Program to monitor network traffic?

[jnelsoninjax]

I have NetSpeedMonitor running, but it only shows local machine traffic, is there a program that will allow me to see what kind of traffic is being used on the entire network?

[rajputwarrior]

http://www.wireshark.org/

[Mystic Mungis]

I asked this question recently and Jen suggested I flash my router with Tomato firmware which would do what you need. I only wanted to view the bandwidth used by one machine so I'm just using net meter.

[Gerowen]

Depending on your router you can flash it with DD-WRT or Tomato. I went with DD-WRT because they have a micro version for routers with very small amounts of memory. It keeps a chart of my bandwidth usage. The bad thing is that when you reboot the router it sometimes loses the chart data prior to the reboot. I've attached a screenshot so you can see what it looks like.

If you want to monitor traffic in real time you can try wireshark, but I'm not sure how effective it may be on a router, because unlike a hub, traffic from the rest of your network isn't being blasted out across every port, so you may or may not see the traffic you want to spy on.

[jnelsoninjax]

I have been considering going with an open source firmware, my router is A Netgear WNDR3300, which firmware would you recommend me to use?

[Gerowen]

After looking Tomato does not support your router.

DD-WRT does support your router though. Just go to www.dd-wrt.com, click on "Router Database", and type in Netgear WNDR3300, then when it narrows it down and shows your router just click on it. It will have links to the best version for you. Before you do any flashing though make SURE to read the FAQ, Wiki, and instructions on the website. I didn't have any problems, but if you run into a problem and don't have copies saved or printed, you could brick your router on accident. Everything I know I got from their website and my router took it with no issues.

So I suggest DD-WRT because having personally used it, I like it and know that it is reliable and opens up a lot of capabilities that would otherwise not be available.

[remixedcat]

another +1 for wireshark.

[+BudMan MVC]

You people suggesting wireshark.

So you thnk he is using a HUB vs a switched network (is this 1990?), then sure his box running wireshark could see all the traffic. Or if he ran it on the gateway device, ok then.. Or maybe he has a smart/managed switch that allows him to mirror ports or span ports? So that his box running wireshark can see all traffic on his network vs just traffic to the box running wireshark or broadcast traffic. Wireshark is a GREAT TOOL, I use it pretty much daily -- but with the lack of details given to what he is wanting to do exactly, its not a very good suggestion.

If he wants to track his bandwidth used, sure dd-wrt can do it for him.. If he is more interested in what is going on with the network like top talkers, top protocols, etc. He could send his netflows to any netflow collector, I run prtg for example (free) and have my router send the netflows to the box running prtg so I have this sort of info.

dd-wrt can send netflows, so you could use prtg, you could use NTOP for example that would give him pretty much anything he would want to know about what is going on with his network.

The question comes down to what exactly are you looking to monitor? Are you wanting track bandwidth, protocols? If you looking to get down to the packet level then sure wireshark is a great tool for looking at that, but not going to be doing the captures on your box. But sure you could run the capture on router running dd-wrt and then use wireshark to analyze them.

What exactly are you looking to monitor, are you looking for something to monitor your network 24/7 or something to take a specific snapshot of specific traffic so that you can troubleshoot or analyze a specific aspect/detail of the traffic? Wireshark is a great tool for troubleshooting and capture of specific sort of events - its not a tool to monitor you network 24/7 with. Lets have some examples of what you want to be able to do, then we can point you to the right tools and methods to accomplish what your wanting.

[jnelsoninjax]

My main interest is to see what data(if any) is being used on another system i.e. Laptop connected wirelessly. My ISP speed is so **** poor that any kind of data use on anything (Youtube, Hulu, ETC) slows everything else down to a crawl, it is in these situation that I would like to able to see if the laptop is doing any kind of these activities.

[+BudMan MVC]

Well all you need then is a router that will show your connections and bandwidth used - ddwrt can do that no problem.