NetFlow is a network protocol developed by Cisco for collecting IP traffic information and monitoring network flow. By analyzing NetFlow data, you can get a picture of network traffic flow and volume. NetFlow data can provide valuable data about network traffic and utilization.

Netflow Collecting and Analysis is a great way to find out what's going on in your network and see who all the bandwidth hogs are within your organization.

Capturing Flow packets and studying them will help you find out where all your bandwidth is getting allocated and how to further stop abuse in your organization.

We've seen many instances when the internet has been crippled by someone streaming YouTube or worse, downloading Torrents illegally within the LAN environment.

Catching these bandwidth hogs using one of the mentioned software packages below will help you clamp down your network and get rid of unwanted bandwidth usage. It will also help you save money in the long run which is another added benefit.

Before you can analyze any sort of data, you have to capture it.

"NetFlow is a one-way technology, so when the server responds to the initial client request, the process works in reverse and creates a new flow record. Using a NetFlow monitoring solution can allow you to monitor and analyze these flow records more efficiently and effectively for traffic within the network."

Here is a list of highly effective NetFlow Analyzers:

* Solarwinds NTA

* Paessler PRTG

* ManageEngine

* Plixer

* Wireshark

* NetVizura

* NetFlow Auditor

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