network monitoring

[minxbaker]

What software could be used to monitor traffic and application usage in a network that has been segmented into about 50 VLANs? I wan't to be able to see broadcasts, protocols running etc. in each individual VLAN from a central location. Is there anything that can actually do this without putting probes/analyzers in every VLAN.

[Don Jacob]

Hi,

The best option for traffic monitoring for application usage, protocols, source and destination of traffic, etc is NetFlow. The switch has to support NetFlow export and NetFlow analyzer softwares can report on the traffic information for each interface (inlcuding VLANs) using the NetFlow data exported from the device.

You do not have to have an analyzer or probe specifically for each VLAN as the NetFlow data will be exported from the device itself and will have information about traffic on each VLAN reported separately using this Netflow data. You only need to make sure the switch you have supports NetFlow export. If you can let me know the model of your device, I can try to find out if it supports netFlow or not.

Check out ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer  (www.netflowanalyzer.com) for information about NetFlow monitoring.

Regards,

Jacob