10-Strike LANState FAQ
Q: How to monitor servers using LANState?
A: Turn on background pinging and checkmark needed monitoring methods (ICMP ping and/or TCP port checking). Then add alerts for servers or hosts of your choice. To do this please click the device and select "Monitoring Settings" in the context menu (or press Ctrl+F2).
Q: Which background ping interval should I use for monitoring of my network?
A: If you are the administrator of the network, you can set quite small interval as little as 1-2 munites (nobody will hurt you for that). But if you are just a regular user we recommend using larger intervals up to 5-10 minutes. Other network users or the system administrator might not like that you ping their computers too often.
IMPORTANT! When checking TCP ports, please keep in mind that Windows XP SP2 and Vista do not allow the program to create more than 10 outgoing unclosed connections within a 10-second period, i.e. some TCP port check failures may be caused by that restriction. For example, errors (inaccurate data or failure to respond) may occur if you've got 100 hosts on the map, and the TCP port check interval is set to less than 100 seconds for each host. Please keep in mind this peculiarity and set the TCP port check interval with a reserve. The above told does not apply to ICMP; pinging is allowed in any rates and amounts.
Q: How to create new network map?
A: Click the main menu "File/Create" (or press Ctrl+N). New clear network map will be created. Then you need to add hosts on this map. You can do this in the following ways. 1) Press F3 to scan your network neighborhood if you use Microsoft Windows network. This method is quite fast if your network is set up properly. 2) Or click the main menu "Service/Scan IP address range" if you use IP network, or you need to get all the hosts from big or buggy network. 3) You can add needed hosts manually. Right-click the map and select "Add host" from the context menu. Fill in all the parameters and click "OK".
You can use the Network Map Creation Wizard since the version 2.3.
Q: What are the most efficient network scanning settings?
A: The perfect choice of search parameters depends on your network configuration, availability and functioning of the necessary protocols. In particular, to detect hosts in a local area network with bandwidth of 100 Mbps and higher, sufficient will be 2 ping packets and 100-500 ms response. In the case with TCP ports, it is worth noticing that the greater number of ports you specify on the list, the longer the application will search for hosts in the network. The best way to go around this is to set 2-3 most common ports through which the application can find Windows stations and servers; those include 139, 135, 21 and 80th (NetBIOS, DCOM, FTP, HTTP).
Searching for network printers is a different story. This procedure takes quite a bit of time, and therefore it should not be run if you are SURE that there are no such printers in your network. Otherwise, you would have to wait for the completion of that procedure. The completion will be indicated by the appearance of the network scanning progress bar in the network scanning wizard window. The reason why the procedure is so slow is because it searches for network printers BEFORE launching the primary scanning procedure (which is performed with a large number of threads running simultaneously, unlike with searching for printers).
This is also true for obtaining additional information on hosts through NetBIOS. If the NetBIOS protocol is disabled in your network, no such information can be retrieved, and the application will spend quite a bit of time on that attempt (hence the feeling that the application is “frozen”). Searching for network switches is done in the multithreaded mode. However, if you specify a large number of possible community string values, that will also slow down the scanning process. Hence, if you have set the scanning parameters, and the application is scanning too slow or, even worse, completely "frozen" – go ahead and disable some of those parameters (first, disable network printer search and then disable obtaining additional information through NetBIOS) and try launching the scanning procedure again.
Q: Ping is prohibited in computers' firewall in our network. How can I monitor remote computers?
A: Since most hosts in modern networks are protected with firewalls, pinging those hosts regularly may not work out (if ICMP echo replies are disabled). In such cases, checking by opening a TCP connection to a specific port of the host may help out. For example, it is common for local area networks to set up FTP services on users' computers. In this case, we can check availability of hosts by attempting to connect to their TCP port 21 (FTP), port 139 (NetBios), or port 135 (DCOM).
Q: How do I check whether I've got the administrator privileges on a remote computer?
A: Right-click on the “My Computer” icon on your desktop and then select “Manage”. Then, on the menu at the top, select “Action – Connect to Remote Computer” and select the remote computer, which you want our software to collect data from, and then click OK. If the console has connected successfully, and you can manage the remote computer, you do have the administrator privileges.
Q: I have scanned the network; the computers have been found, but connection lines between them have not been drawn. Why is that?
A: To draw connection lines between the computers, you will need manageable switches with SNMP enabled. When scanning a range of IP addresses, SNMP agents are to be included in the range being scanned, proper community (passwords) are to be specified, and the option “Scan SNMP” is to be selected. LANState must be allowed in your firewall. If you don't have such switches or, if SNMP is disabled, you will have to draw the connection lines manually (which isn't as scary and time consuming as it seems.) For more information, please read: Building Network Diagram. To detect networked printers, NetBios must be properly configured and allowed in your firewall.
Q: Our network uses the dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP). How can we ensure that the program pings the computers properly and displays the correct state for the computers?
A: When adding computers to the map, enter the computers' textual addresses (computer's network name or DNS name) in the “Host Address” property. Thus, before the host is checked, its textual address will be converted into an IP address first, and only after that the host will undergo the checks.
When adding computers to the map through scanning network neighborhood, the program will automatically add the computers' names to the address fields, and you won't have to take any extra actions.
When adding computers through scanning an IP range, the found hostnames will be converted from IP addresses automatically. On the final step 4 of the Network Map Creation Wizard, choose to use DNS names for host addresses.
Q: The program fails to send messages over the network. Why is that?
A: If your firewall is configured properly, the program will send messages. However, the remote computers may fail to receive and display them. In Service Pack 2 for Windows XP (and also is in Windows Vista), the Messenger service, responsible for receiving and displaying messages sent over the network, is not running by default. If you need to exchange messages, and if you are positive that your security will not suffer because of that, enable that service manually.
Q: What is the difference between LANState, LANState Pro, and LANState Personal?
A: Please read the comparison.
Q: I get "missing DLL" error under Windows NT4. Why?
A: Download archive with missing DLL files and unpack the files into your Windows System32 folder.
Please send your questions to our support team.