PingGraph 3.0.0.6

Released February 11, 2011

Introduction
Ordering
Pricing
Registration Benefits
System Requirements
Troubleshooting
FAQ
Change History

Introduction

PingGraph is a graphical networking tool that monitors and displays network connectivity and bandwidth over time. As you might guess from its name, the application graphs "ping" times in an easy-to-understand format, allowing you to identify connectivity problems rapidly. It also graphs available bandwidth, indicating roughly how fast you can push data between your system and the specified host system. It is able to send email alerts when ping times become too slow, or when connectivity is lost to the remote system.

Ordering

Buy it now!

All online credit card orders are processed quickly and securely through RegNet, a well established and reliable order fulfillment partner. Emailed purchase orders and queries may be sent to jolsen@infixtechnologies.com. Orders using paper purchase orders may be sent to us at our mailing address:

Infix Technologies
6877 W Tracy Loop Rd
Herriman, UT 84065-3884

USA

When you register your software, a license ID will be delivered to you via email with instructions for activating PingGraph. Entering this ID in the dialog shown at startup will unlock the full feature set of PingGraph.

Pricing

Licenses are needed for each system from which you will run PingGraph. Prices shown are in US dollars.

Licenses	Cost each
1	$39
2-5	$24
6-24	$15
25-99	$11
100+	$7

Registration Benefits

There are several great benefits to registering PingGraph. The unregistered version is designed to allow you to evaluate the product before you spend your hard earned money.

First, the saved history for each site is expanded from 3600 entries, and allows for a configurable history up to a million pings.
Second, you will not see the "Registration" box pop up each time the application is run.
Third, you will be able to log data to a comma delimited data file continuously with file size limited only by your hard drive.
Registration will also help us spend more development time on updates and additional tools to make your life easier.

System Requirements

PingGraph requires version 3.5 or newer of the .NET framework runtime environment. This framework may be installed on Windows 98 and newer operating systems, and anything from Vista onward is likely to have it pre-installed. Depending on the operating system version, you may need additional updates installed.

Not all computers have the proper runtime environment installed by default. The latest version can be downloaded directly from Microsoft Corporation here, where you can also find information on specific system requirements.

Troubleshooting

If PingGraph triggers Denial of Service flags in your firewall.

Some firewalls trap any ICMP packet over 1024 bytes in size. Each packet typically has about 42 bytes of extra baggage, so any setting over about 980 bytes can trigger these firewalls. The maximum size of the ping packets (not counting the extra wrapper bytes) can be set per host name.

If PingGraph crashes at startup.

You probably do not have a current version of the .NET runtime. Download the latest version from Microsoft as described in the System Requirements.

Even with the .NET runtime it crashes.

Please email whatever information you can get from the crash notification, and we will work to resolve the problem.

I get nothing but vertical red bars (timeouts) on my graphs when testing a remote system.

You could have a firewall blocking pings between you and the specified host. You can verify if this is the case by seeing if you can reach the hostname "localhost" which tests connectivity to your own system. If you can reach your local system, then the problem is pings being blocked somewhere along the way. If you need to test a remote system through a firewall, you will need to contact your network administrators and have them open up port 7 which is used for pings.

It crashes, or pops up a dialog with a big technical message.

Please email the text of this message to us, and we can work to resolve the problem quickly for you. The most common dialog is likely to be from trying to send a connectivity warning email when there is no access to an SMTP server.

It takes a long time to start up.

If you are on a network using a proxy that requires authentication, the automatic update check will take a few seconds before deciding it cannot check with the PingGraph home web site. You can ask the admin running your network to set the proxy to allow connections to http://www.infixtechnologies.com/ without requiring authentication, or you can browse there on your own to check for updates from time to time.

FAQ

Q. What values are good for maximum ping sizes?

A. It is good to use the default values, with 16 for a minimum and 768 for a maximum. Only the maximum can be adjusted to test throughput at varying packet sizes. You should be aware though that larger packets will be broken apart (fragmented) into multiple physical packets, with more overhead. Keeping the maximum packet size under about 1200 bytes will usually keep them from fragmenting.

Q. What are those vertical red lines?

A. Those are reports of dropped packets. If you get nothing but red lines, you can verify that nothing is getting through from a command prompt by typing "ping <your host name>" to see if it reports connectivity.

Q. Is there any built-in help?

A. Yes. Press the F1 key and PingGraph will display context sensitive help for some parts of the application. Change focus by either clicking on elements of the interface, or by using the Tab key, then press F1.

Q. Why should I register? What benefits do I get?

A. See the listed Registration Benefits.

Q. What do I use when entering a host name?

A. You can use either a numeric IP address like 192.168.0.1 for instance, or a host name such as www.yourfavoritehost.com which PingGraph will internally translate to an IP address. In addition, you can alter the name that is displayed in the graph by changing the "Show Name As" field. That way, you can label 192.168.0.1 as your DSL or Cable modem.

Q. Why can't I specify rapid ping rates?

A. Many systems would interpret high ping rates as a primitive attack on their system, typically called Denial of Service attack. We should all be good net citizens, so the application does not allow high data rates that could be offensive to unsuspecting hosts.

Q. Does PingGraph "call home" and report what I'm doing?

A. No. Spyware is evil. There are only three ways where PingGraph will ever contact a system not on your specified host ping list.

When purchasing a license, which sends you to our commerce site.
When visiting our home page.
When checking for updates and messages, which reads an XML file from our site.

None of these cases ever report information about you or your computer past what regular web browsing reports.

Q. How much bandwidth does PingGraph consume?

A. It uses about 1200 bytes of traffic when it sends out its test pings. More frequent pings use more bandwidth, but the pings are infrequent enough that you should not notice that it is running, even on a slower modem connection.

Q. How much processor does PingGraph consume?

A. Less than 2% is common for something around a 1 GHz processor, but could be higher on slow systems, or when you have a large number of hosts listed. The Windows Task Manager will show you how much processor each application is using.

Q. Why did you use the .NET runtime? Downloading that huge runtime is a killer!

A. Development times for .NET applications are lower, so I can produce a higher quality application in less time, concentrating on feature request from customers rather than fighting with the development tools.

Q. What is the data format of the PingGraph logs?

A. Registered users can read their stored ping data as an XML file which lives in the system's shared applications directory, which is usually "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Infix Technologies\PingGraph\" followed by the version number, such as "3.0.0.0". The file names in that directory is are the host names with an "xml" extension. This logged data will migrate forward to updated versions when you upgrade.

Q. How big to the log files get?

A. XML is not a very compact data format, but the ease of use makes up for it. Each entry within the log is between 100 and 200 bytes, so For each 1000 entries stored, it will take 100 to 200 KBytes. One good way to manage how much space you use is to slow the sample rate. If you only test a host once every 10 minutes, then 1000 entries will give you almost a week of historical data. The default setting for the data on a host is to keep it trimmed to a maximum of 20,000 entries. This length is configurable.

Q. Where are the log files stored?

A. A log file is saved for each hostname entered into the program. They are stored at in the windows application data folder, which is typically "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Infix Technologies\PingGraph\3.0.0.*" for win XP.

The configuration file for the application is stored in a different location, also the default for app config data for windows, in "C:\Documents and Settings--USER_NAME--\Local Settings\Application Data\Infix_Technologies\PingGraph.exe--RANDOM_TAG--\3.0.0.6" where "RANDOM_TAG" changes based on the directory it is run from.

Q. Can you make PingGraph do <insert your favorite feature here>?

A. Drop us a line and we'll see if it fits with the design of the application. Most of the updates to PingGraph have been due to requests from users for new features. Even if the feature doesn't fit well, it could be a need that can be addressed with a new tool or utility.

Q. It didn't copy my old host data. How do I fix that?

A. The old host data is stored in "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Infix Technologies\PingGraph\3.0.0.*" as noted above. You can copy the files from a previous version (Say, 3.0.0.2) to a newer version (like 3.0.0.5) in case you skipped a version. Starting with 3.0.0.4 it should automatically check back one version for data files. Data from a version before 3.0.0.0 is incompatible with the new vesion.

Change History (somewhat technical content)

3.0.0.6 (Feb 11, 2011)

The company which handles our online purchases for us has migrated to use esellerate, so I have updated the "buy now" links to go to the new pages.

3.0.0.5 (Oct 15, 2010)

On text logging file, the timestamp has been broken into two fields (date and time) rather than using the much more complex default format which showed offset from GMT and a lot of other extra info. Also, the text logging file doesn't have to exist before it can be selected. The audio alarm sample does still need to exist to be selected.

3.0.0.4 (Sept 29, 2010)

Made it so you can't cause a startup error with the splitter panel by resizing it to something weird then exiting. Also added the ability to turn off the bandwidth pings, and made it so you can reduce the size of the bandwidth pings considerably. Data files from the hosts being monitored are copied from the previous version.

3.0.0.3 (Sept 17, 2010)

Added some additional error catching code. It's able to survive weird states better now, like having bad host names or no ping info yet.

3.0.0.2 (Aug 18, 2010)

Fixed an error when there were no bandwidth entries yet. This was causing error messages or causing it to crash (with 3.0.0.0) in some cases.

3.0.0.1 (Aug 18, 2010)

Corrected parsing of dates for european systems which store dates in different order than in the USA. Also added more error checking to make it easier to track down any problems in the future.

3.0.0.0 (Aug 16, 2010)

Complete rewrite with new, streamlined user interface and faster rendering. Old features have been carried over where it makes sense. Registered users can upgrade for free, even though the program contains many major upates to the look, feel, and usability.

2.0.1.15 (Dec 28, 2007)

Fixed a bad default value for fixed ranges on the graphs.

2.0.1.14 (Dec 27, 2007)

Extra error handling added to rendering to avoid software exceptions reported by a user.
Host names have a drop shadow for improved visibility.
Updated email interface to use System.Net.Mail.SmtpClient since System.Web.Mail.SmtpMail has been deprecated. This should be a completely transparent change.

2.0.1.13 (Dec 15, 2007)

Email alert text now includes alias as well as the specified name. This helps in the case of system names that are just IP addresses.
The text output for emailed warnings was updated for readability.
Vertical scale of the graphs can be forced to a constant value in the main configuration dialog now to simplify side-by-side comparisons.
Email bug fixed where if you had set up an SMTP server and did not check the boxes to send email, the email would be sent anyway.

2.0.1.12 (Mar 15, 2006)

Email alert text had lines terminated with only a newline (\n) rather than with a carriage return plus a newline (\r\n). This was a violation of the specifications for sending SMTP email, and some email servers were complaining.
A text output window has been added for general status messages.

2.0.1.11 (Dec 23, 2005)

The maximum ping packet size is now configurable. This is done to keep from falsely triggering denial of service attack warnings in firewalls. All maximum ping sizes will move automatically down to 768 bytes (plus usually 42 bytes of message overhead). That puts it well under the 1024 byte limit of some firewall systems. To avoid fragmenting packets, you should probably keep the maximum size below 1300 or so.

2.0.1.10 (Oct 30, 2005)

Changed internal flow so it forces each site to be processed, even if one has very long timeouts. This was causing the graph to not be drawn for sites farther down the list. This was also preventing the processing of email notifications in some cases.
Logged data was not always being saved on exit.

2.0.1.9 (Apr 6, 2005)

Fixed a bug with certain localized versions of windows where the ping command gives output formatted differently. This was a different layout problem than the one fixed in version 2.0.1.6. The troublesome ping was from Slovenia this time:
- Odgovor od xx.xx.xx.xx: bajtov=32 cas = 2ms TTL=62
Variable ping packet size is allowed, as per a request.

2.0.1.8 (Feb 2, 2005)

Added name aliasing for times when the DNS name is too long, or when you have only an IP address. It will use the host name if the alias is empty, but will otherwise use your preferred alias for on-screen data.
Changed the timestamp format to be configurable between human readable format and the original numeric value.
Fixed a bug where deleting a shown host with just a hidden (unchecked) host remaining would generate an exception.
Documentation and web site updated to show our new street address.

2.0.1.7 (May 11, 2004)

Corrected a problem with proxies that require authentication. It was showing an ill-formed update message when it could not reach the update site. A future version is likely to include full authentication capabilities, if user demand shows the need for it.

2.0.1.6 (Mar 4, 2004)

Corrected a problem with non-English operating system versions, German in particular. Pings were being incorrectly reported as failed connections.

2.0.1.5 (Feb 20, 2004)

Made the maximum ping time configurable. Some sites at topologically remote locations can have very high ping times, so this allows properly reporting the slow connection rather than making it look like a network connection is down.
To simplify updates, PingGraph will check at startup to see if one is available. Tech description: This reads an XML file from our web server to compare version numbers locally, so no user data is sent.
Bandwidth estimates have been changed to make them more stable when ping times vary erratically, such as with very remote high latency locations. As a side effect, the estimates may decrease a little bit overall. Since these are estimates, and do not rely on SNMP for precise information, this seemed to be an acceptable trade-off.

2.0.1.4 (Feb 9, 2004)

Only one version is allowed to run at a time. It could cause some ping entries to be lost if multiple versions exited in the wrong order.
When registering, it will always update the main window title now to show that it has been registered.
Fixed a problem with some Win 2000 systems where it would crash when restored from being iconified.
Added a warning message to run PingGraph from a local disk.

2.0.1.3 (Jan 28, 2004)

Release notes menu item only worked some of the time, depending on whether you ran the program through the start menu or not. "Run from" was not set in the Start menu.
Runs in the task bar now, to keep from cluttering up the window list.
Install now requires administrator rights on the machine, since it installs and runs as accessible by "all users".
Install has an option to create an icon in the Startup group so PingGraph will automatically run at login.
"Run from" entry is now set in icons, so it is run from its home directory. This will correct any future problems similar to the release notes issue above.
It remembers the iconified state, and starts up the way it exited.

2.0.1.2 (Jan 22, 2004)

Sorry for the flurry of updates. Things are settling down pretty well now.
Ignore failed host name lookups, and set up the host anyway. If you ran PingGraph while that system was unavailable, it would remove it from your saved data file.
Added a message box for the "reports" menu item, with some info on how you can build your own external custom reports.
Migrate registration key and data from previous install. You no longer need to re-enter your registration code after upgrading.
Remove old data logs (if confirmed by you) once data migration is complete.

2.0.1.1 (Jan 21, 2004)

Some systems were not responding to pings, so the method of sending them has been updated with a simpler and more robust solution.
Displayed information for hosts that had 100% packet loss have been fixed so they don't show really high minimum ping values or bogus bandwidth.
Corrected a couple of bad HTML links.

2.0.1.0 (Jan 19, 2004)

New release after a full rewrite.