Network Monitoring Software: Real-Time Visibility for Modern Networks
Network monitoring means knowing exactly what’s happening on your network — right now and historically — without guesswork. ntopng gives you that visibility: real-time traffic analysis, deep packet inspection, and flow-based monitoring in one console, built to scale from a single office to multi-gigabit distributed networks.
No blind spots. No black boxes. Just clear, actionable data on every host, application, and connection on your network.
Why Network Monitoring Matters
Every network problem — slow applications, security breaches, capacity shortfalls — shows up in traffic data first. The teams that catch issues early are the ones watching that data continuously. The teams that don’t find out from angry users or, worse, a breach.
ntopng turns raw traffic and flow data into answers to the questions that matter:
- Who’s using the bandwidth, and for what?
- Is that spike in traffic normal, or a problem?
- Which application is causing the slowdown users are complaining about?
- Is there unauthorized or suspicious activity on the network?
How ntopng Monitors Your Network
- Real-time dashboards — see active hosts, top talkers, application usage, and interface throughput as it happens.
- Historical analysis — go back in time to any host, interface, or application to see what happened, critical for troubleshooting issues that already occurred.
- Deep packet inspection (nDPI) — identify applications and protocols at Layer 7, even inside encrypted traffic, instead of relying on ports alone.
- Flow-based monitoring (nProbe) — collect and enrich NetFlow, sFlow, and IPFIX data from routers, switches, and firewalls, no need to mirror every packet.
- Alerts and thresholds — get notified automatically when traffic, bandwidth, or behavior crosses limits you define.
- Distributed deployment — monitor branch offices, data centers, and cloud environments from a single pane of glass, scaling to 100+ Gbps with nProbe Cento.
Real Use Cases
Diagnosing a slow application
A user reports a business app is unusably slow. Instead of guessing, ntopng shows the exact host, application, and traffic pattern in real time — is it bandwidth contention, a misbehaving device, or a network path issue? Minutes, not hours, to root cause.
Spotting a compromised device
A workstation starts making unusual outbound connections at 2 a.m. ntopng’s behavioral baselines and nDPI classification flag the anomaly, letting the security team isolate the device before data leaves the network.
Planning a bandwidth upgrade
Historical traffic trends show which links are consistently near capacity and when. Instead of guessing at next year’s bandwidth needs, infrastructure teams plan upgrades based on actual usage data.
Auditing user and application activity
Compliance requires proof of who accessed what, when. ntopng’s historical logs reconstruct activity by host, user, and application, without needing separate audit tooling.
Monitoring a multi-site network centrally
A company with ten branch offices deploys nProbe at each site to export enriched flow data to one central ntopng instance, giving HQ full visibility without backhauling raw traffic.
Built to Scale, Built on Open Source
ntopng runs on an open, modular architecture: use flow data or full packet mirrors, deploy on-premise or across distributed sites, integrate with existing NetFlow/sFlow exporters, and connect to third-party SIEMs and security tools. It’s backed by an active open source community and, for teams that need it, enterprise support and consultancy.