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Network Applications

ntop

Home Page Release Notes License:
Open source; $0

Current Version: 4.0 (July 22, 2010)

ntop is a free, open source network traffic probe that shows the network usage, similar to what the popular "top" command in UNIX. ntop is based on libpcap. ntop comes with two applications:

  • the 'classical' ntop that sports an embedded web server
  • intop (interactive ntop) is basically a network shell based on the ntop engine.

ntop users can use a a web browser to navigate through ntop (which acts as a web server) traffic information and get a dump of the network status. In the latter case, ntop can be seen as a simple RMON-like agent with an embedded web interface. The use of a web interface; limited configuration and administration via the web interface; and reduced CPU and memory usage make ntop easy to use and suitable for monitoring various kind of networks.

Version 4.0 - the latest source code release of the software - adds/changes the following:

  • Partially rewritten ntop processing engine to address reliability and performance
  • Several bugs and stability issues fixed
  • Added better support for IPFIX and NetFlow v9, as well as ntop PEN (Private Enterprise Number)
  • Added support for Cisco ASA firewalls
  • Added ntop engine scriptability via the python programming language
  • Added RRDalarm plugin for generating alerts based on thresholds
  • Improved google maps integration
  • Enhanced sFlow support

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Download the Mac OS X (Darwin) binary (3.2).
Download the source code (4.0).

Also See . . .

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Related Links

For an interesting and objective third-party view of Apple's networking technology - from MacTCP through Open Transport and beywond - Peter Sichel's Sustainable Softworks page is unparalleled.

Also Consider . . .

These are applications that are newer and of potential interest, but which I haven't yet selected for permanent inclusion. Have a look, and let me know if you think they deserve to be part of the permanent collection!