NTA System Overview

Network Traffic Analyzer uses the flow caching/exporter enabled on your source device (a properly configured interface, switch, or gateway) to get flow packets.

A network flow is a unidirectional sequence of packets observed traveling through a flow caching and export device (referred to throughout this guide as an NTA source), which is intended for a destination device. In other words, a single TCP connection between two hosts can only be represented by two different flows.

Flow monitor data is comprised of the following data fields:

Source IP address and port number
Destination IP address and port number
IP Protocol
Ingress interface
IP Type of Service (ToS)

Using Network Traffic Analyzer Monitoring to Complement WhatsUp Gold Monitoring

Network Traffic Analyzer complements other forms of monitoring because it is less invasive and returns network data independent of the availability of both the origin or target device. In other words, even if a particular destination device is down or not responding to active monitors, you can use Network Traffic Analyzer monitoring to generate reports and dashboards that provide check points from each network hop (upstream or downstream network devices, for example) that support flow packet export.

With Network Traffic Analyzer, WhatsUp Gold can return critical availability, usage metrics, and indicators for entire segments and sections of your network. For example, Network Traffic Analyzer provides visibility into network status even when a device stops responding to WhatsUp Gold active and performance monitoring. For example, <NTP> enables you analyze root cause and designate attribution when aberrant or misconfigured devices degrade QoS, cause congestion, and disrupt segments of your network.

Network Traffic Analyzer Data Analysis and Reporting

You can leverage Network Traffic Analyzer logs, data, and dashboards in order to:

Identify network usage needed to make hardware upgrade, network capacity, and other scaling decisions.
Recognize and correct network configuration issues that consume network resources or expose your network to security vulnerabilities.
Identify traffic which may indicate unauthorized use of peer-to-peer file sharing applications or a denial-of-service attack against your organization.
Troubleshoot and correct causes of periodic spikes in network traffic before they become problems.

Tip: Network Traffic Analyzer can collect and generate reports for Flow data from multiple devices.