I don’t remember where we saw it, but there was a report that stated there were 102 unique vendors that released a NetFlow tool in 2008.

I don’t know how accurate that is, but I can definitely confirm that if you go to Google.com and search the key word NetFlow, you’re going to get a LONGGGGGGGG list.

So with a plethora of options and little time to evaluate, what does Scrutinizer offer that might make it worth…scrutinizing? (Sorry, couldn’t help it)

Here’s five compelling reasons to take a look at my product:

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Do you ever need to see the NetFlow or sFlow data down to the actual second interval?  Did you know you can do it with your NetFlow Analyzer?  Sub minute visibility is only a click away for the Network Admin. Below I zoomed in on a two minute interval that I want to take a closer look at.  Read more »

You’ve installed Scrutinizer only to find out that your network hardware doesn’t support NetFlow or sFlow; what now? If you’re in this situation then you’ve come to the right place. I’ve put together a guide on how to configure a Windows nProbe to send NetFlow v5 to your favorite NetFlow collector and analyzer.

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Seems like everyone is getting snow but us! As some of you know, I’m a winter fan and I love snow.  I’ve only been on two snowmobile trips this year and right now is usually prime season.  Our current snow conditions are appalling. Read more »

What’s your favorite color? Chances are that your favorite color is not the same as mine. When you use Windows, are you a fan of the old classic view, or do you go for the new Windows look?

We have all been talking about Plixer’s NetFlow analyzer, and how it provides the best in traffic analysis, with its ability to support Flexible NetFlow, NBAR, and Cisco ASA NSEL. But did you know that as a Scrutinizer user, you have different options when it comes to how you want our NetFlow and sFlow Traffic Analysis Tool to look?

Currently there are 5 different skin types available to select from. They are configurable on a per user basis. So if you are in a dark kind of mood, you can change to a dark skin with either green or yellow text.

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We had a large carrier call us the other day with a messed up interface names issue in Scrutinizer.  The customer was exporting cflowd (NetFlow v5) from an Alcatel-Lucent SR 7750 running TMOS-C-5.0.R21.  Read more »

Thanks to Jimmy D, our renowned International Sales Channel Manager, we have a proven solution for monitoring NetFlow traffic for home users.

A situation arose for Jim where his wife and daughter would be in Florida caring for his parents while he was still here in Maine. The geek that he is, he didn’t want distance to keep them apart.

So he decided to provide voice, video, and network monitoring while they were in Florida. To achieve this, he decided to set up a small embedded server rack in his parents’ Florida home. This would allow for VoIP, Video, network traffic monitoring, and a web server.

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Just about all NetFlow Analyzers get the interfaces names of the routers and switches using SNMP. Another reason why SNMP vs. NetFlow is really a no contest. Anyway, we can get the names of interfaces using NetFlow via something called NetFlow option templates.

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Hi there all! Another week is coming to close and I hope its been a good one. With the Cisco ASA being the hot topic for the past couple months, I wanted to share this blog with you.

This is a very important topic, since this will help you understand how the ASA reports conversations differently from other switch/router counterparts. Let’s take a look:

Undirectional NetFlow:

Traditionally, NetFlow is a unidirectional technology. As an example, when host A sends traffic to host B, this will create a single flow. When host B replies, a second flow is created within the router cache. So using that example, conversation A –> B creates a flow of 500kb. The return reply from B –> A will create a separate flow of 75kb.

Bidirectional NetFlow:

As of today, I’ve only ever seen bidirectional flows from the Cisco ASA. To summarize though: instead of getting two flows as illustrated above, you will only get one flow from the host who initiated the conversation. However, within that one flow, you will have the correct total of traffic for the connection and reply. So take the conversation I used in the example of Unidirectional Flows: A –>B = 500kb, B –> A = 75kb

Since there is only one flow created, this one flow will present the total of 575kb, A –> B = 575kb, instead of breaking into two summaries.

This is a strange way of rendering a flow, if you want my opinion. I’m not sure why Cisco decided to implement this, since it makes it tougher to figure out the flow direction.

“So this 575kb conversation, is this from A –> B or is this B –> A?”

Regardless,we should be grateful to have a firewall exporting NetFlow in the first place and I’m sure everyone else feels the same way…

If you would like more information regarding the unique properties of the ASA, please give us a call and we’ll be happy to help.

Nate

Our development team has been working hard and we are pleased to announce the release of Plixer Tools 8.0.0. What’s Plixer Tools you ask? We’ve combined Denika, Logalot, WebNM, and Flowalyzer into a single installer to provide better integration with Scrutinizer.

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