Looking for a reliable bandwidth utilization NetFlow billing system?  If you are already using Cisco NetFlow technology for network monitoring and management, then it’s just one more simple step to extending that to bandwidth billing.

Using the Service Provider Module for Scrutinizer NetFlow & sFlow Analyzer and a customized Billing Module, you can monitor the bandwidth usage of your customers and also provide  a data export to your current billing application.

The Service Provider Module allows you to restrict your customers to view specific devices and/or interfaces in Scrutinizer. The “Scrutinizer v7 NetFlow and sFlow Analyzer: Using the Service Provider Module” blog has more information on this module’s features.

The Billing Module is a customized solution using the enhanced features of the Service Provider Module ad importing that data into your billing application.

A custom data file (i.e. saved report filter) is created and exported every hour, giving the most granular data (1 minute intervals) available. The data file can include but is not limited to:

• Time Stamp
• Rate: bytes / second
• Peak: same as above when reporting at 1 minute intervals
• Totals: total bytes per minute

Any NetFlow or sFlow exported field can be included (bits, packets, percent, IP/MAC addresses, VLAN ID, applications, ToS, Autonomous System, etc.) if required.  The billing application or script can then read in the files exported by Scrutinizer at a definable interval.

You should also know that Flexible NetFlow using a Permanent Cache can also be used for importing data into your billing application.

If your billing application is based on 95th percentile measurements, this information is also available in the Traffic Volume report displayed below.

95th percentile billing allows for the top 5% of spikes in a given period to be dropped from the utilization reported.  In the example above, 95th percentile for Inbound is 99.78% and Outbound is 24.81%.  This report is based on a one hour timeframe, providing both Inbound and Outbound traffic for the T1 interface.

Interested in using Scrutinizer to get the data for your bandwidth billing?  Contact Plixer Sales at 207-324-8805 x3 for more information on this custom solution.

- Joanne

Scrutinizer v7.6 has been released with several best at NetFlow improvements for network traffic analysis. You will find the upgrade available for download now.

New Features include:

+ Flow View now has a Date Selector
+ Users can name their templates exported from flow devices
+ Time frames for 3, 7, and 30 days have been added to the date selector
+ Volume reports have an option to toggle rate vs. totals
+ A new LDAP wizard has been added to simplify LDAP and LDAPS configuration
+ More definition labels have been added for ICMP Traffic
+ NBAR descriptions will no longer be blank if no template has been received
+ Fixed issue when performing an SNMP update for a PC with nprobe installed
+ Users can now configure thresholds based on a per row or report total basis
+ A new report type of IP Next Hop has been added to the status tab
+ Users who are part of an administrator group can copy myview tabs
+ A new report filter has been added for SUBNET TO SUBNET
+ The interface instance column is wider for high interface numbers
+ A Plixer Tools icon will now be visible when Plixer Tools is installed
+ Users can now add very long community strings
+ Added the ability in mapping to filter Denika reports for Denika connections
+ For new installs, users will automatically be licensed for 30 days
+ Updated the Japanese Translation
+ Improved IPFIX support in the NetFlow and sFlow collector
- Dozens of bug fixes

We are very excited about this new release of our network traffic analyzer. Contact us if you have any questions.

Jon Mills
Marketing & Public Relations Manager
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At Plixer International’s Technical Support desk we often take calls in support of our NetFlow and sFlow analysis tool that deal with disk space and disk performance issues. In the world of NetFlow and sFlow collector appliances, the name of the game is to have sufficient available disk space and minimize disk I/O. Read more »

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.
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.

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.

Read more »

Yes, you can use NetFlow to monitor traffic and bandwidth usage on an ASA.

One of the primary uses for NetFlow on a Cisco ASA is as a transport protocol for security events. But if you are using the right NetFlow Analysis tool, you can also analyze traffic using NetFlow sent from the Cisco ASA.

This is really important as I have seen many companies that have remote sites that are connected with a Cisco ASA, but had no devices behind the ASA’s that supported NetFlow. This meant that they couldn’t leverage NetFlow to analyze traffic.

Read more »

The following article, “Scrutinizer Brings Flow Analytics to SMBs“, written by David Diaz, was recently featured on TechCrunchIT.

David points out that with the low initial cost for Scrutinizer NetFlow & sFlow Analyzer, it is a very affordable Flow Analytics solution for small and medium-sized businesses.

This flow analysis tool can also be deployed centrally and accessed globally via the web interface.  What this means is that one install of Scrutinizer can provide network management information for your entire network and accessible by everyone on the network management team, regardless of geographical location.

Read more »

Hi there everyone! I hope you’ve had productive week and I wish you all a fantastic weekend.

This week, we’ve had two successful webinars that highlighted some of the fun new features for Scrutinizer v7.5 and I’d like to make the replay available to everyone who wasn’t able to be in attendance.

So if you’d like to get the inside scoop on some of the new goodies like NBAR reporting, the new Matrix connections report and the Flow Expert toolset ; take a seat, grab some popcorn and enjoy the movie.

Oh, to take advantage of these new features, be sure to upgrade your copy of Scrutinizer to v7.5.

Here’s the link to the latest download: Scrutinizer v7.5 update

If there are any questions that come up during the webinar, please feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

(207) 324-8805

Nate

Have you heard about exporting egress NetFlow? Do you want to know why it is different from ingress NetFlow or more importantly, when to implement it for network traffic monitoring? I’ll cover this topic in today’s blog. Read more »

Michael Patterson
Scrutinizer Product Manager
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