Release Notes for NetFlow Monitor for WhatsUp Gold v12.3

In this File

WUG12.3.1 Release Notes for NetFlow Monitor

Release information

Product name	WhatsUp Gold NetFlow Monitor
Version	For WhatsUp Gold v12.3
Release date	October 2008

Introducing WhatsUp Gold NetFlow Monitor plug-in

WhatsUp Gold NetFlow Monitor is an optional plug-in that collects, analyzes, and reports on NetFlow data from routers, switches, and other network devices, making visible trends and patterns in network bandwidth utilization. WhatsUp NetFlow Monitor offers versatile reporting to easily identify bandwidth hogs, rogue applications, port scanning, and other network issues--all from within the familiar WhatsUp Gold interface.

• Collect and analyze network usage information from routing devices that support NetFlow
• Watch interface usage trends and patterns
• Expose traffic patterns that may indicate problems such as denial of service attacks or port scanning
• Drill-down into reports to pinpoint traffic matching filter criteria
  • See which hosts, domain names, top level domains, user-defined groups, or countries generate or receive high volumes of traffic
  • See which protocols and applications are used to transmit the most traffic
• View snapshots of interface utilization across all of the routing devices on your network
• Discover unauthorized applications in use on your network
• Monitor the amount of inbound and outbound bandwidth used by hosts or user-defined groups
• Search across all interfaces to find traffic to or from a specific host
• Export any report view to Excel or text

To access WhatsUp Gold NetFlow Monitor, select NetFlow Home as the Start Page when you log in to WhatsUp Gold.

System requirements

WhatsUp Gold NetFlow Monitor has the same base system requirements as WhatsUp Gold v12.3. In addition, WhatsUp Gold NetFlow Monitor requires:

• WhatsUp Gold v12.3 Standard Edition, Premium Edition, MSP Edition, or Distributed Edition
• At least one routing device that support NetFlow version 1, 5, or 9
• SQL Server 2005 Standard or Enterprise Edition (recommended)

  Note: WhatsUp Gold NetFlow Monitor is more demanding on the database than WhatsUp Gold. While WhatsUp Gold NetFlow Monitor can successfully use SQL Server 2005 Express, we recommend either MS SQL Server 2005 Standard or Enterprise Edition for best performance.

• An additional 2 to 4 GB RAM recommended
• 16 GB (required) to 22 GB (recommended) hard disk space for the databases

  Note: If using Microsoft® SQL Server® 2005, the database size is limited by available hard disk space.

Installing and Licensing

The files for WhatsUp Gold NetFlow Monitor are installed automatically with WhatsUp Gold v12.3. Your license file determines whether or not you can access WhatsUp Gold NetFlow Monitor.

To update your license to purchase WhatsUp Gold NetFlow Monitor, visit the MyIpswitch portal.

NetFlow Collector Service port number

The default port assigned to the NetFlow Collector Service is 9999. During installation, NetFlow Monitor creates an exception for this port on the Windows Firewall. If you change the port from the default number, you need to create an exception on the Windows firewall.

Known Issues

Install/Upgrade

• When installing the SQL databases for WhatsUp Gold with NetFlow be sure to use a drive with an adequate amount of space. The database files could potentially grow to 18GB, and require a minimum of 1GB for installation.

General

• The NetFlow Bandwidth Usage Report may experience a timeout while accessing information in the SQL database, depending on the amount of data being returned. In most cases requesting a smaller amount of data (such as reporting on a smaller time frame) will prevent this from occurring.

For More Information

For more information, see the WhatsUp Gold NetFlow Monitor User Guide.