During my time as a support engineer it was necessary to occasionally get netmon traces between Exchange servers, DC's GC's in order to troubleshoot exactly what was being sent down the wire - it wasn't always a pleasent experience.

Now, there is a new version Netmon 3 that will be RTM'ing fairly shorlty, meanwhile, if you want to join the public BETA you can do here

Here's what it can do:

Key features of Microsoft Network Monitor 3.0 include:

  • A completely new user interface
  • Real time capture and display of frames
  • Simultaneous capture on multiple network adapters
  • Multiple simultaneous capture sessions
  • Network conversations and a tree view displaying frames by conversation
  • A new script-based protocol parser language, and script-based parsers
  • Support for Vista/Windows XP/Windows Server 2003
  • Support for 32bit and 64bit platforms

"There is a public beta available now for anyone that wants to sign up for it.  Please point any of your customers to http://connect.microsoft.com and have them sign up for the “Network Monitor 3.0 beta” program.  We already have over 2000 customers signed up since it was put on the web just over a week ago.  There are also beta newsgroups, bug reporting, and a survey available."