VisualRoute 2005: Graphical Net Connectivity Diagnosis Doesn't Come Cheap E-Mail Tracing and More Joseph Moran
Exporting Data
After you conduct a network trace, VisualRoute offers a couple of methods to output the data generated. You can save the data for any trace to HTML or JPG format, but the latter version is better for printing, since the HTML version usually exceeds the margins of the page. Another feature called 'Snap as Text' can copy pieces of data or the entire trace (sans map) to Windows Notepad. (The manual says this feature will copy data to a word processor, but it uses Windows Notepad even if you have a "real" word processor installed.) You can also copy and paste information from VisualRoute via the Windows Clipboard.
Another handy feature of VisualRoute is that it can trace the source of an e-mail address, which can help identify sources of spam and other e-mail abuse. You can enter an e-mail address into VisualRoute, and the utility will return the IP address and FQDN of the relevant e-mail server (or in some cases, multiple servers). VisualRoute will also often (but not always) report the actual mail server software being utilized.
System Requirements and Pricing
For a $50 product, VisualRoute's documentation could be a bit more useful. The program lacks a help file, and although a quick start guide, manual, and FAQ are available, they're provided only as HTML links, so you have to access them from VisualWare's Web site or save them manually for offline access. The program could also benefit from a more polished interface and installation module.
You can download a trial version of Visual Route 2005, but it will only work for 15 days. The cost to register the personal edition is $49.95, but you'll have to ante up an additional $20 if you want 12 months worth of product updates.
VisualRoute 2005 will run on any version of Windows from 98 through 2003 and requires at least 128MB of RAM and a 1 GHz CPU. Also required is either the Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or Microsoft's Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Mac OS and Linux versions of the utility are also available.
For all the useful and interesting information VisualRoute 2005 Personal Edition can provide, it won't necessarily serve as a hard-core diagnostic tool for a network administrator since many advanced capabilities are reserved for the higher-end versions (ranging from $189 to $349) of VisualRoute. This includes the ability to test specific ports, application protocols, or conduct continuous tests.
There is no doubt that VisualRoute 2005 Personal Edition is a much more convenient way to gather information about network connectivity than by using Windows built-in utilities. On the other hand, as informative as VisualRoute can be, the program's $50-$70 cost seems a bit steep (and the trial period too short), leaving it up to the individual to determine whether the price is justified.
Date of Review: June 29, 2005
Pros: Combines ping, tracert, nslookup, and whois into one graphical utility; visual World Map feature useful for seeing internet connectivity paths; eMailTracker utility for tracing the source of e-mail addresses
Cons: Limited trial period, overly pricey, inconvenient documentation, can't export to most word processors, many of the most useful diagnostic features are reserved for the professional versions of VisualRoute (ability to test specific ports, application protocols, or conduct continuous tests, etc.)
