nanog mailing list archives
Re: What sflow software - Manage Engine Net flow analyzer or Plixer Scrutinizer with Analyzer
From: Jake Wilson <jakemichaelwilson () gmail com>
Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2011 12:12:39 +0000 (UTC)
Alex Pinto <alex.pinto78 <at> hotmail.com> writes:
Hi everyone, we currently are looking at sflow options for a commercial
collector and analyzer. The core
use is for visibility on our network, for quickly detecting source /
destination IP addresses, ie where
the traffic is going and where is it coming from, the type of traffic would
be interesting also but to be
honest all which really matters is source / destination. The requirement of the sflow software is to give us options and data very
quickly in the event of a DDOS attack
so mitigation can occur quickly once we understand what’s happening on the
network. The last thing we
want is for the software not to work under a DDOS (too much data) thus
leaving us blind upon an attack. The
quicker the software can report on issues, the quicker we can do something
about it.
Our current routers are fully sflow capable and both export nicely to both
packages.
Our findings so far Manage Engine Net flow analyzer has both a Linux and windows version, the
software is very light and seems to
perform very fast, although light on additional features such as custom
reporting, and alerting / in
depth packet information. The concern is this software too simple, will it
work under heavy load?
Based on our needs Manage Engine Net flow costs $2000.00 Plixer Scrutinizer – based on windows the software seems resource intensive
but has a MASSIVE amount of
extra visibility built into the software including automatic alerts, that
being said the software does
seem extremely more complex to configure and understand, reports seem to
take longer to produce and the
information doesn’t seem to be reported as quickly. (ie lags by minutes or
so compared to Manage Engine)
Based on our needs Plixer Scrutinizer Costs $4000.00 Does anyone have any real life experience on either package the cost
different between the two packages
doesn’t worry us, it’s all about selecting the correct package knowing the
one time we need to access
the flow information and get it quick that the package we choose preforms
quickly and works.
I’d also like to hear from anyone else using another commercial solution,
which they would recommend.
Thanks in advance Alex
Hi Alex, Scrutinizer saves 100% of the raw NetFlow data just like Wireshark. Most collectors only keep what is in the tuple (e.g. src/dest IP, port, interface, protocol, autonomous system and few other fields). This makes the interface faster. If you export MAC address or VLANs, Scrutinizer will allow you to filter (and report in the next version) on these fields. Filtering and reporting is very important in traffic analysis. We feel that the ability to Include/Exclude on any combination of fields is a must. ManageEngine can't do this. Scrutinizer saves much more flow data in the roll ups (up to 100K) than ManageEngine (e.g. ~1K) therefore the tables are much larger and slower to query in Scrutinizer although more accurate especially over time. I'm surprised that reports lag by minutes. Here are some things to check: * is the router/switch sending > 3000 flows/second? * is the scrutinizer server under powered? * is antivirus running (it shouldn't be scanning the scrutinizer directory) Did you see page 2 of this pdf: http://www.plixer.com/files/scrutinizer_netflow_challenge.pdf Does this help? Jake Wilson plixer.com
Current thread:
- What sflow software - Manage Engine Net flow analyzer or Plixer Scrutinizer with Analyzer Alex Pinto (Jan 01)
- Re: What sflow software - Manage Engine Net flow analyzer or Plixer Scrutinizer with Analyzer Jake Wilson (Jan 01)
- Re: What sflow software - Manage Engine Net flow analyzer or Plixer Scrutinizer with Analyzer Peter Phaal (Jan 01)