NetFlow Analyzer: A trip down memory lane

I came across a snapshot of NetFlow Analyzer 4 on one of Cisco's webpages, calling it an "Example of traffic analysis reporting utilizing a NetFlow data." So, with the release of ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer 8.6, I thought a small trip down memory lane would be refreshing. The evolution of NetFlow Analyzer from a "web-based bandwidth monitoring tool that gathers NetFlow" to a comprehensive "web-based bandwidth monitoring, network forensics, and network traffic analysis tool" is astounding!Cisco on NetFlow Analyzer In 2005, NetFlow Analyzer 4 was first released as a simple bandwidth monitoring tool to cater to the needs of network administrators. Initially, NetFlow Analyzer was viewed as a web-based bandwidth monitoring tool. This tool gathered NetFlow statistics from Cisco devices to provide in-depth analysis of network traffic and bandwidth usage; however, it soon evolved into something bigger. When NetFlow Analyzer 4.0.2 was introduced to support NetFlow v5 and v7 exports, we were actually gearing up for some evolution. 2006 saw the release of NetFlow Analyzer 5.0. In this version, we shrunk NetFlow Analyzer to 4.5MB, less than its previous version, and enhanced the storage of raw data for up to two weeks. It was also the first time we introduced threshold-based alerting and improved IP-grouping features, which later turned out to be a real hit! (That's another great story.)

If you thought NetFlow Analyzer 5.0 was big, then NetFlow Analyzer 5.5 got even bigger (in fact, the product still got bigger and better after that!). In this release, we achieved a major breakthrough: support for NBAR. With this, we were able to gather reports on application traffic in a real-time environment. This time we also included the following new features:
  •     Automatic scheduling and emailing of reports
  •     Grouping multiple sub-interfaces into a single logical entity to monitor traffic
  •     Support for NetFlow version 9
  •     Support for ToS and TCP Flag
Together with all this, we were making our presence felt strong in the networking arena!

Although we were making waves in the networking industry, we were still missing something that prevented us from getting wider reach: support for devices other than Cisco's. So far we had been concentrating only on Cisco's devices but weren't available to others. Finally, we answered the prayers of our users (who weren't big Cisco fans) with NetFlow Analyzer 6.0. We began supporting real-time reporting with NetFlow Analyzer 6.0, making the lives of network administrators less complicated. All this eventually led to NetFlow Analyzer becoming "the market leader in flow-based traffic analysis and network forensics with around 2,000 customers worldwide."

NetFlow Analyzer 7.0 made us experts of network bandwidth management and offered what we proudly call cutting-edge technology. NetFlow Analyzer 7.0 was loaded with features that made many go "wow." It was the first time we introduced the feature validating QoS policies with Cisco CBQoS, and it became an instant hit! This version also offered other features like:
  •      User-based dashboard
  •      Business hour alerts
  •      Exclude IP address
  •      RADIUS authentication
  •      Exclude encrypted applications
  •      Output interface suppression - WAN optimizers
  •      ACL-related drops
Following this version, we had an immediate release of NetFlow Analyzer 7.5 with new features like:   
  • Customizable dashboard
  • GRE application filter
  • Site-to-site traffic monitoring
  • Volume-based billing
For users who had storage as an issue, in this release we reduced the hour time for the raw data hour time to as-less-as one hour.

The next major release of NetFlow Analyzer was version 8.0. This version was a feather in our cap! To start with, there was a whopping list of 20 new features that were added in this release, among which the features below definitely need a mention.
  •      IPSLA - VoIP add-on
  •     Flexible NetFlow - NBAR reporting
  •     V9 sampling
  •     Support for Cisco ASA - NSEL reporting
  •     CBQoS Child Policy and Match Statements report
  •     SNMP V3 support 
Next, we released NetFlow Analyzer 8.5 with the Advanced Security Analytics Module. This security analytics tool helps in detecting and classifying network intrusions to tackle security threats in real time. We followed this with the release of NetFlow Analyzer 8.6 with added features on Capacity Planning Report, Report Profiles, Top Sites, Compare report include 95th percentile. With the latest release, we have become the "web-based (no hardware probes) bandwidth monitoring, network forensics, and network traffic analysis tool that has been optimizing thousands of networks across varied industries for peak performance and helping them to put their bandwidth for a better use." This release has proved that we are still the market leaders, with close to 4,000 enterprises (and counting!) using NetFlow Analyzer.

To sum it up, we can proudly say that network bandwidth management has just been made smarter with NetFlow Analyzer. So ,what should you expect next? A grand makeover? Or tons of other features that makes you go "wow"? All I can say is expect more... Demo | Download 30-day trial