by email if something goes wrong. Alternatively, if you want more immediate alerts, the program can play sounds, fire REST calls, show a message or launch an executable.

All collected data is saved for future reference- even if that means that the log is several days long.

You can share the collected data to others, who will in turn import it in PingPlotter (data is saved as .pp2 – PingPlotter Save File).

There’s support for IPv6 packets.

You can expand your tracing operation with ICMP, UDP or TCP packet types.

There is an instruction manual available which explains every feature of the program in great detail, giving you the ability to explore through the whole program without wasting time looking for functions.

Cons

No cons.

Alternatives

NetCrunch Tools (free) is a similar application, although it lacks the visualization features that PingPlotter has. The same goes for Multiping (paid) as well. A tool which is professional, efficient and supports data visualizations is Capsa Network Analyzer (paid), which does an excellent job in analyzing every aspect of a network.

Conclusion

PingPlotter Pro is more than sufficient when it comes to network monitoring and troubleshooting. It has an advanced set of features that can be used by network administrators without having to install additional software for this purpose.