How to Set Up Traffic Monitoring for Various Network Infrastructures

This section explains the various options you have to monitor the network traffic that occurs inside LANs or that goes over a shared Internet connection or leased line.

With PRTG's data acquisition technologies and the various infrastructure options in use today it can sometimes get complicated to decide which monitoring technology is right for your problem.

The easiest configuration is to monitor the local traffic of one PC by installing PRTG directly on it. This scenario is used to monitor a single PC in a LAN network or to monitor a PC connected to the Internet via DSL, modem, or cable (see: A0).

For other network configurations use the following table to find your situation or task and follow the corresponding instructions below:

More:

A0: Monitoring Network traffic for a single PC connected to the Internet via DSL, cable, or a modem

A2: Monitoring Total Network traffic with NetFlow

A3: Monitoring Total Network traffic using a switch with monitoring port

B1: Monitoring Network traffic of each PC (or connection) in a network using a switch/router with SNMP support

B2: Monitoring Network traffic for each PC (or connection) with NetFlow

B3: Monitoring Network traffic for each PC using a switch with monitoring port

C2: Monitoring network traffic by IP address or protocol with NetFlow

C3: Monitoring network traffic by IP address or protocol using a switch with monitoring port

D1: Monitoring Network traffic for a PC running PRTG using SNMP

D3: Monitoring Network traffic for a PC running PRTG using Packet Sniffing

E3: Monitoring Network traffic for a PC running PRTG using Packet Sniffing

F1: Monitoring total Network traffic of a shared Internet connection or leased line using a switch/router with SNMP support

G2: Monitoring network traffic by IP address or protocol of a shared Internet connection or leased line - Monitoring with NetFlow

G3: Monitoring network traffic by IP address or protocol of a shared Internet connection or leased line - Monitoring with Packet Sniffing