There is no doubt that flow technology is revolutionizing network monitoring. In this  NetFlow/J-Flow/IPFIX/sFlow era, there is no need to settle with only knowing utilizations on the network. Besides, little analysis can be done in monitoring bandwidth only anyways.

Scott wrote a blog earlier that made a valid point: “A Network Administrator’s abilities are only as good as his awareness of what happens on his network.” In harmony with that statement, it’s beneficial to have useful tools to be able to collect that traffic information.

Recently, I learned that J-Flow is supported for the Juniper SRX series Gateways. I thought this might be good information for people who want to start monitoring flows on this type of device, especially our NetFlow and sFlow Analyzer users, since it can also process J-Flow packets. Below are some sample commands taken from Juniper’s Knowledge Base which walks you through your J-Flow configuration. Read more »

Daniel Senga
Tech Support
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You’re in the market for a NetFlow Traffic Analyzer.  What are the key features that you’re looking for?  What makes one NetFlow analyzer stand out from the rest?  Do you have a list of “must haves”?

Such as support for Flexible NetFlow, IPFIX reporting, portable network maps?  How about automated NetFlow configuration on your routers and switches?  Is customization of the web interface important to you?  Multiple language support critical?
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Today I will discuss the command “ip flow ingress infer-fields”, mostly used in the NetFlow configuration of NetFlow switches. Being the newest member of the Plixer International Tech Support team I am discovering how amazingly large certain networks can get. This is when an outstanding network monitoring and diagnosis capability come in handy. Read more »

Daniel Senga
Tech Support
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Okay, back to the basics. We’ve been working with Cisco NetFlow technology for many years now, but what is NetFlow?

NetFlow is a traffic profile monitoring technology developed by Darren Kerr and Barry Bruins at Cisco Systems, back in 1996. At that time, network monitoring mostly consisted of seeing how much traffic was traversing your network, but did not include what that traffic was.
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Lawrence Technological University is among Michigan’s largest independent colleges and also Michigan’s first completely wireless laptop campuses, as well as one of the largest wireless networks in the Midwest.

This recently published case study demonstrates how successful network traffic analysis can be performed using NetFlow reporting with Scrutinizer NetFlow Analyzer. Monitoring NetFlow exported from devices such as Cisco ASA’s, routers, switches, and numerous other NetFlow compatible devices simplifies the task of managing your network, whether wired or, in LTU’s case, fully wireless.

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The World Cup kicks off in two days and trust me, the IT managers are concerned. The potential load on corporate networks is enormous and with an event of this magnitude it could possibly cause expensive downtime. With statistics like 54% of Britains are planning to watch the World Cup on company computers, you can see why it is important to pay attention to your company’s Internet Usage Policy now.

Jim Martin from ExpertReview.com wrote a blog that points out some of the scary statistics about corporate employees and network usage during the games.

“The survey of 2,000 workers also found that most people had given no thought to the possible consequences on their own workplace.”  The article then goes on to say, “IT networks. More than half those polled did not know whether their organization had any restrictions or guidelines in place to stop them accessing sites to watch the tournament.”

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____________________________________
Jim Dougherty aka "Jimmy D"
International Sales Channel Manager and
Netflow Evangelist for Plixer International!

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The other day I took an interesting call from a customer who was concerned because he was suddenly seeing his flows per second count almost double. He had just upgraded his Scrutinizer NetFlow and sFlow traffic analysis application to the latest version and he thought that maybe something had changed to cause this to happen.

I assured him that nothing in the Scrutinizer upgrade would have caused him to see his flow count increase. And after talking with him, I learned that he had also just upgraded the IOS on his routers.

Were we looking at some kind of a ”perfect storm“ scenario?

Of course not!

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Consider this – customer calls in and says that a workstation on his network was scanning their entire corporate network and how can he be alerted on this type of behavior? The behavior wasn’t exactly malicious, but rather that someone had installed an inventory application on their desktop  which scanned their entire network with snmp scans.

So, no, it wasn’t malicious activity, but that sort of network monitoring also was not authorized for that individual on their network.

Using Scrutinizer NetFlow and sFlow Analyzer, he asked how he could detect that sort of network traffic.
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In today’s information technology world, security is an increasingly important topic and having the right tools for the job is utterly necessary. So, you ask yourself, how can a NetFlow and sFlow analysis tool help you? Scrutinizer gives you the ability to monitor all the traffic on your network to identify IP addresses, bandwidth and port usage, possible threats, and any IPFIX or Flexible NetFlow custom fields, but what if you could go even deeper?

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Paul Dube
Technical Support
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SUNY Geneseo Network Manager Rick Coloccia found that analyzing Cisco NetFlow packets was the key to network traffic management and monitoring internet use and abuse.

Using Scrutinizer NetFlow Analyzer, he was able to respond to the RIAA’s (Recording Industry Association of America) allegations of students illegally downloading or sharing of music.
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