Have you been looking for a Zenpack that would allow seamless integration of Zenoss and the NetFlow tool Scrutinizer? Well you have come to the right place! Today I will be showing you how to complete the configuration of this integration. Read more »

For a free 30 day trial of Scrutinizer, Download Now!

Sign up for Advanced NetFlow Training™ coming to a city near you!

What a year so far!

You know the old saying “Time flies when you’re having fun”? Here at Plixer, our developers are so freakishly passionate about creating the NetFlow architecture of the future, the years seem to pass us by like a blur.

The hard work is really paying off! Not only were we the first company to receive Cisco certification within the Systems Management technology category but, we are proud to announce that last week we won the 2011 Golden Bridge Award for NetFlow innovations!These industry and peer awards from Golden Bridge are the world’s premier business recognition program. This award is a huge accomplishment for such a passionate group of employees. To top it all off, Cisco sent us Medianet T-Shirts!

With Cisco predicting by 2013 91% of all network traffic will be voice/video streams, we’ve been spending a significant amount of time focusing on the development of the many new Cisco Medianet performance monitoring reports. Scrutinizer v9.0 is just around the corner, it will be exciting to get feedback on all of the new reports we have built for Cisco Smart Logging and Telemetry, Cisco TrustSec, Performance Routing, Performance Monitoring and of course all of the new SonicWALL IPFIX support.

What is MediaNet?
Medianet is an intelligent end-to-end network that combines video technologies in the business, home and service provider networks. More than just higher bandwidth, it optimizes video and rich media traffic. Our solution was the first to report on the new metrics Cisco imbedded into Flexible NetFlow templates. Network traffic analysis with the advanced filtering in our NetFlow Management solution is further proof that our software provides the very best in NetFlow reporting. Read more »

For a free 30 day trial of Scrutinizer, Download Now!

Sign up for Advanced NetFlow Training™ coming to a city near you!

After reflecting on the last month here in tech support, I’ve noticed that some of our customers are not utilizing the NetFlow threats overview gadget in our product. Conveniently located under the MyView tab, this table comes ready to alarm on 37 different thresholds right outta’ the box. To me this is exciting stuff, but you’ve probably noticed at first glance it can seem like an overwhelming list. I will assure you that once properly configured it can be one of the best tools in your arsenal.

Overview of Threats

The MyView tab is NetFlow dashboard and is an integral part of Scrutinizer that I get positive feedback about every single day.  In this series of blogs we will cover all aspects of the threat overview, including settings, customization, detailed explanations of each threat and even how they can be avoided in the future.

Read more »

For a free 30 day trial of Scrutinizer, Download Now!

Sign up for Advanced NetFlow Training™ coming to a city near you!

What do IPv6 Day and Y2K have in common? I’ll break it down for you real simple: a lot of stuff happened, but most of us never noticed. Now, let me explain in detail…

Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPV6) is the newest technology that has everyone stirring for solutions to problems that hadn’t yet been fully realized. Not until IPv6 day, that is. As digital consumers, we need our information to be retrieved faster than ever, and all connectivity is expected to be warp speed. The current IPv4 exhaustion crisis is eerily similar to Y2K in that the eventual outcome was expected to go two different ways: either nothing will happen or complete Armageddon will ensue. But there’s also a fundamental difference: we’re not nearly as worked up about IPv4 exhaustion as we were about Y2K ahead of the fact.

Each IPV4-to-IPV6 and IPV6-to-IPV4 conversion adds an extra “hop” and requires a large amount of computing power to process information about who you are trying to talk to, and who you are known by on the other end. The coexistence of both protocols seems to be consistent with a family traveling on vacation; precious vacation time is wasted by the family (IPv4) driving to the airport, then transferring to a plane (IPv6), in an overall attempt to save time in the air. In the fastest scenario possible, you wouldn’t want to use two means of transportation, instead opting to use your private plane in the back yard (IPv6).

Read more »

For a free 30 day trial of Scrutinizer, Download Now!

Sign up for Advanced NetFlow Training™ coming to a city near you!

Capturing WoW traffic with NetFlow

This is a question I get asked a lot. How can I tell if my employees are gaming during company hours?  I’m going to explain how you can use NetFlow to determine if there is World of Warcraft traffic on your network. With over 12 million subscribers I figured network administrators would find this information useful.

Read more »

You are an IT professional.  You know about NetFlow.  But do you need to know more?  Do you need to get a NetFlow solution in place?  Could you better serve your company with advanced knowledge of NetFlow from the industry leader in NetFlow collecting and reporting?  Do you want to get your hands on some fresh Maine lobster?

Then check out our upcoming FlowFest™ 2011: Advanced NetFlow Training™, a 3-day conference to learn what is possible with NetFlow technology.  Read more »

Do you use NetFlow for your network traffic monitoring??

If you do, but don’t always see the data the way you need for optimal network traffic analysis, just let us know. Customizing the view of your NetFlow data is the key to getting the most from NetFlow reporting.
Read more »

For a free 30 day trial of Scrutinizer, Download Now!

Sign up for Advanced NetFlow Training™ coming to a city near you!

Are you interested in learning more about Cisco NetFlow collection?  We have two upcoming webinars available.  Each webcast will cover a variety of topics to get you the information you need.

We’ll discuss reporting on Top Domains to find out who is hitting them (such as MySpace, Ebay, and others).  Learn how to use NetFlow to pinpoint latency of applications, servers, and end systems.  Discuss what open source NetFlow software is appropriate for your business, or when to move from open source to an enterprise class NetFlow Analysis Solution. Read more »

Today I want to talk, in a nutshell, about the advantages of NetFlow. One thing in particular that distinguishes NetFlow based traffic monitoring from the traditional SNMP dependent systems is the ability to characterize traffic applications and patterns. Knowing what the traffic is, who it is from, how and where it flows is critical for network performance and troubleshooting. For instance, it helps Network managers “determine where to apply QoS, optimize resource usage and it plays a vital role in network security to detect Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, network-propagated worms, and other undesirable network events.”

In planning, as I previously stated, NetFlow information ensures that resources are used adequately in support of organizational goals. Moreover, it facilitates solutions to many common network issues including: Read more »

For a free 30 day trial of Scrutinizer, Download Now!

Sign up for Advanced NetFlow Training™ coming to a city near you!

With the release of  ”The Sphere” this week,  once again we bring traffic reporting to another level. Among several new features that Scrutinizer 8.0 comes with, the Sphere is my favorite.   It provides a view of your network traffic in an interactive spherical image with the ability to selectively look at specific talkers and who they are talking to.

We take a lot of pride in our NetFlow innovations and industry firsts. Here is a list of some of the technologies we were the first to support in the NetFlow industry: Read more »

For a free 30 day trial of Scrutinizer, Download Now!

Sign up for Advanced NetFlow Training™ coming to a city near you!