Comparison of SNMP, Packet Sniffing, and NetFlow
Comparison of SNMP, Packet Sniffing, and NetFlow
The following table shows the differences between the three methods:
|
|
SNMP |
Packet Sniffing |
Netflow |
|
Setup |
Easy |
Easy |
Can be complex (e.g. the switch must be configured) |
|
Traffic can be filtered |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Differentiate bandwidth usage by protocol or IPs |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
PRTG can show Toplists (Top Talker, Top Connections, Top Protocols, etc.) |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Filter bandwidth usage by IP |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Filter bandwidth usage by MAC address |
No |
Yes |
No |
|
Filter bandwidth usage by physical network port |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
Monitor network parameters other than bandwidth usage |
Yes |
No |
No |
|
CPU load on the machine running PRTG |
Low |
Higher, depends on the amount of traffic |
Higher, depends on the amount of traffic |
|
Excess bandwidth usage of monitoring |
Small |
None (except when monitoring switch ports are used) |
Depends on the traffic |