Network Monitoring

Network monitoring covers interfaces, traffic flows, SNMP devices and the health of the links between systems. This hub groups Netdata's product pages, solution pages, comparisons with other network monitoring tools, a ranked tool list and blog posts on NetFlow, SNMP and network topology.

Search Network Monitoring pages

Product

Network Monitoring Dashboard

One device-centric, real-time dashboard for your entire network—SNMP metrics, NetFlow analysis, SNMP traps, and live topology unified with per-second granularity and ML anomaly detection.

NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Analyze NetFlow v5/v7/v9, IPFIX, and sFlow v5 traffic in real time with Netdata's edge-native flow analyzer. Top talkers, Sankey diagrams, geographic maps, and rich enrichment — no packet capture required.

SNMP & Network Device Monitoring

SNMP monitoring for network devices: 100+ auto-matched vendor profiles, zero-config discovery, per-second polling where devices sustain it, and ML anomaly detection.

SNMP Trap Monitoring

Netdata's built-in SNMP trap receiver decodes v1/v2c/v3 traps and INFORMs from 800+ vendors into structured, categorized, severity-tagged log entries — unified with your metrics, logs, and topology.

eBPF Network Monitoring With Real-Time Insights

Netdata’s eBPF monitoring delivers real-time network metrics, ML anomaly detection, and AI-assisted root cause analysis for teams of any size. Read more!

Live Tab - Real-Time Netdata Functions

Get real-time access to Netdata Functions on any agent node: process explorers, database monitoring, network topology & more. See the live demo today!

Network Device Auto-Discovery

Point Netdata at your SNMP credentials and subnets to automatically discover, classify, and monitor every network device—no manual MIB mapping required.

Features: Real-Time Monitoring With Per-Second Data

Explore Netdata's real-time monitoring features: per-second granularity, ML anomaly detection, AI troubleshooting & zero config setup. See the live demo!

Solutions

Data Center Monitoring Software With Real-Time Metrics

Get per-second visibility, instant anomaly detection, and AI-powered troubleshooting that prevents outages and cuts monitoring costs by 90%. Book a demo!

Infrastructure Monitoring Software With AI & ML

Get real-time infrastructure monitoring with per-second metrics, ML anomaly detection, and AI-powered troubleshooting to cut MTTR and costs. Book a demo!

Telecom Network Monitoring Software At Scale

Real-time telecom monitoring with per-second precision, ML anomaly detection, and predictable per-node pricing for 5G and edge networks. Book a demo now!

Infrastructure Monitoring For Network Engineers

Live network topology, NetFlow/sFlow/IPFIX traffic analysis, SNMP device monitoring with 100+ vendor profiles & a native SNMP trap receiver — plus ML anomaly detection that cuts alert noise 99%. Start free.

Network Monitoring Software With Real-Time Visibility

Real-time network monitoring with per-second visibility, ML-powered anomaly detection & zero-configuration deployment. Start monitoring free today!

Comparisons

Netdata vs SolarWinds | Monitoring Tools Comparison

Upgrade from 5-minute polling to true real-time observability. Netdata delivers per-second visibility, smarter ML alerts, and lower total cost. Learn more!

Netdata vs LibreNMS | Monitoring Tools Comparison

See why Netdata outperforms LibreNMS with real-time monitoring, native Windows support, AI insights, and effortless scaling for modern teams. Learn more!

Netdata vs Netmon: Real-Time Observability Compared

Discover why modern teams choose Netdata for per-second visibility, automated root cause analysis, and predictable monitoring costs. Learn more now!

Netdata vs Observium | Monitoring Tools Comparison

Compare Observium vs Netdata: full-stack coverage, per-second granularity, AI insights, & zero-config deployment for true real-time visibility. Learn more!

Netdata vs PRTG | Monitoring Tools Comparison

Unlock deeper visibility than PRTG with Netdata’s per-second metrics, AI-powered troubleshooting, and zero-config deployment for any scale. Learn more now!

Netdata vs WhatsUp Gold | Monitoring Tools Comparison

See why teams switch from WhatsUp Gold to Netdata for real-time insights, faster troubleshooting, and AI-powered monitoring at scale. Learn more now!

Netdata vs Auvik: Real-Time Auvik Alternative

Compare Netdata and Auvik for network and infrastructure monitoring. Real-time per-second collection, ML anomaly detection, full-stack observability, and self-hostable architecture vs MSP-focused network management SaaS.

Netdata vs Cacti: Real-Time Cacti Alternative

Compare Netdata vs Cacti for network monitoring. See how per-second data, native flow analysis, ML anomaly detection, and full-stack observability stack up against Cacti's mature SNMP graphing.

Netdata vs ManageEngine OpManager: Which Is Better?

Comparing Netdata and ManageEngine OpManager for network and infrastructure monitoring. Explore real-time per-second data, built-in flow analysis, ML anomaly detection, unified full-stack coverage, and predictable per-node pricing.

Netdata vs NeDi: Network Discovery Tool Comparison

Netdata vs NeDi comparison: per-second metrics, ML anomaly detection, native flow analysis, and full-stack observability vs network discovery and inventory management.

Guides

Guides overview 1 page

Network Monitoring Operations Guides

Practical guides for monitoring, troubleshooting, and operating production networks: SNMP, NetFlow/sFlow/IPFIX, BGP, traps, syslog, and topology.

HAProxy Operations Guides 1 page

Open the HAProxy Operations Guides hub

HAProxy kernel accept-queue overflow: silent SYN drops and somaxconn

Clients time out but HAProxy looks perfectly healthy. How to detect and fix Linux accept-queue overflow (ListenOverflows, ListenDrops, somaxconn) in front of HAProxy.

Kubernetes Operations Guides 1 page

Open the Kubernetes Operations Guides hub

Kubernetes conntrack exhaustion: dropped connections under load

Diagnose and resolve Linux nf_conntrack table exhaustion on Kubernetes nodes that causes silent connection drops under load.

Network Monitoring Operations Guides 25 pages

Open the Network Monitoring Operations Guides hub

ARP cache staleness: when IP-to-MAC mapping goes bad

Diagnose and fix ARP cache staleness on Linux and Windows, including NUD state transitions, gc_thresh exhaustion, and stale entries after VM or container migration.

Asymmetric routing: why your path and latency measurements lie

Diagnose asymmetric routing that hides reverse-path degradation behind healthy forward-path measurements.

Audit log gaps: detecting syslog/trap tampering or loss

How to detect, diagnose, and distinguish operational loss from deliberate suppression in network syslog and SNMP trap audit pipelines.

BGP flapping: why a peer keeps resetting and how to find the cause

Diagnose and stop BGP session churn by decoding NOTIFICATION codes, correlating control-plane CPU, and identifying MTU black holes.

BGP NOTIFICATION and Cease messages: what each subcode is telling you

A field reference for decoding BGP NOTIFICATION error codes and Cease subcodes in router logs, with operational context for each.

BGP route leak and hijack: the detection signals and alerts that matter

How to detect BGP route leaks and hijacks before traffic is blackholed, with the signals, checks, and alerting strategies that matter in production.

BGP session Established but stale: detecting silent route loss

How to detect and diagnose BGP sessions that report Established but silently stop carrying routes, with prefix-count and UPDATE-rate checks.

Device control-plane CPU saturation: when SNMP polling causes the spike

Diagnose and resolve network device control-plane CPU spikes caused by SNMP polling storms, overlapping collectors, and expensive MIB walks.

Interface discards with low utilization: diagnosing ifInDiscards/ifOutDiscards

Diagnose packet discards on network interfaces when utilization appears low, including microburst detection, counter semantics, and per-queue drop analysis.

Interface flapping: link up/down storms and their blast radius

Diagnose and contain ifOperStatus churn before it floods traps, syslog, and STP across the broadcast domain.

Interface input/output errors: finding the bad link with ifInErrors/ifOutErrors

Diagnose incrementing ifInErrors and ifOutErrors by breaking down SNMP counters into CRC, overrun, and alignment sub-counters to isolate physical, duplex, and buffer faults.

License expiry silently disabling features: monitor days-to-expiry

How license expiry silently disables network device features, vendor-specific behaviors, and how to monitor days-to-expiry before users notice.

Microbursts: catching sub-second congestion that minute averages hide

How sub-second traffic bursts saturate switch queues and cause packet loss that minute-granularity SNMP polling cannot detect.

NAT and session-table exhaustion: catching it before connections fail

Diagnose and prevent NAT and session-table exhaustion across Linux conntrack, cloud NAT gateways, and network appliances before new connections start failing.

NetFlow v9/IPFIX template desync: flows decoded wrong or dropped after a reboot

Diagnose and fix NetFlow v9 or IPFIX template cache desync after an exporter reboot or upgrade that causes flows to be decoded wrong or silently dropped.

Network monitoring checklist: the signals every production network needs

A domain-by-domain checklist of the signals production network monitoring stacks need, with maturity levels from survival to expert.

NIC RSS misconfiguration: one CPU core silently dropping your telemetry

Diagnose and fix Receive Side Scaling misconfiguration that funnels all packet processing to one CPU core on flow, syslog, and trap collectors.

SD-WAN tunnel up but degraded: when the control plane lies

Diagnose SD-WAN tunnels where the control plane reports UP but the data plane has packet loss, latency, or silent drops.

Silent UDP flow data loss: why your NetFlow collector is dropping records

Diagnose and fix silent UDP packet drops in NetFlow, IPFIX, and sFlow collectors using kernel counters, socket buffer tuning, and RSS configuration.

SNMP counter rollover: fake traffic spikes from 32-bit counters

Diagnose and fix impossible traffic spikes caused by 32-bit SNMP counter wraps on high-speed interfaces.

SNMP poller falling behind: the polling-storm cascade and how to catch it

How SNMP scheduler fall-behind causes false device-down alerts, and the signals and fixes that stop the cascade.

SNMP timeouts and retries: why devices show as down when they aren't

Diagnose false-positive device-down alerts caused by SNMP timeout and retry misconfiguration, collector overload, and polling storm cascades.

STP topology-change storms: reconvergence cascades explained

How STP topology-change notifications cascade through an L2 domain, flush MAC tables, and create transient flooding and latency spikes.

Udp_RcvbufErrors: tuning kernel receive buffers for flow, trap, and syslog collectors

Diagnose and fix silent UDP packet drops on flow, trap, and syslog collectors caused by undersized kernel receive buffers.

Vendor API silent data gap: HTTP 200 with an empty payload

Diagnose why vendor APIs return HTTP 200 with empty or error-bearing payloads, and how to detect silent data gaps before dashboards go stale.

RabbitMQ Operations Guides 1 page

Open the RabbitMQ Operations Guides hub

RabbitMQ network partition detected: split-brain in cluster_status

What the Network Partitions section of rabbitmqctl cluster_status means, how to confirm a real split versus a false positive, and how to respond without making data divergence worse.

VMware vSphere Operations Guides 1 page

Open the VMware vSphere Operations Guides hub

vSphere dropped packets (%DRPRX/%DRPTX): ring buffers, CPU, and uplink backpressure

Diagnose vSphere %DRPRX and %DRPTX packet drops by separating vSwitch port drops from pNIC drops, ring buffer exhaustion, and CPU starvation.

Academy

NetFlow vs sFlow vs IPFIX: Differences & When To Use

Flow aggregation vs packet sampling - choosing the right export protocol for your network

Network Topology Mapping Explained

How devices connect, how discovery works, and why live topology beats static diagrams

SNMP Monitoring Guide: How To Monitor Network Devices

Practical steps for polling switches, routers, and firewalls with SNMP

SNMP Traps vs Polling: What Is The Difference?

Pull metrics on a schedule or push events in real time - here is how the two SNMP models compare.

What Is NetFlow? Network Flow Monitoring Explained

Understanding the protocol that powers flow-based network visibility

Docker Compose Networking: Service Discovery & Ports

A guide to debugging inter-container communication, resolving port binding errors, and understanding Docker's internal DNS for seamless service discovery

How To Fix Packet Loss - A Step-by-Step Guide To Reduce It

Your definitive guide to diagnosing, troubleshooting, and fixing frustrating packet loss issues

Agentless Network Monitoring A Complete Guide To Understand

Understanding how to monitor your network without installing new software on every device

How To Check Your Firewall Logs On Windows

A Practical Guide to Enabling Logging and Interpreting Firewall Activity

What Is Real-Time Monitoring? 5 Benefits & How It Works

Safeguard Your Digital Operations & Boost Network Performance

What Is Network Congestion & How To Fix It

Understanding Why Network Congestion Happens & How To Fix It

What Is Network Security Monitoring - A Comprehensive Guide

Achieving Visibility Detecting Threats and Responding Faster

Key Observability Metrics | Infrastructure & APM Monitoring

Understanding & Implementing Essential Infrastructure Metrics For Effective Monitoring

BPF vs eBPF: Key Differences Explained For DevOps & SREs

A Comprehensive Guide To BPF & eBPF For DevOps & SREs

8430FT Modem Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting 8430FT modem, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor 8430FT modem with Netdata.

Access Points Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Access Points, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Access Points with Netdata.

Bird Routing Daemon Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Bird Routing Daemon, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Bird Routing Daemon with Netdata.

Cilium Agent Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Cilium Agent, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Cilium Agent with Netdata.

Cilium Operator Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Cilium Operator, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Cilium Operator with Netdata.

Clash Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Clash, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Clash with Netdata.

Dnsmasq DHCP Monitoring

Learn about monitoring & troubleshooting Dnsmasq DHCP, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Dnsmasq DHCP with Netdata.

Dnsmasq Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Dnsmasq, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Dnsmasq with Netdata.

Fastd Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Fastd, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Fastd with Netdata.

Freifunk Network Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Freifunk networks, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Freifunk networks with Netdata.

FRRouting Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting FRRouting, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor FRRouting with Netdata.

Hitron CODA Cable Modem Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Hitron CODA Cable Modem, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Hitron CODA Cable Modem with Netdata.

Hubble Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Hubble, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Hubble with Netdata.

ISC DHCP Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting ISC DHCP, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor ISC DHCP with Netdata.

ISC DHCPd Monitoring

Learn about monitoring & troubleshooting ISC DHCPd, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor ISC DHCPd with Netdata.

Keepalived Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Keepalived, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Keepalived with Netdata.

Kubeproxy Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Kubeproxy, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Kubeproxy with Netdata.

Open vSwitch Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Open vSwitch, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Open vSwitch with Netdata.

OpenROADM devices Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting OpenROADM devices, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor OpenROADM devices with Netdata.

OpenVPN Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting OpenVPN, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor OpenVPN with Netdata.

OpenVPN Status Log Monitoring

Learn about monitoring & troubleshooting OpenVPN Status Log, what metrics are important, and how to monitor OpenVPN Status Log with Netdata.

Optical Modules Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Optical Modules, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Optical Modules with Netdata.

Ping Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Ping, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Ping with Netdata.

RADIUS Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting RADIUS, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor RADIUS with Netdata.

RetroShare Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Retroshare, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Retroshare with Netdata.

RIPE Atlas Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting RIPE Atlas, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor RIPE Atlas with Netdata.

SNMP Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting SNMP devices, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor SNMP devices with Netdata.

SoftEther VPN Server Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting SoftEther VPN Server, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor SoftEther VPN Server with Netdata.

SONiC NOS Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting SONiC NOS, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor SONiC NOS with Netdata.

Starlink (SpaceX) Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Starlink (SpaceX), what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Starlink with Netdata.

strongSwan Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting strongSwan, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor strongSwan with Netdata.

Suricata Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Suricata, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Suricata with Netdata.

TACACS Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting TACACS, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor TACACS with Netdata.

TCP endpoints Monitoring

Learn about monitoring & troubleshooting TCP endpoints, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor TCP endpoints with Netdata.

TCP/UDP Endpoints Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting TCP/UDP Endpoints, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor TCP/UDP Endpoints with Netdata.

Ubiquiti UFiber OLT Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting Ubiquiti UFiber OLT, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor Ubiquiti UFiber OLT with Netdata.

WireGuard Monitoring

Learn everything about monitoring & troubleshooting WireGuard, what metrics are important to monitor and why, and how to monitor WireGuard with Netdata.

Case Studies

Enhancing Digital Media Excellence with Netdata

SHED's Story of Optimizing Network Performance.

Resources

10 Best Network Monitoring Tools (2027 Software Comparison)

Compare the 10 best network monitoring tools for 2027: SNMP polling depth, NetFlow and sFlow support, topology mapping, polling intervals, and pricing models.

Webinar: Actionable Network Device Monitoring With AI

Learn how to monitor routers, switches, and firewalls in a way that quickly surfaces what matters—without drowning in noise.

Webinar: Live Database & Network Diagnostics

See how Netdata's new Live Functions let you analyze slow queries, detect deadlocks, and monitor SNMP network interfaces directly from the Netdata dashboard, with a live demo.

Webinar: Network Topology Maps and NetFlow Analysis

Interface counters tell you a port is busy. They don't tell you what's flowing through it or how your network is wired together. See how Netdata combines live network topology maps with NetFlow analysis to show how traffic actually moves through your routers, switches, and firewalls.

Blog

Real Time Network Monitoring: Topology, NetFlow, SNMP

Live topology, flow analysis, SNMP devices, and traps, unified with the rest of your stack.

Netdata QoS Classes monitoring

Ensuring Quality of Service with Advanced Network Insights

Monitor & Troubleshoot ISP Performance With Netdata

Tracking Connectivity For Optimal Online Experience

How to monitor host reachability

Techniques for Ensuring Network Availability and Performance

Other

SolarWinds NPM Alternative: With Per-Second Metrics

Looking for a SolarWinds NPM alternative? Netdata delivers per-second SNMP monitoring, automatic device discovery across 800+ vendors, ML anomaly detection on every metric, and network topology mapping with predictable per-node pricing.

SolarWinds NTA Alternative: NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Migrating from SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)? Explore Netdata's modern, per-second NetFlow, sFlow, and IPFIX traffic analysis with interactive Sankey diagrams, street-level city maps, and zero configuration.

SolarWinds Orion Alternative: One Agent, Full Stack

Looking for a SolarWinds Orion alternative? Netdata replaces the entire Orion monitoring stack with one open-source agent—per-second metrics, ML anomaly detection, AI troubleshooting, network flow analysis, and zero module licensing.