Choosing Open Source Software Tools

The aim of this Part A is to analyze study and select the network monitoring tools available as free or open source software. These tools can be used to monitor a network and report any concerns or issues like performance issues in the network. Here we need to select most appropriate tool and discuss about its features and provide the screenshots.

Tool Selection

We focused on programs for monitoring the network or more specifically capture packets transmitted over a network interface for analysis. For each program, we mostly selected the most interesting features that are presented right here.

INetmon is an application that runs on any computer on the network. It performs data collection on a network segment, then the analysis. The data is used to perform statistical calculations. They are decoded completely and displayed as analysis information. This is a real-time tool used for the analysis of packets that pass through the Ethernet network. The iNetmon application can monitor the flow of traffic in the network without disturbing it. It also provides tools for survey and Performance Tracking System.

Components

As shown in the following figure, three actors make up the software: the server, the agent and console:

Each actor has a specific role.

• The server handles requests from the agent and console. It keeps in a database the information sent by the agent.

• The agent collects the information captured through the network and sends them to server asynchronously.

• The console, or CM C, allows the user to request different types of requests to the server.

These requests are:

Real time: enables the console to display real-time network status.

Report: generates a comprehensive report of the network between two dates.

History: allows the console to display network status between dates.

Top Down: allows the console to display the use of a network when many agents are active.

In the console, the user must provide sensitive information such as login and password to access the server information.

Some features

Among all the features it contains (network analyzer, address book, plotter, etc.), those that I have work on are the use of the network and the detector.

Using the Network

This feature appears in the console as a view called "Network traffic". Based on the use of bandwidth, it shows the use of network over time. It can display the results in real time or from a historical perspective.