Network Device Monitoring: Topology Maps and NetFlow Analysis

What You'll Learn

Most network monitoring stops at the interface: bytes in, bytes out, errors, drops. That's enough to know a link is saturated, but not enough to know which conversations are saturating it, or how the problem propagates across your topology. In this session we go a layer deeper. We'll show how Netdata maps the relationships between your network devices into live topology views, and how NetFlow analysis reveals the actual traffic riding on top of the SNMP metrics you're already collecting: top talkers, top conversations, and the protocols and endpoints driving utilization. You'll see how to move from 'this interface is hot' to 'this host is flooding this path' in a few clicks, and how anomaly detection and AI-assisted troubleshooting tie the topology and flow data together. Expect a live walkthrough you can map onto your own network.

Key Takeaways

Build live topology maps that show how your routers, switches, and firewalls actually connect

Use NetFlow analysis to surface top talkers, top conversations, and the traffic driving interface utilization

Correlate flow data and topology with the SNMP interface metrics you already collect

Trace a saturation or error problem across the full network path, not just a single port

See automated anomaly detection and AI-assisted troubleshooting applied to topology and flow data

Follow a live walkthrough you can apply to your own network devices immediately