Monitoring bandwidth usage 1

[yizhar]

HI!

I am looking for a Windows 9x or NT/2000 program that can monitor trafic statistic on a CISCO 2500 router (Don't remember IOS version, I think it is 11.x. does it matter)?
and other models like CISCO 1005.
The connection to be monitored is HDLC over a leased line.

I would also like to monitor PIX ver 5.x or 6.x trafic in other places.

I know that there is a program called MRTG that collects that information and is used by ISP, but as I understood it runs only on xnix which is not good for me. (I don't have linux/unix machines in the relevant places and don't want to implement them only for this).
How does MRTG collect the info? SNMP? TELNET? SYSLOG?
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I have looked at the Cisco Fast-Step program but this is specific to ISDN connections and 7xx and 8xx models. right?

Pricely software isn't suitable also - I am working for SMB (mostly Small) buisnesses - I am looking for a free solution to monitor a single router from a Win32 workstation or server.

So, what are the options?

I am thinking of writing my own utility that will telnet to the router and parse the "show interface" output of generic CISCO devices.
Is there something like that already?


Thanks for any tips.


Yizhar Hurwitz

http://come.to/yizhar

http://teachers.sivan.co.il/yizhar

 

[wybnormal]

MRTG runs on both Unix and Windows NT using PERL. It uses SNMP like a good many other programs that perform the same function. The issue I have with MRTG is it's not user friendly by any stretch... once you get past that it does do a super job.

Solarwinds does an excellent job and the cheapest version I think, is around 150.00 There may be some shareware-freeware versions out but I settled on SW for my own shop.

MikeS
Find me at

http://www.packetattack.com

"Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin

 

[yizhar]

Hi.
Thanks for the answer.
I've downloaded MRTG and related files, and testing it now on W2K.

Bye
Yizhar Hurwitz

http://come.to/yizhar

http://teachers.sivan.co.il/yizhar

 

[NETGsam]

Having just installed a 3640 router on my main connection to the Internet I am interested in this too.

I have left an eternet interface unused on the router so that I could do some monitoring if I needed to. However, until this thread I had no idea what tools were available.

Could you guys post a couple of URL's for these tools?

This board is an education.

Many Thanks,
Sam.

 

[wybnormal]

I have some at mine site..

http://www.packetattack.com

MRG can be found at:

http://people.ee.ethz.ch/~oetiker/webtools/mrtg/

Solarwinds:

http://solarwinds.net

I played with CastleRock for snmp and it was pretty easy to use.. not cheap though..

Who else has some URLs ?

MikeS Find me at

http://www.packetattack.com

"Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin

 

[yizhar]

HI!

I am now using MRTG on Win2K machine.
No problems when following the instructions.
You can find almost all MRTG related info in

http://www.mrtg.org

Which is the same link as posted above me.

BTW -
I have not used "firedeamon" to start MRTG.
Simply using the "Scheduled Tasks" in "Control Panel" is working for me -
I have configured MRTG with the RunAsDeamon option, and scheduled it to run when the computer starts.

Bye
Yizhar Hurwitz

http://come.to/yizhar

http://teachers.sivan.co.il/yizhar

 

[NETGsam]

All,
MRTG looks like a great tool, if a little complex for me to take full advantage of.

I am running a W2k Professional environment on my monitoring station and have got the package running in defaul conditions to get traffice levels off a test switch.

Some basic questions to those who are using it:

I have gone round enablnig SNMP on my routers with

SNMP-SERVER Community Public

1. If I am running a VPN and connect my monitoring machine to the Internet router is it possible for me to get traffic stats back from remote sites or do I need a monitor physically connected to each of these machines?

2. Is there some way I can monitor the levels of different types of traffic - HTTP, SMTP, etc passing through my router?

Have a great weekend,
Sam.