FAQs


nBox (5)

What is the procedure for becoming resellers?

ntop is interested in providing local support to international customers, by promoting the birth of resellers. Becoming a reseller is very simple: you need to have knowledge of network monitoring, learn the products, and likely translate some documents into the … Continue reading

Permalink.

Who builds the nBox?

ntop is a pure software company so we don’t do hardware. However we have some partners who build nBoxes on our behalf. So if you decide to buy an nBox, such companies will provide you first-level support and guarantee on … Continue reading

Permalink.

What is the advantage of being a reseller?

We are coming from the open source community, hence we don’t like to put constraints on resellers. What we ask is to but at least one nBox, get familiar with it, and promote our products. There are no minimal yearly … Continue reading

Permalink.

What support can we expect with the nBox?

All nBoxes comes with one year software maintenance and hardware warranty. Based on the nBox server manufacturer (usually Supermicro or Dell) the hardware warranty is provided directly by the hardware manufacturer. As of software, we provide updates and remote Internet … Continue reading

Permalink.

What is the nBox lead time?

Most models are immediately available. For others the time depends on the model and suppliers, but it usually less than 15 working days.

Permalink.

View category→

Products and Licenses (32)

Privacy Statement

This privacy statement applies to the personal information you provide (e.g. name, email, address etc) when contacting us or registering on the e-shop site. We keep all this information private, do not share with anybody and protect personal data against … Continue reading

Permalink.

Are ntop products privacy-compliant? Do you send data to the cloud or third party?

ntop products do not send any data out. This means if you install our tools in a private network, the tool does not send any data your system is processing to ntop (or third party). Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) is … Continue reading

Permalink.

How can I handle VM migrations without breaking the license

IMPORTANT: This technical note applies only to software versions up to July 21st 2021, as in more recent versions VM support is handled transparently Licenses for commercial products are bound to a specific System ID, which is a unique host … Continue reading

Permalink.

What applications and features are supported on FreeBSD / OPNsense / pfsense?

ntop packages for FreeBSD 11/12, OPNsense and pfsense are available at packages.ntop.org/FreeBSD, they include ntopng, nprobe, n2disk and plugins for OPNsense. Please follow the instructions available on the website for configuring the repository and installing the software. Additional guides are also available for: … Continue reading

Permalink.

Unable to Generate License: systemId XXXX was not purchased in orderId YYYY

When you buy licenses you have the option to buy: a new license that you can install on any host an upgrade that is supposed to be used on the same host where you already have a valid license with … Continue reading

Permalink.

What are the minimum hardware requirements for ntop products?

You can read more about hardware sizing by reading the user’s guides of ntop tools. In particular below you can find hardware sizing information for popular products: ntopng nProbe

Permalink.

What is included in ntopng Enterprise L Bundle?

In addition to those features already available in ntopng Pro and Enterprise M, ntopng Enterprise L adds enhanced functionalities such as Identity Management support. Identity Management is the ability to correlate network traffic with users (for instance those connecting through … Continue reading

Permalink.

How do I generate the software licenses?

Below you can find the URLs you can use to generate the software licenses. nProbe n2disk/disk2n ntopng/nEdge PF_RING nScrub Please note that prior to generate a license you need to have an orderId that is sent you after you purchased … Continue reading

Permalink.

Why you don’t keep an archive of old package versions?

We have decided to keep online at http://packages.ntop.org only the latest version of stable and development versions of our packages. This is because: We want our users to always run the latest version of the packages, that have theoretically the … Continue reading

Permalink.

How can I generate a license for my (offline) system?

Generating licenses for ntop products requires you to connect to the licensing URL you received during product purchase. You can do this from the system for which you are generating the license, or for another system that has no Internet … Continue reading

Permalink.

My license does not work inside a container: what can I do?

ntop products are bound to the system where they have been activated through a unique system identifier named systemId. This system identifier is computed based on the hardware configuration, including network devices. If you are running a ntop product in a … Continue reading

Permalink.

For how long can I generate licenses after purchase?

For one year since license purchase we allow you to generate the licenses you purchased. We had to introduce this restriction as sometimes (very seldom fortunately) it happened that people purchases licenses for products that have been discontinued and this … Continue reading

Permalink.

Combining Demo with Permanent Licenses

ntop commercial applications can be used without a license to demonstrate their capabilities. In essence they work in full-mode for a limited amount of time (e.g. 5 mins) and past this time they disable the extra capabilities. Some modular applications … Continue reading

Permalink.

What software platforms are supported for your commercial packages?

At http://packages.ntop.org you can find binary packages we build for a few platforms (both stable and development versions). While we support all these platforms as best as we can, our prime platform is Ubuntu LTS (better if the latest version available). … Continue reading

Permalink.

I have problems with payments on the e-shop: what can I do?

Payments on the e-shop use PayPal. If you see the error GetExpressCheckoutDetails API call failed. Detailed Error Message: This transaction couldn’t be completed. Please redirect your customer to PayPal. Short Error Message: This transaction couldn’t be completed. Error Code: 10486 … Continue reading

Permalink.

My license does not work: what can I do?

The reason why your license does not work are manyfold. Below are listed some possible solutions: License file name: make sure that the license file name is correct as specified during license creation. Do not change the file name, the case, … Continue reading

Permalink.

Shall I use stable or dev packages?

The answer to this question depends on your feelings.  In the stable releases we include only bug fixes for major issues such as crashes or memory leaks that might prevent you from operating the application; all other things like minor fixes, … Continue reading

Permalink.

What to do if my System ID has changed?

Commercial products (this does not apply to open source code) are conditioned upon acceptance of the licensing terms. Products are bound to the system where they have been activated though a unique system identifier named System ID, generated by ntop products. As products can … Continue reading

Permalink.

Do you offer money-back guarantee for commercial licenses?

Before purchasing commercial licenses, you have the ability to test the products to make sure that they fit your needs. All commercial products runs without license for limited time, and in case you need a longer testing period you can … Continue reading

Permalink.

Are Licenses Perpetual? What About Maintenance?

Unless you are using a demo or time-limited license, your license is perpetual (i.e. if you do not upgrade the application and leave it as is, the application will work forever) and you can use it even after maintenance is … Continue reading

Permalink.

How can I transfer a License to a new Server?

Licenses for commercial products (open source applications do not need a license) are bound to a specific host or network adapter. However if you need to transfer a license because your server died or simply because you moved the app … Continue reading

Permalink.

What support is included in ntop products?

If you use our open source products, you can take advantage of Github or of the mailing lists to ask support. If you buy a commercial license of our products, included in the product you get 5 days (counted from the … Continue reading

Permalink.

Can I Try Commercial Products Before Purchase?

All our open-source products do not require a license to operate, thus you can test and use them as you want. All commercial products, if used without a license, work in demo mode for some time (e.g. for 10 minutes, … Continue reading

Permalink.

What Information Is Necessary for Creating Licenses?

In order to generate licenses for commercial applications, it is necessary to provide some information that changes from product to product. Below is listed the needed information divided per product. Product Name Requested Information PF_RING ZC Network Interface MAC Address … Continue reading

Permalink.

How To Recover Issued Licenses?

In order to recover issued licenses you need to know the orderId of your purchase, so that you can see what you have purchased with such order and the licenses that have been generated so far.  If you have this … Continue reading

Permalink.

How do I generate licenses for binary products?

When you have purchased your product, you have also received a valid license and instructions on how to generate new ones if needed. Licenses are identified by an orderId that you have received when the license was purchased on our … Continue reading

Permalink.

Do you charge universities, no-profit and research organisations?

No, one of the main principles of ntop is that even if we need support for continuing our developments, we have never charged universities, education, no-profit (in this category fall NGOs, social associations for public good such as ONLUS and … Continue reading

Permalink.

Do you have an OEM License agreement?

We offer some of our products (e.g. nProbe) to OEMs who want to embed it onto their products, often hiding the fact that our products power their solutions. For these customers we have an OEM agreement. Please see https://www.ntop.org/legal/ for more … Continue reading

Permalink.

What is your software licensing model?

Most of our products (e.g. ntop and PF_RING) are offered in source format under the GPL or LGPL licenses. Some of them that contain IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) (e.g. PF_RING ZC) that we want to share only with selected users, … Continue reading

Permalink.

What is the End-User License Agreement for binary products?

The License Agreement is available at https://www.ntop.org/legal/

Permalink.

Do I need a new license if I reinstall my server?

Licenses for commercial products are bound to the hardware where the software runs. Reinstalling the server where you run the commercial ntop products does not require a new license unless you change hardware. Products that use per-MAC licenses such as … Continue reading

Permalink.

How can I renew maintenance for commercial products?

As explained in this document, for permanent licenses after one year since purchase you can no longer upgrade your products. This unless you purchase product maintenance Maintenance cost for one year is set to 25% of the product list price if … Continue reading

Permalink.

View category→

PF_RING (5)

I have a DNA license, can I use it also for PF_RING ZC?

No, PF_RING ZC licenses are different from DNA licenses. You can buy a ZC license for your formed DNA license using a song discount (-50% off). Please contact us if interested.

Permalink.

How to capture from a bond interface using PF_RING ZC?

Since PF_RING ZC is a kernel-bypass technology and the application directly access the network card, it is not possible to capture from a bond device, however you can aggregate traffic from multiple interfaces directly in ZC, see for example zbalance_ipc … Continue reading

Permalink.

ZC is faster than DNA because ZC does no copy, but DNA does?

Performance is the same, ZC provides more flexibility working in Zero-Copy (sw queues, multi-process and multi-vm support, etc.)

Permalink.

What is the PF_RING ZC distribution format?

PF_RING ZC is made of two components: kernel drivers and user-space library. The kernel driver is released in source format as part of PF_RING, whereas the user-space library is released in binary format and it requires a per-MAC licenses.

Permalink.

View category→

nProbe (5)

Recommended nProbe Templates

This post explains how to use nProbe templates for monitoring various things included HTTP traffic, and network latency.

Permalink.

How do I set the input and output interface Id?

By default nProbe tries to emulate a switched environment even if a mirror packet stream is used. For this reason both input and output interfaces are set to the last two bytes of the MAC address of the packet that … Continue reading

Permalink.

How much bandwidth does NetFlow take during export?

Exporting traffic data in NetFlow takes some bandwith that can be pre-computed using various methods. Below you can find two calculators you can find to estimate it: Flows-per-second Estimator NetFlow Bandwidth Calculator

Permalink.

How to report a bug on ntop apps?

Unfortunately it can happen that our apps have a bug that leads them to crash. This note explains how to generate crash information that can be used to reproduce and resolve the issue. Whenever you have a bug to report, … Continue reading

Permalink.

How is nProbe Licensed?

nProbe has been traditionally split in core and plugins in order to create a modular application. The disadvantage is that many people was lost with core and plugin licenses and thus we have decided to simplify the offer as follows: … Continue reading

Permalink.

View category→

ntop (6)

Starting ntopng on the correct network interface under Windows

ntopng for Windows is a service The ntop installer stores an empty set of options into the registry. Users who need to modify those options can: Open a shell and test your options. In order to do this type "ntop … Continue reading

Permalink.

How to report a bug on ntop apps?

Unfortunately it can happen that our apps have a bug that leads them to crash. This note explains how to generate crash information that can be used to reproduce and resolve the issue. Whenever you have a bug to report, … Continue reading

Permalink.

What is the competitive advantage of ntop?

In a globalized world where components coming from many countries need to be packaged together, ntop is unique as the products are home-grown with no dependencies on third parties. This means fast application development/customization and support directly from the source. … Continue reading

Permalink.

Migrate the data directory in ntopng/nEdge

Up to release 3.6 ntopng on Unix systems is using ‘/var/tmp/ntopng’ as default directory for storing historical data, and ‘nobody‘ as default user. Since ntopng 3.7, for security reasons, the default setting for the data directory has been changed to … Continue reading

Permalink.

HowTo Join Public ntop Discussions

In order to join public discussion channels you need first to install discord or connect to it using a web browser. Then you need to create a discord account for logging into discord. Once there you need to join the … Continue reading

Permalink.

To What IP/Domain Names ntopng Connects To ?

ntop tools are totally passive but they occasionally perform some active traffic to operate. Knowing the list of these IP/hosts can help to make sure the firewall infrastructure is ntopng-friendly When ntopng starts up it connects to https://www.google.com to check … Continue reading

Permalink.

View category→

Payments (2)

I have problems with payments on the e-shop: what can I do?

Payments on the e-shop use PayPal. If you see the error GetExpressCheckoutDetails API call failed. Detailed Error Message: This transaction couldn’t be completed. Please redirect your customer to PayPal. Short Error Message: This transaction couldn’t be completed. Error Code: 10486 … Continue reading

Permalink.

Do you offer money-back guarantee for commercial licenses?

Before purchasing commercial licenses, you have the ability to test the products to make sure that they fit your needs. All commercial products runs without license for limited time, and in case you need a longer testing period you can … Continue reading

Permalink.

View category→

Packages (3)

How can I uninstall all the ntop packages?

If you want to uninstall all ntop packages (e.g. if you want to decommission a host or switch from dev to stable releases) you can uninstall all packages with a single command instead of removing individual packages as follows curl … Continue reading

Permalink.

How can I switch from stable to dev builds (or vice-versa)?

Remove all the ntop packages currently installed with $ curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ntop/packager/master/uninstall_all_ntop_packages.sh | sudo bash Then, only for Debian/Ubuntu, remove installed ntop repositories (for Centos, repositories will be overwritten automatically in the next step) $ sudo apt-get –purge remove apt-ntop … Continue reading

Permalink.

HowTo Update PGP Package Signing Keys

Due to the deprecation of SHA-1 in RHEL9, we had to update our PGP keys used to sign packages. This has created some side effects for hosts with existing packages installed, similar to the one below on apt based systems: … Continue reading

Permalink.

View category→