Before I get into what a NetFlow Analyzer is, lets go back and understand a bit of history regarding network traffic analysis. Almost since the inception of setting up LANs and WANs, business managers alike have wanted to know who was using the network and what the top applications were on the connections. Almost immediately packet analyzers immerged to provide some of the insight needed but, historical detail was lacking and the cost to maintain them every place they were needed on the network was and still is cost prohibitive. Read more
Category: NetFlow Analyzer
Sankey Flow Graph
One of the greatest benefits of NetFlow collection for traffic analysis, is we’re provided with the ability to visualize the flow of our network traffic. This is a huge improvement over the traditional method of parsing row after row of big data in a structured table format. As the IoT becomes a reality and traffic volume continues to grow at a consistent rate, we need a way of visualizing this traffic. While we’re provided many graph types that help to convey information through colors, size or position, Plixer is excited to announce the inclusion of its latest graph type, the Sankey Flow Graph!
Endace NetFlow Support
In a previous post, we introduced the Emulex EndaceFlow 3040. Recently, Endace has become an independent company again and announced an updated NetFlow generator appliance: the EndaceFlow 4004. This appliance boasts an impressive array of features and supports all major versions of NetFlow: v5, v9, and IPFIX. This is great news for administrators looking to incorporate a NetFlow Generator into their environment as having this sort of monitoring power provides security teams with greater, more detailed insight and the ability to deliver faster incident response times. Combining the EndaceFlow 4004 Netflow Generator with our Incident Response System provides a reliable solution when investigating suspicious traffic patterns. Read more
Netflow Analyzer Schedule Reports
In my previous blog, User Bandwidth Monitor, I described how to create and save customized reports that can then be added to a Dashboard for quick access. We can also use NetFlow and IPFIX data to create reports that are delivered by email on a regular schedule. Read more
VDS NetFlow Support
I was chasing down a Virtual Distributed Switch NetFlow support question the other day because a customer was wondering how our NetFlow Analyzer would handle the export. I finally took the time to figure out what a Virtual Distributed Switch (VDS) IP address is and how it relates to the NetFlow exporter. A VDS can be distributed such that physical network adapters from multiple ESX hosts (esx1, esx2, esx3, etc) can be part of the switch.