Network Monitoring Solutions

I would like to get some thoughts on different software to do some network monitoring. Our primary objective is being able to monitor bandwidth usage going from each user out onto the internet. we have a bunch of data T's and all Cisco equipment. Thanks in advance

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binarysoul

Have you considered Packeteer technologies, e.g. the PackettShaper 10000?

You have the ability to shape traffic and they have a software called, Report Center that gives you deep visibility into your entire network. It may be an expensive solution, but you get control of your network and also get detailed reports, down to individual PCs.

lex0429

never heard of it, i will check it out tomorrow morning, thanks for the heads up..

RussS

What sort of Cisco routers do you have?

Slowhand

At my previous work, we used a product called IP Monitor to monitor the network connections to our servers and routers, as well as a lot of other fun things, like bandwidth and CPU usage. Last I heard, SolarWinds bought out IP Monitor, so you might find that there are a lot more tools available with it, who knows? The open-source alternative to IP Monitor would be Nagios, which has been getting some attention from various organizations, including hospitals, airports, and even some U.S. military branches. If IP Monitor and Nagios don't do what you need, you might want to take a peek at SolarWind's website and see what else they offer.

Slowhand

Oh, and a friend of mine swears by Everest Corporate Edition for his network management and monitoring. However, I don't know if Everest supports monitoring for Cisco devices, or if it's strictly server and workstation tool.

lex0429

RussS wrote:

What sort of Cisco routers do you have?

3725 and 2 6506 switches

larkspur

I would like to get some thoughts on different software to do some network monitoring. Our primary objective is being able to monitor bandwidth usage going from each user out onto the internet. we have a bunch of data T's and all Cisco equipment

have you looked at netflow? you already have cisco equipment all you need to do is a add 5 lines to the config and setup a netflow collector. You wil have data in 5 minutes.

I use manage engine, but there are quite few, PRTG, scrutinzer, ntop, etc a quick google query
will give you more than you need.

This collectors also have reporting features and e-mail notifcations. Really helps understand what is traversing the network.

hth.

larkspur

and there is support for netflow on 6500's. I run on both of mine.

You get some good info on your aggerated links too!

lex0429

thats exactly what im doing. Im testing out scrutinizer and managEngine Netflow Analyzer right now. My apologies, i was refering to different types of software to use with Netflow. Not looking for additional hardware

larkspur

right now, have fun with it. Do you hav eany remote sites connecting back to teh hub?

if so you could also look into IP SLA.

lex0429

no not currently