iCloud Traffic Monitoring
Without management, Apple iCloud free storage offering (up to 5GB) could place a significant load on some networks. You can bet that many iPhone competitors will follow suit, resulting in even more Internet traffic. What impact will all of this backup and file syncing have on the local network?
It probably depends on the network. Colleges and universities, for example, will likely be one of the areas where iCloud traffic will show up the most in network traffic monitoring practices. Although I’m not familiar yet with the transport layer port(s) that this technology will use, I’m sure we will be monitoring iCloud traffic with NetFlow or IPFIX by running reports on top domains. With our NetFlow traffic analyzer we can set global thresholds on individual iCloud data streams and trigger events for hosts transmitting excessive traffic to iCloud.com. We can then throttle iCloud traffic.
Latency Measuring with nBox and NetFlow
While Cisco’s NetFlow technology can be extremely helpful in identifying top talkers and applications on the network, it can sometimes lack the fine details often found in a standard packet capture. For instance, let’s take a look at application responsiveness. To determine why an application is slow to respond we often look to the amount of traffic on the link, as well as the latency of the transaction itself. Was there congestion in the pipe? Was the end-system slow to respond? Was the application itself responsible for the sluggishness? These are certainly all possibilities.
Luckily for the rest of us, the NetFlow data that gets exported from the nBox is a little bit different. In addition to what NetFlow normally provides in network traffic details, nBox exports include email addresses, HTTP URLs, Latency, VoIP Jitter and more. There is one caveat; at this time, Scrutinizer NetFlow & sFlow Analyzer is the only NetFlow reporting tool that can properly display these extra data fields. So you will want to make sure to look into Plixer’s product offering to take advantage of these advanced features.
IPFIX specification passed by nProbe software
Just last week, DEMONS, a European project designed for addressing the largest obstacles of “cooperative network monitoring,” held a successful IPFIX Interoperability Event in Prague. It was at this event that the nProbe software, available here at Ravica.com, was certified as compliant with the IPFIX verification testing.
Data center monitoring gets simpler with the new PoE BitSight2
Filed under: Data Center, environmental monitoring, Ravica News
It has been a long time coming, but due to customer demand, Ravica is pleased to announce the availability of the PoE (IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet) BitSight2 sensorprobe. Now all of your environmental monitoring needs can be met without even needing a separate power source.
That’s not to say you can’t still use the existing method of powering the device as the BS2 will retain the internal 7.5 VDC power supply and is a “Powered Device” so the power to the unit can be supplied from either the PoE or from the 7.5 VDC power adapter, acting as backup power in case of a PoE power supply failure.
nProbe and nBox IPFIX Reporting
Looking for more resources to help you get the most out of your new nBox NetFlow probe? Watch the video below to see Scrutinizer NetFlow and sFlow Analyzer Product Manager, Mike Patterson, explain how to report on IPFIX data exported from the nProbe and nBox to get application and server latency, URL information and more!
Once you’ve completed the video, make sure to visit our friends at Plixer to learn more about configuring the Windows nProbe to send NetFlow.
Jon Mills
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NetFlow Domain Reporting: Part 2
In the prior NetFlow Domain Reporting blog, I outlined how to view URLs using a NetFlow Probe called nProbe. In this post I’ll explain why 174.123.133.232 doesn’t show up for theplanet.com.
Answer
The server that hosts theplanet.com is not hosted on 174.123.133.232, but 70.87.6.117, as we can see in the above command window below.
NetFlow Domain Reporting: Part 1
I decided to do some IPFIX reporting on our NetFlow Probe (i.e. nProbe) that is hanging off of a spanned/mirrored port on our Enterasys switch. The new nProbe is kind of neat because it exports latency and URL information via IPFIX. I wanted to see if it caught all the URLs I was looking at so, I filtered on my IP address and ran a Top Domains report as shown below. Click to expand the image.
I didn’t remember browsing to some of the domains listed, so I clicked on View Raw Flows to look at the URLs I had hit in a 3 minute period. One of the URLs started with ‘trashminer.com’ and I was surprised, because I didn’t see this host in the top domains report above.
Voltage Monitoring and Detection
We often think of temperature monitoring and humidity monitoring first. Some of us are even concerned about smoke detection and water detection, but what about power detection? I have to admit, it wasn’t first on my list of environmental conditions to monitor either.
Event monitoring systems make understaffed data centers run smoother
According to Symantec’s latest “State of the Data Center” report, which was released early last week, half of all IT executives say their data centers are extremely understaffed. With the economy still struggling to get moving again, it is no wonder that network engineers and facility managers are having to find new ways to get the most out of their stagnant or shrinking staff and resources.
Less staff means more remote monitoring for many organizations. Having a remote monitoring system, like the SecurityProbe, can help lighten the load of working with less. With a price point that usually falls below $2,000 for a complete system, it can mean a considerable savings over staffing each location, or even worse, not monitoring it all. In this scenario, one person can monitor the well-being of several locations.
Top 3 advantages of web-based temperature monitoring systems
Filed under: environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, temperature monitoring
It regularly occurs to me that web-based environmental monitoring systems, whether they be for the home, office, data center, storage closet, you name it, can oftentimes be overkill. Some people just need a thermometer. Others just need a barometer. Sometimes, simple problems call for simple solutions.
However, a web-based system that can monitor for changes in temperature, humidity, airflow, as well as the presence of water, smoke and motion, can be extremely valuable. To demonstrate just how valuable, I thought I would put together a list of the top three reason why a web-based system is more convenient and cost effect for many home and business applications.