I have noticed a pattern with my ISP - between 07h00 and 09h00 each work day, my connection dies for a few seconds. I confronted them and they blamed the telco. The telco inspected the line and found no problems. They insisted their systems were working. So, I developed a monitor to prove my claims.

After a few weeks of work on this software and a couple of days of arguing, my conclusive proof is now being taken into account as they try to diagnose the real cause.

The Packet Ninja is the result of this disagreement. I needed software to monitor my connection 24/7 and to produce results that could not be contested. I wondered how many other people had the same problem, so I developed the software into a more user-friendly commercial release - and called it the Packet Ninja!

I do of course realise that more utility is expected out of commercial software and a roadmap for the development of extra features is included below. Primarily, the Packet Sentry tests connections and monitor internet services, including HTTP, FTP and mail, and alert administrators via SMS of fallovers. I hope you find this as useful as I have.

The basic feature set guaranteed in the full release will include several tests:
· Connection monitor (based on the Ping protocol);
· A website monitor (using http to retrieve a specific file);
· An email send/deliver set (using SMTP and POP).

The final release will also feature follow-up tools for administration:
· Save graphs and logs (to send to your ISP, for example);
· Configure actions based on rules (restart after 20 failures, for example); and
· SMS notification via a supported GSM modem.

What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]

· Speed redefintion
· Feedback sounds