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There are situations where monitoring network traffic beyond one's own LAN segment is extremely helpful. For example, a software engineer may need to troubleshoot a network-related software installation in another building, or even a different part of the world. Being able to watch the actual packets flowing through the remote computer may be tremendously helpful. This can be achieved by two methods.
The first method is rather obvious and straightforward: Considering the vast proliferation of remote access software, including the native Microsoft tools such as Remote Desktop Connection and Terminal Services available to the users of the latest Windows versions, one can simply have a network analyzer installed on a remote system and then gain full access to it by means of Remote Desktop Connection.
The second method is based on the usage of remote network probes, i.e. software agents installed on a remote system. By connecting to one or several remote agents from one central location, the administrator can have the actual network traffic sent back to his monitoring software for real-time analysis. This approach offers a number of benefits, such as simultaneous connection to any number of probes and the ability to analyze and log data on your own computer, but requires a good communication link between the probes and the analyzer, as well as the thoughtful use of traffic filters.
A good example of this remote monitoring technology would be CommView Remote Agent that was first product of this kind on the market and remains a leader in this field. Aside from intrinsic advantages offered by remote monitoring technology, this product features data compression and strong encryption.
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