What is Microsoft Network Monitor?
Microsoft Network Monitor (NetMon) is a packet analyzer and sniffer tool for Windows that enables users to capture, view, and analyze network traffic. It provides advanced network diagnostic capabilities to help troubleshoot connectivity issues, analyze protocol behavior, debug client/server communications, and more.
Some key features of Microsoft Network Monitor include:
- Real-time capture and offline analysis of network packets
- Powerful filtering to drill down on specific packets, protocols, or network conversations
- Detailed inspection of hundreds of common network protocols like HTTP, DNS, SMB, etc.
- Export capabilities to analyze captures in other tools like Wireshark
- Comprehensive statistics for understanding bandwidth usage and network health
- Intuitive user interface for constructing complex filters and analyzing data
- Integration with other Microsoft tools like Message Analyzer and Debug Diagnostic Tool
Microsoft Network Monitor is commonly used by network engineers, administrators, support technicians, and developers for documenting network behavior, troubleshooting connectivity or performance issues, analyzing application traffic, reverse engineering proprietary protocols, and more. Its advanced capabilities provide deep insight into Windows networking that complements tools like Wireshark.