We recently had the opportunity to work with an exciting Juniper IPFIX MX Series export. It provides traffic details that we haven’t seen before from this vendor. The export is available in release 14.1X55 and release 17.1 in Q1 2017, but you also need the MX with subscriber/application awareness (using MS-MPC cards). Read more
Author: Steve
Stephen joined Plixer in 2011. Steve’s efforts over the years have helped many customer gain better Visibility and Network Analytics. With more than 5 years of successful technology consultation, Steve has become a thought leader, focusing on how Scrutinizer can be part of a system incorporating other solutions such as Gigamon, Statseeker, Uptime, InfoBlox and Splunk. Firm believer that most organizations will have a larger SDN implementation and greater leveraging the Cloud in the next few years. Steve resides in Scarborough, ME with his wife and two sons.
Juniper MX240 IPFIX Support | Direction Problems
Posted on - by Steve
The other day I was helping an engineer who was trying to provide some Juniper MX240 IPFIX support when we ran into some “flow direction” problems that lead to reporting issues. After setting up the export and not seeing anything in our NetFlow Collector, I decided to get out the packet analyzer and capture the datagrams. It was time to take a look at the contents within the flows at deeper level. What we learned: Juniper is not exporting flow direction correctly and this is causing problems.
Splunk NetFlow Integration
Posted on - by Steve
We took some time recently to get our Splunk NetFlow integration working. Apparently, there are a few customers who are looking to get from NetFlow to Splunk and from Splunk to NetFlow. This of course applies to IPFIX and sFlow as well.
Overview of DNS Protocol : Part 3 of 3
Posted on - by Steve
Make sure you read Part 1 of Overview of DNS Protocol before reading this one or you can go back to part 2. At this point, I want to introduce why we wanted to write a 3 part DNS process overview series.
Cisco ISE vs Forescout CounterACT
Posted on - by Steve
Recently, we tested Cisco ISE vs Forescout CounterACT. We have implemented and integrated our Incident Response System with three different authentication systems like this and this post highlights some of the features and facts that we really liked about CounterACT v7.0.0.
Cloud Service Security Checklist : 7 Questions
Posted on - by Steve
Most companies ask about security before outsourcing to a cloud service. The problem when asking this question is that, many of us don’t really question or test the claims of what the vendor tells us. Why should we, vendors are honest …..right?
Identifying and Managing Shadow IT in the Enterprise
Posted on - by Steve
Many devices that are placed on the corporate networks can fly under the radar of the IT departments watchful eye. These devices include smart phones, wireless access points, tablets, home laptops and other types of computer hardware. In some cases, employees make VPN connections from non-corporate owned computers and leave them connected for days or even weeks. All of these devices take up corporate resources and put the company at greater risk for malware and electronic theft. What can be done?
What your Boss Does When He’s Bored
Posted on - by Steve
Bosses can get bored at work just like everyone else and it often happens at the same time you or I are getting bored. Take Friday afternoon after lunch for example. The boss is back from a big sandwich lunch where he/she ate a bit too much, their belly is full and because of that they are fighting the urge to be lethargic. The thought of reading email or reviewing another document is a task they just can’t seem to muster up the motivation to review.
Blue Coat MACH5 NetFlow Support
Posted on - by Steve
Good news, the Blue Coat MACH5 NetFlow support is now part of a growing community of vendors supporting NetFlow and or IPFIX. IPFIX is the official standard for all flow technologies and although interest in the proprietary sFlow technology has begun to shrink over the past few years, the IPFIX standard includes provisions for real-time packet sampling as well.
Solarwinds Orion Vs WhatsUp Gold
Posted on - by Steve
When considering Ipswitch’s WhatsUp Gold Vs. Solarwinds Orion it is important to start off by listing the features that are important to maintaining optimum network performance for your business. Clearly both are capable of monitoring networks. Here are the PDF files that we were able to obtain at the time of this post:
- Solarwinds: [SolarWinds Orion vs. WUG] Link removed per vendor request.
- Ipswitch: [WUG_vs_Orion_v9] and the [Orion_North America_DeepDive]
