network monitoring

[neilntruong]

HI
I am a network administrator. I am looking for a network monitoring program to check on bandwidth usage of our LAN. Can anyone suggest a good network monitoring software. I need one that can track bandwidth, packets, ports, etc.

Thanks any suggestions would be helpful

 

[patrckb]

It all depends what you want to watch.

For raw packets coming and going I love MRTG (

http://www.mrtg.org).

It's free but you have to have a basic understanding of SNMP. It has a utility that will generate a config file for you but you'll probably want to tweak it some manually.

{getting philosophical...}

Network monitoring is more of an art than a science. After watching packet counts for a while you start to realize that how fast bits fly across wires isn't all that makes up the end-user's experience. Server performance and application behavoir are also critical components to how fast the user gets his data back. Trying to measure those two are a real challenge.

My favorite analogy:
Just because no one is answering the phone, doesn't mean that the phone system is having problems.

{back to your question}

For monitoring that things stay up - WhatsUp Gold (

http://ipswitch.com/products/network-management.html)is

a great product for the sub $1,000US price.

HTH,
Patrick

Patrick Bartkus, CCNP, CNX, SCM Sr. Network Engineer
GA Dept of Labor IT Network Services
If truth were not absolute, how could there be justice?