NetFlow Analyzer is a complete bandwidth monitoring tool that utilizes flow technology to monitor and analyze network bandwidth usage. It helps users identify and avoid bandwidth delays and bottlenecks with customized reports, and set threshold-based email and SMS alerts to help understand the severity of an issue. This analytics tool detects, diagnoses, and troubleshoots network anomalies and zero-day intrusions, and plans future bandwidth needs based on application growth to…
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SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
Score 9.0 out of 10
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SolarWinds Netflow Traffic Analyzer is a network monitoring tool within the broader SolarWinds ecosystem. It includes core traffic monitoring features, as well as customizable traffic reports and alerts.
If you need to monitor traffic, this is a good choice of application for the price. It does that very well. If you need to take a deep deep dive into the traffic, you will have to use something else but that is just standard with network troubleshooting... it takes multiple applications to get a complete picture... or a lot of money on 1 application. Beyond that, this application does what it is designed to do and does it very well. So to answer this question directly, this application is well suited for time when you need a high-level view of traffic and not suited well for times when you need to see more detailed information of what exactly is being sent.
I would suggest this tool to any user that has to monitor multiple sites and locations where bandwidth monitoring can be a labor. This software works really well for central monitoring of multiple sites and services where having a technician onsite isn't feasible. I really like the reporting, though, and would recommend this for someone wanting to keep an eye on bandwidth usage for replication of data across sites.
The level of customization possible with Network Bandwidth Analyzer is very valuable. Rather than being stuck with a "one-size-fits-all" presentation, an administrator can easily create customized views, reports, and alerts so that users can have a more tailored view of the data provided by Network Bandwidth Analyzer. This has the effect of making the tool more attractive to the end user.
The NetFlow Traffic Analyzer piece of Network Bandwidth Analyzer provides the details on bandwidth usage on the network. More than knowing how much bandwidth is being used, one is provided with detailed information on how that bandwidth is being used. This provides invaluable information for capacity planning and even certain forensic tasks faced by the network engineer.
The ability to produce network maps provides an easy way to create an attractive and functional NOC/SOC view of the entire network. Both technician and the occasional passerby can quickly determine if there are issues to be addressed. The ability to customize a map with background images and custom icons and stencils can make these maps really pop.
The ability to intuitively and quickly serve up specified information up to a dashboard for general “public” consumption, that cycles through several pages of information.
The ability to intuitively set up alerting on bandwidth levels, instead of having to dig through all types of alerts available to find the one needed.
Provide a pricing model based on different support levels: if I want only available update installations, don’t make me pay the same amount as those wanting full support.
As far as rating for usability is concerned I would give 10/10 as NTA is very easy to use. All you need to do is install that module and ask network Team to configure the Netflow towards Server IP. [The] rest is pre-configured and reports are pre-built. Moment you receive the flows from Network all you will have is information about traffic.
The support is always on point, fast, reliable, and their employees go above and beyond to help when we need it. I have yet to call them on any product we use and not get the issue resolved in a fast and timely manner. Also, they are also very pleasant while on the phone and/or in teh email chain. Overall I just couldn't ask for better.
It is useful for our Infrastructure team and also provides valuable insights to our application team regarding the traffic being sent from various endpoints. They can monitor their applications and ensure there are no network issues that may impact their application.
The training offered by SolarWinds is some of the best out there. They have several different videos that go into great detail from initial setup to advanced configurations. In addition to the view at your own pace video, they also have live training for customers that focus on a single product and you can ask questions with the folks who develop the software. I have had good success with their live sessions and getting questions answered.
Each of these solutions does what they aim to do. Based off of cost and need, ManageEngine fit better with our organization. We already use multiple ManageEngine products so bundling was a no brainer.
SolarWinds NTA is hands down a superior product compared to Wireshark. However, when doing smaller isolated projects the affordability of Wireshark can not be overlooked. Wireshark does a great job of collecting data on ports and circuits. The advantage of SolarWinds NTA is the all encompassing collection of data and management of the multitude of devices. It is designed to do that, and does it very well.
Be prepared to answer lots of questions. When people see the data in NTA they are going to want to know why App A is talking to App B. Be ready to explain!
Hand the keys to the NTA kingdom to the network team. They will thank you. Everyone wants to have friends on the network team, right?
Be prepared to invest in some significant compute and storage performance to keep up with your NTA monitoring
Running the latest firmware for your network gear is (often) required to take advantage of all the flow-monitoring. You upgrade regularly, right??
