Screenshots: Five easy-to-use IP traffic monitors
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Introduction
For systemrnadmins, one of the most important tasks is keeping an eye on the network. Whenrnthings go bad in your world, a rogue ne’er-do-well could be the cause. Whetherrnthat malicious entity is a hacker, a compromised system, or a bad piece ofrnhardware, it’s essential to sniff out the issue.
To that end,rnyou need the right tools. One of the first tools you might turn to is an IPrntraffic monitoring tool. The good news is that there are tons of these toolsrnready to serve you. The bad news… some of them are a bit complex. That’s why Irnthought I’d find the easiest IP traffic monitoring tools and list five of themrnfor your network monitoring pleasure.
Note: This gallery is also available as an article.
Microsoft Network Monitor
This tool gives you quick network monitoringrnin just a couple of clicks. You won’t find too many bells and whistles gettingrnthe way as you sniff out issues. The application is free and will work onrnWindows XP/Vista/7/8/2003/2008.
Umit
Umit mightrnseem a bit familiar, because it resembles the more popular nmap front end, Zenmap. The main difference between the two is thatrnUmit places all the necessary tools in an easily accessible toolbar–whereasrnZenmap places the same tools in menus. Umit is free, but unlike therncross-platform Zenmap, it’s available only for Linux.
Capsa Free
The freernversion of this tool does suffer from a number of limitations not found inrneither Capsa Professional or Capsa Enterprise. For a comparison matrix of the three versions, check here.rnCapsa includes a much busier user interface, but that highlights some of thernoutstanding features (especially the real-time graphing tools). I highlyrnrecommend giving the free version a try and then, if it fits your needs,rnpurchasing either the Professional or Enterprise edition to gain even morernpower.
The Dude
One handyrnfeature is the ability to manually add devices and even set up various types ofrnmonitors for each device. This means you can set up specific monitors to keep arngranular watch on every machine attached to your network. The Dude is free andrnfor Windows only.
