Network Traffic Monitoring Tool | Monitor and Analyze Network Traffic

Q: What is network traffic?

Network traffic refers to the amount of data transfer across a network from a source to a destination at a specific time. This data is transmitted in the form of packets, which are... more

Network Traffic Monitoring

Network traffic monitoring involves analyzing traffic flows based on different technologies and troubleshooting network issues quickly. It provides valuable insights into traffic trends and bandwidth usage.

Site24x7's cloud-based network traffic monitoring provides real-time statistics on network traffic and bandwidth consumption by devices, interfaces, and applications, facilitating efficient monitoring and proactive optimization to prevent issues.

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Why is network traffic monitoring important?

Real-time network traffic monitoring helps organizations track and analyze the continuous volumes of data that flow through a network. Network admins can effortlessly identify potential bottlenecks and outages with real-time information about bandwidth metrics in a network.

Site24x7's network traffic monitoring tool offers complete visibility into your network with stats on peak traffic, surges in traffic volumes, application and interface traffic, and bandwidth-hogging conversations. Also, our network traffic monitoring system can help you analyze flows based on various technologies like NetFlow, sFlow, and J-Flow.

A network traffic monitoring tool for all your needs

Optimize data use across your network

Identify bandwidth hogs and block or restrict them in your environment to optimize data usage across the network.

Improve network security

Detect traffic anomalies and drill down to the IP addresses causing spikes in conversations.

Leverage dashboards to identify top users

View exclusive dashboards for top devices or interfaces organized by traffic, volume, and bandwidth utilization to identify high network bandwidth users.

Classify and manage traffic with templates

Classify and manage traffic using templates

Use application and differentiated services code point (DSCP) templates to classify and manage network traffic, and obtain the relevant stats.

Receive alerts about busy interfaces

Configure threshold limits at the device or interface level for all key metrics and receive alerts on breaches so that you can execute corrective measures on time.

Leverage support from multiple vendors

Collect and analyze flows from multiple vendors, like Cisco, HP, Juniper, Fortinet, SonicWall, Dell, Palo Alto, 3Com, and Foundry Networks.

Know the top N traffic generators

View the applications, protocols, and conversations with the highest interface-level traffic flows.

Organize your traffic analysis using reports

Extract tabular data or easy-to-interpret graphs as reports, which you can generate periodically, and export to different formats.

Supported flow technologies to monitor network traffic

Site24x7 supports all leading flow technologies available on the market.

NetFlow

sFlow

J-Flow

Cflow

IPFIX

NetStream

AppFlow

NetFlow: Supported vendors — Multi-vendor support

NetFlow: Multiple Protocols — Multi-protocol support

Benefits of using Site24x7's network traffic monitoring tool

As a network administrator, you need a network monitoring tool to keep an eye on device-to-device traffic within your network and to flag any bandwidth hogging, intrusion, slowness, or unauthorized access. Here's where our network traffic monitoring tool comes in handy.

By using our network traffic monitoring tool, you can:

Spot traffic peaks or clogs

Identify surges in traffic volume and bandwidth hogging conversations.

Obtain detailed reports

View in-depth reports on application and interface traffic.

Identify traffic sources

Monitor the traffic hotspots in your network.

Track traffic between nodes

Monitor traffic moving between the main office and branch offices.

Detect anomalies

Perform custom pings and synthetic tests using the Site24x7 On-Premise Poller.

Monitor network quality

Test the quality and optimize allocation with network bandwidth monitoring.

How to monitor network traffic

Adverse network performance can result in losses in terms of costs or resources. You can prevent this with network traffic monitoring, which enables you to track any suspicious activity and optimize your network traffic.

Here are the steps to monitor network traffic:

Identify the nodes where you would like to monitor the traffic

Select the devices or nodes that require monitoring. For instance, if you select a router and a switch, you can monitor the interface traffic data for all connected devices.

Discover NetFlow interfaces in your network

Site24x7 discovers and adds new NetFlow interfaces in your network if you've enabled your devices to export flows. These devices also reflect in topology maps with the help of our network mapping tool.

Use Site24x7's network traffic analyzer

Use Site24x7's network traffic monitoring tool, which monitors your source and destination devices, their interfaces, and the traffic flowing through them. With interface-level details along with insights based on the IP address, application, and protocol, you can view your monitoring data from dashboards and consolidated reports.

Cloud-based network traffic monitoring system

What is Network Traffic Monitoring — Conversation traffic split-up for network traffic monitoring.

Network Traffic Monitoring Tools — NetFlow Health Dashboard.

Network Traffic Monitor — Application traffic stats for network traffic analysis.

Real time network traffic monitoring — A NetFlow Device Summary Report.

How network traffic monitoring tools work — Device Performance insights.

Why Site24x7 is the best network traffic monitoring tool

Full-stack Monitoring

Site24x7 offers full-fledged, all-in-one monitoring for websites, servers, applications, logs, and cloud and virtualization with out-of-the-box reporting and dashboard capabilities.

Network Monitoring

Site24x7's comprehensive network monitoring portfolio comprises features such as SNMP trap processing, mapping, and custom SNMP monitoring.

Mobile App

Monitor your network resources on the go with our Android and iOS apps.

Customizable alerting

Get SMS messages, emails, voice calls, or push notifications through the Android and iOS apps and RSS feeds.

Third-party integrations

Route your alert notifications through Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, and more.

One solution for all your network management needs

Site24x7 offers network monitoring for device and interface monitoring; network traffic monitoring to analyze flows based on different technologies like NetFlow, J-Flow, and sFlow; and network configuration management to manage network configuration backups. Accomplish hassle-free control over your network from a single, SaaS-based monitoring console, without switching between software packages.

Overview of network traffic monitoring

What is network traffic?

Network traffic is the amount of data transferred through a network from a source to a destination at a specific time. This data is transmitted in the form of packets, which are the basic building blocks of network data transfers, and are reassembled at the destination.

What are the types of network traffic?

There are different types of network traffic such as data, video, voice, and control traffic. Each type has specific requirements, including bandwidth and prioritization.

Types of network traffic:

Real-time traffic: Time-sensitive traffic that requires high-quality data transmission.
Non-real-time traffic: Traffic that is consumed by an application for daily activities.
Busy or heavy traffic: Traffic that utilizes a significant amount of bandwidth.

What is network traffic monitoring?

Network traffic monitoring is the process of analyzing the flow of data across a network to gain insights into network behavior, analyze traffic patterns, and identify potential issues. It involves tracking the source, destination, and other metrics of network traffic and is usually achieved through specialized software tools that collect and analyze network traffic data in real time.

Benefits of network traffic monitoring:

Analyze bandwidth issues
Identify top talkers
Improve user experience

What is a network traffic monitor?

A network traffic monitor in Site24x7 is any network device, such as a router or switch, for whichyou can observe and analyze traffic flows within your network. This enables you to get immediate insight into the use of network bandwidth, traffic patterns, and protocols being utilized. Site24x7 also displays the relevant measurements in an easy-to-use dashboard.

By analyzing traffic data, you can:

Identify potential issues like bandwidth hogs within the network.
Spot applications and device conversations that use high amounts of traffic.
Plan for bandwidth allocation based on usage patterns.

What is NetFlow?

NetFlow by Cisco is the most commonly used flow technology. It tracks and records all traffic as it enters and exits an interface. NetFlow is often used for flow data analytics. NetFlow datagrams carry information like the source address, destination address, source port, destination port, and protocol values in the flow record. NetFlow versions 5 and 9 are most commonly used.

With NetFlow traffic analysis, you can:

Identify bottlenecks in the network.
Analyze instances of poor network performance.

What is J-Flow?

Juniper Networks developed the data flow sampling technique known as J-Flow, which is supported by SRX Series Devices. The sampled data includes all network activities, such as conversations inside enabled ports, and helps identify top talkers. J-Flow monitors each packet as it flows through a network. It allows packets in the input stream to be sampled when enabled on an interface.

With J-Flow traffic analysis, you can:

Analyze and classify real-time network traffic.
Assess network usage parameters.

What is sFlow?

Sampled flow, commonly known as sFlow, is the standard technology for packet export in Layer 2 of the Open Systems Interconnection model. As a packet sampling technology, sFlow samples IP packets moving from a source to a destination through a particular port. It provides the means of exporting truncated packets together with the interface counters. sFlow uses sampling to achieve scalability and is used for high-speed networks.

sFlow has two types of sampling:

Packets or application layer operations (random sampling).
Counters (time-based sampling).

How does the Site24x7 network traffic monitor work?

Site24x7 uses the On-Premise Poller to monitor network traffic. Once you install the On-Premise Poller (the NetFlow collector) and configure your devices to export flows to it, the On-Premise Poller starts receiving the flows. Then, it processes raw data and presents it intuitively in a custom dashboard or graphical reports.

Can I see what others are doing on my network?

Yes. Using NetFlow monitoring, you can view your network's IP and application traffic stats, which help you observe which particular IP and application has generated or consumed the most traffic.

How do I control network traffic?

You can control network traffic by configuring threshold limits for all the critical metrics, like incoming and outgoing traffic and bandwidth utilization. With these thresholds in place, you will receive alerts whenever the traffic or bandwidth breaches your configured values. Based on these alerts, you can identify the particular applications or ports that are responsible and block them.

What are the best practices for monitoring network traffic?

Here are some suggestions for effectively monitoring network traffic usage and resolving any issues:

Monitor your devices and interfaces
Create a plan for determining your network's traffic requirements
Measure traffic to gain insights into resource allocation
Enhance efficiency by using Quality of Service (QoS)
Choose the appropriate tool that can effectively monitor the traffic of your network, like Site24x7