NetFlow, a network protocol developed by Cisco for collecting IP traffic information which eventually became the universally accepted standard on traffic monitoring, is included on most network routers and switches. With NetFlow you will be able to get visibility into real-time network bandwidth utilization, analyze historical and current traffic trends, and forecast whether there is any actual need of more bandwidth or you can optimize usage and save procurement budget.

Capacity Planning for your Future Needs

There are two primary reasons you want the ability to forecast bandwidth capacity needs: maintaining or improving network performance in order to ensure critical IT services, and managing the cost of bandwidth. By analyzing bandwidth consumption using NetFlow data you will be armed with measurable data to help you make bandwidth decisions, which in turn eases the capacity planning process. For instance, if you have unwanted traffic consuming most of the network, you wouldn’t have enough bandwidth for critical IT services like VoIP calls. By analyzing NetFlow, you’ll understand the type of applications that are consuming most of your bandwidth.

QoS policies for Managing Critical IT Services

Applications compete with each other for bandwidth when traversing the LAN/WAN and since bandwidth is neither infinite nor free, you will want to see how your bandwidth is being used.  Network traffic monitoring flow analysis tools help differentiate the types of network traffic by reporting on Type of Service (ToS) and DSCP fields from traffic conversations so you can monitor your bandwidth usage by application and measure the effectiveness of your QoS policies.

Historical data on NetFlow helps Capacity Planning

When you collect historical NetFlow data on your network, you can understand when bandwidth peaks happen in a day and how your users’ performance is impacted. Granular (i.e. one minute) visibility and long data retention will allow you to see past traffic spikes in order to better understand potential bottlenecks.

Better Forecasting Increases Productivity

Detailed NetFlow data collection can solve most of your puzzle in capacity planning. It helps plan network capacity more accurately—by deploying greater bandwidth for advanced networking services—as you scale up. Leveraging NetFlow, one can easily check if bandwidth growth is aligned with resources utilized in the current environment and plan for the future.

Using a NetFlow analyzer tool, you can capture raw NetFlow data, convert it into meaningful information that can give you real-time network traffic information, and perform capacity planning. Scaling your bandwidth based on network requirements and implementing QoS policies becomes much easier if you have relevant network traffic information.

Here are some additional resources for learning more about NetFlow and its applications:

Whitepaper:  NetFlow Tips and Tricks

Online Interactive Demo:  NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Trial Download:  SolarWinds Bandwidth Analyzer Pack

About the Author:

Brad Hale, Product Marketing Principal for SolarWinds Network Management

Brad Hale is the product marketing principal for SolarWinds network management products.  He brings over 20 years of product management, product marketing, business development and strategy experience in the software, systems and semiconductor industries.  Brad has a BS in Computer Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Butler University.

Here’s a cool contest from Dell and Microsoft that I wanted to share with my readers… I hope that you win the new laptop!

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IT professionals run into interesting and complex challenges on a daily basis, and often times to come up with creative, imaginative and on-the-fly solutions to fix problems and keep a business running. Dealing with servers and storage issues are no different, and can present a handful of situational complexities for IT pros to face and overcome. All in a day’s work for the seasoned IT pro!

Dell and Microsoft want to hear a particular challenge you’ve faced while dealing with servers and storage, and the unique and innovative way you’ve solved the problem by participating in their Ultimate Tech Challenge: Servers. The premise is simple – answer the following question based on experience you’ve had on the job:How do you best use SSD as a storage option with Microsoft Windows Server for optimal performance and cost?

Dell and Microsoft will select their favorite response from those received and turn it into a white paper that highlights the problem and unique solution utilized to solve it. The selected winner will also receive a Dell XPS 12 (valued at $899.99) for being chosen!

Entering is easy – just share your challenge and solution by responding to this blog post or by emailing your response to DellUltimateTechChallenge@gmail.com.

Submit your entry by 12/26/2013 at 11:59 p.m. CT. Dell and Microsoft will be reaching out to selected winners shortly after the entry submission period.

Good luck, IT pros! We look forward to your responses.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends 12/26/2013. By submitting your entry, you agree to be contacted by a Dell representative. For Official Rules, visit http://bit.ly/1fjVu6B?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

The course taught by VCDX Jason Nash covers many advanced vSphere topics, and this video is part of the entire distributed switch process. From design phases through the management capabilities, it’s all covered in the training.

If you’re interested in seeing some more virtual networking tutorials, check out this Cisco UCS guide on virtual server blade components, where some of the best advancing technologies are leading to some pretty cool things in the virtual networking world.

Wired network media is an essential concept for the CompTIA Network+ certification. Here’s some live video of Ed Liberman demonstrating how to terminate a Cat 5 ethernet cable so that you use the just the right amount of cable for the task.

Pick up some more networking basics with these tutorials:

• Master IP Addressing and learn TCP/IP, internetworking and more in under 1 hour
• Learn from a knowledgeable CCIE about port and interface types, including stackable and chassis-based switches. It’s a great overview especially if you’re aiming for a Cisco certification.

Talk more about networking and virtualization with Jason Nash on Twitter and find cool tips and interviews on his virtualization blog.

If you’re heading to VMworld this summer be sure to make it out to Jason’s session on VMware vSphere distributed switch. His breakout session will be a technical deep-dive into the vDS deployment, configuration, troubleshooting and much more.

In this video learn about why the IPv4 address space has been running out, making it then necessary to move to IPv6 implementations.

Check out these articles to learn more about these protocols:

• IPv6 Header vs IPv4 Header
• IPv6 Address Notation
• The IPv6 Transition

Mastering networking in preparation for the Cisco CCNA certification is challenging, especially for those new to the field. There’s a lot to learn and any hands-on experience you can get is the best thing you can do to prepare for the CCNA exam.

Earlier this year, Cisco launched the CCNA Aspire Game which allows CCNA candidates to prepare for the exam with scenario-based challenges that are based on real-world examples. The game is a great complement to instructor-led and video based training, like TrainSignal’s Cisco CCNA Training and will help you think on your feet as you sharpen your networking skills.

If your curiosity is piqued and you’re interested in learning more, check out Sean Wilkins’ review of the CCNA Aspire Game and the video trailer below. And give the game a try — you can download it for free here.

To read the full article, just visit- WindowsNetworking.com – Using the New Microsoft Network Monitor (netmon) 3.3 with Network Experts

Check out: 10 Ways to Troubleshoot DNS Resolution Issues