from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
protocol analyser
<communications, hardware, networking, testing, tool> Any
device that captures and interprets the {network traffic}
between two or more connected computer systems. The traffic
can then be {decoded} so that it is possible to see what
{processes} are occurring.
By examining the flow of traffic, protocol analysers can be
used to find out where problems (such as {bottlenecks} or the
failure of a network device) are on a {LAN}.
Advanced protocol analysers can also provide statistics on
the traffic that can help to identify trends that may in
future lead to further problems with the network.
(2000-07-24)