[CentOS] looking for some advice to monitor network usage in office

[Rob Townley]

On Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 3:52 AM, Spook ZA <spookza at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Rudy
>
> 2009/3/25 Rudi Ahlers <rudiahlers at gmail.com>:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I've been asked by a college to setup a monitor to monitor a Windows
>> network, but on internet usage. They want to have detailed usage, i.e.
>> on a per IP / PC basis, and if possible to get stats for every
>> protocol, and see over a period of time what goes on.
>>
>> My first though wat ntop, which does all of this, but it doesn't save
>> the data in a DB, so if the server reboots the stats are reset to 0. I
>> also can't get Cacti to give me stats per IP & per protocol (unless
>> someone knows how todo this).
>>
>> I don't yet know the full network layout, but I have a feeling they're
>> using ADSL, and have a Windows Small Business server with ISA, and
>> possible Exchange as well. So, I'm either going to put a CentOS box
>> between the Windows box & ADSL router, or maybe even setup a CentOS
>> Vmware Virtual PC, force all the network to route via the VPS.
>>
>> Does anyone have some suggestions / experience in setting up something
>> like this?
>>
>> P.S. Please don't look at the fact that there's Windows on the
>> network. I use Linux for business purposes, not as a hobby, and we
>> also use Mac & Windows where the situation calls for it.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Kind Regards
>> Rudi Ahlers
>
> If your firewall / border gateway is running linux, have a look at:
>
>  http://www.networkuptime.com/tools/netflow/
>
> You need an exporter that will export linux netflow records and
> software that will collect and present the resultant data.
>
> Regards,
>  Andrew.
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When you mention college internet usage, i thought of Caida.org and
CoralReef.  But that is more for scientific investigations of internet
usage in general.