Recommended network monitoring tool

[DJCanuck1_2]

I am looking for a good network monitoring tool. We use Cisco Routers, switches and VPN devices exclusively.I have deployed CiscoWorks and am using CiscoWorks Common Services and RME for management, but need tools to monitor traffic. I have looked at Lan Manager and am wondering if this is the right way to go. I have also deployed WhatsUp Gold and am using it with limited results. I am thinking of upgrading this to WhatsUp Proffessional 2006. I guess my question is, what would you recommend for Cisco device Network monitoring? Do you receive more detailed results with SNMP or NetFlow?

[David Stanford]

There are a number of options available, it depends on the total number of devices you have and your budget.

SNMS is a Cisco product that can manage up to 50 devices and you can do some of the functionality of CiscoWorks LMS (mentioned below) --- WUG would do some bandwidth monitoring for you

Most users seem to use Cisco Works LMS as their Cisco product when managing Cisco equipment. You could use some of IPM to help with this monitoring:

IPM -- round trip response, network performance and latency analysis -- not really bandwidth monitoring, but can help identify bottlenecks

You could also consider other NMS applications such as HPOV NNM, Tivoli Netview, Spectrum, but it depends on what your budget and needs are

[DJCanuck1_2]

Thanks for the response. I'm looking for a monitoring tool with the ability to identify which hosts and protocols are using the most bandwidth. Recently we have had a spike in our Internet usage and I'm trying to narrow down where this traffic is coming from.

[samirsuri]

You can use NAI's Sniffer or ethereal for the same . SNiffer is very good tool for Network Monitoring . Ir will show you the TOP 10 users in real time and you can put trigger's etc to trigger capture when traffic increases beyond a particular limit from certain hosts etc .

[David Stanford]

You could also look into a NAM that you could put in a switch/router. This can do RMON-II which will give you hosts, protocols, application layer statistics and help determine where the problem is.

[mfreeman451]

If you are interested in opensource utilities, there are plenty of great tools out there for doing monitoring of services and bandwidth.

You might have the best luck with ntop, http://www.ntop.org. It is free, easy to use, quick to setup, and works well.

[Jan Nejman]

Hello,

you can use our tool Caligare Flow Inspector, that uses netflow exports. It is exactly what you want. You can display top talkers, top protocols, ports. CFI includes heuristic detection of used application (you can add your own rules) etc. If you want to know more, check our web pages (http://www.caligare.com) - live demo or contact me directly.

Kind regards,

Jan

[linker.team]

Hi,

I am using Adventnet ManageEngine NetflowAnalyzer. This is a Netflow based network bandwidth monitoring tool. All in/out traffics, top destinations, top source, application details are available with a good GUI. you can download it from www.netflowanalyzer.com