# Know exactly why your network slows

Get instant real-time speed and traffic visibility with **NetFlow Analyzer**

- Detect bottlenecks instantly
- Optimise bandwidth usage
- Consistent network performance

## See the traffic behind every slowdown with NetFlow Analyzer

Slow applications, buffering video calls, and constant user complaints often leave IT teams without clear answers. Basic speed tests only show surface level numbers and fail to reveal which users, applications, or devices are actually consuming bandwidth and causing slowdowns. Without real time visibility into network speed and traffic behaviour, troubleshooting becomes reactive, making it harder to identify bottlenecks, verify ISP performance, and ensure critical applications get the bandwidth they need.

ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer gives you complete visibility into network throughput, bandwidth usage, and traffic patterns across your infrastructure. Instead of relying on surface level metrics, it shows exactly where congestion originates, which applications impact performance, and how network speed behaves across interfaces, WAN links, and locations. With deep, real time analytics, you can quickly detect slowdowns, identify root causes, prioritise critical traffic, and maintain consistent network performance without guesswork or lengthy troubleshooting.

## Powerful network speed monitoring with NetFlow Analyzer

### Traffic monitoring

#### Detect interface saturation and speed drops instantly

Network slowdowns often begin at the interface or WAN link level. NetFlow Analyzer continuously monitors throughput, utilisation, and traffic rates across routers, switches, firewalls, and WAN interfaces using flow technologies such as NetFlow, sFlow, and IPFIX.

This enables teams to quickly identify saturated links, abnormal traffic bursts, and performance drops at their source, ensuring faster isolation of network speed issues.

**NetSpeed Tracker Report – Last 24 hours**

| Time ↑ | Upload | Download | Upload Volume | Download Volume | Jitter (ms) | Latency (ms) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-11-10 00:35:00 | 51.532 Mbps | 49.510 Mbps | 57.666 MB | 63.900 MB | 3.78 | 0.09 |
| 2022-11-10 00:50:00 | 52.331 Mbps | 50.097 Mbps | 78.637 MB | 65.623 MB | 3.72 | 0.07 |
| 2022-11-09 13:35:00 | 50.270 Mbps | 51.145 Mbps | 65.756 MB | 68.445 MB | 4.18 | 2.19 |
| 2022-11-09 13:40:00 | 51.326 Mbps | 49.652 Mbps | 56.502 MB | 63.413 MB | 3.63 | 2.87 |
| 2022-11-09 13:45:00 | 50.538 Mbps | 50.701 Mbps | 64.474 MB | 61.752 MB | 3.76 | 0.17 |
| 2022-11-09 13:50:00 | 24.798 Mbps | 34.533 Mbps | 43.087 MB | 46.029 MB | 10.38 | 5.88 |

### Bandwidth analysis

#### Identify bandwidth-consuming applications and users

Understanding what consumes bandwidth is critical to maintaining consistent network performance. NetFlow Analyzer provides deep application and user-level visibility using advanced Layer 7 traffic classification and CBQoS support.

IT teams can analyse top applications, conversations, and endpoints impacting bandwidth, making it easier to prioritise business-critical traffic and control non-essential usage.

**Top N Application – Hourly Report**

- YouTube — 2.4 GB  
- MS Teams — 1.8 GB  
- Google — 1.2 GB  
- Netflix — 890 MB  
- Other — 640 MB  

**Top N Users – Hourly Report**

- `192.168.1.45` — 2.4 GB  
- `192.168.1.112` — 1.8 GB  
- `192.168.1.78` — 1.2 GB  
- `192.168.1.203` — 890 MB  
- `192.168.1.8` — 640 MB  

### Bottleneck detection

#### Pinpoint congestion across the network path

Network bottlenecks often occur across multiple devices and segments. NetFlow Analyzer delivers end-to-end traffic visibility by analysing flow records across the infrastructure.

This helps teams trace traffic paths, locate congestion points, and identify exactly where performance degradation occurs across core, distribution, and edge layers.

**Interface Traffic – Last 6 hours**

| Interface | Device | In Rate | Out Rate | Utilization | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GigabitEthernet0/1 | Core-Router-01 | 840 Mbps | 620 Mbps | 84% | Critical |
| GigabitEthernet0/2 | Core-Router-01 | 490 Mbps | 320 Mbps | 49% | Warning |
| GigabitEthernet0/24 | Dist-Switch-01 | 380 Mbps | 210 Mbps | 38% | Normal |
| GigabitEthernet1/1 | Edge-Router-01 | 210 Mbps | 180 Mbps | 21% | Normal |
| FastEthernet0/8 | Access-SW-01 | 95 Mbps | 48 Mbps | 10% | Normal |

### Centralized visibility

#### Maintain consistent speed across WAN and branch locations

Performance inconsistencies frequently originate from WAN links, VPN tunnels, or branch locations. NetFlow Analyzer provides centralised visibility into bandwidth usage and link utilisation across all sites.

With site and link-wise insights, teams can quickly detect overloaded links, optimise traffic distribution, and maintain consistent performance across remote and hybrid networks.

**Interface Status Summary**

- Link Up: 8  
- Unknown: 1  
- Link Down: 1  
- Link Up & NoFlows: 1  
- Total Interfaces: 11  

**Interfaces Table**

| Status | Interface Name | Router Name | IN Utilization | OUT Utilization | IN Speed | OUT Speed | Alert |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OK | GigabitEthernet0/1 | DataCentreAVC-Mains… | 0% | 1% | 49.787 bps | 52.303 bps | 0 |
| OK | GigabitEthernet0/1/1 | DataCentreAVCMains-… | 0% | 0% | 9.286 bps | 9.371 bps | 0 |
| OK | GigabitEthernet0/1/1 | DataCentreBasicV9-N… | 10% | 51% | 1.020 Kbps | `511.154` bps | 0 |
| OK | GigabitEthernet0/1/2 | DataCentreBasicV9ipv… | 5% | 5% | 1.006 Kbps | 1.011 Kbps | 0 |
| OK | GigabitEthernet0/2 | DataCentreBasicV9ipv… | 100% | >100% | 1.003 Kbps | 1.024 Kbps | 0 |
| OK | GigabitEthernet0/1/2 | DataCentreipV4Bi-ASA | >100% | >100% | 14.819 Kbps | 14.786 Kbps | 0 |
| OK | GigabitEthernetBIASA… | DataCentreipV6Bi-ASA | 20% | 20% | 19.882 Kbps | 19.907 Kbps | 0 |
| OK | ASAGigabitEthernet0/1 | DataCentreV9ASA.me… | >100% | >100% | 1.001 Kbps | 1.004 Kbps | 0 |
| OK | MediaGigabitEthernet… | DataCentreV9Mediane… | 51% | 50% | 1.011 Kbps | `996.705` bps | 0 |
| OK | MultiGigabitEthernet0/1 | DataCentreV9Multicast | >100% | 20% | 1.015 Kbps | 1.014 Kbps | 0 |
| Warning | IfIndex1 | Viptela_SD-WAN | 0% | 0% | 0.000 bps | 0.000 bps | 0 |

### Capacity planning

#### Analyse performance trends and plan capacity effectively

Short-term fixes are not enough to maintain long-term network speed. NetFlow Analyzer stores historical traffic and bandwidth data to reveal recurring congestion patterns, peak usage trends, and capacity constraints.

These insights support proactive bandwidth planning, infrastructure upgrades, and long-term performance optimisation based on real network behaviour.

**Capacity Planning Report – Speed (Last 24 hours)**

| Application | 05:00 | 07:00 | 09:00 | 11:00 | 13:00 | 15:00 | 17:00 | 19:00 | 21:00 | 23:00 | 01:00 | 03:00 | 05:00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TRUNK-1_App | 0.087 bps | 0.487 bps | 0.389 bps | - | 0.289 bps | 0.364 bps | 0.842 bps | 0.253 bps | 0.938 bps | 0.378 bps | 0.100 bps | 1.029 bps | - |
| IDPR_App | 0.182 bps | 0.584 bps | 0.638 bps | 0.380 bps | 0.149 bps | 0.720 bps | 0.349 bps | 0.702 bps | 0.236 bps | 0.162 bps | 0.296 bps | 0.436 bps | - |
| RDP_App | 0.049 bps | 0.300 bps | 0.393 bps | 1.124 bps | 0.040 bps | 0.251 bps | 0.620 bps | - | 0.540 bps | 0.436 bps | 0.776 bps | 0.300 bps | - |
| XNS-IDP_App | 0.513 bps | 0.291 bps | 0.113 bps | 0.164 bps | 0.929 bps | 0.304 bps | 0.844 bps | 0.840 bps | 0.280 bps | 0.138 bps | 0.151 bps | 0.202 bps | - |
| TRUNK-2_App | - | 0.789 bps | 0.231 bps | 0.513 bps | 0.044 bps | 0.042 bps | 0.838 bps | 0.858 bps | 0.389 bps | 0.547 bps | 0.222 bps | 0.298 bps | - |
| MUX_App | 0.242 bps | 0.569 bps | 0.873 bps | 0.178 bps | 0.113 bps | 0.073 bps | 0.082 bps | 0.422 bps | 0.284 bps | 0.462 bps | 1.000 bps | 0.424 bps | - |
| IPENCAP_App | 0.160 bps | 0.142 bps | 0.873 bps | 0.220 bps | 0.242 bps | 0.596 bps | 1.058 bps | 0.249 bps | 0.198 bps | 0.547 bps | 0.311 bps | 0.857 bps | - |
| IRTP_App | 0.082 bps | 0.200 bps | 0.180 bps | 0.330 bps | 0.370 bps | 0.280 bps | 0.520 bps | 0.430 bps | 0.480 bps | 0.380 bps | 0.150 bps | 0.470 bps | - |

### Proactive alerts

#### Prevent slowdowns with intelligent alerts and proactive monitoring

Continuous monitoring and early detection are essential to maintaining network performance. NetFlow Analyzer enables threshold-based alerts for utilisation spikes, abnormal traffic patterns, and speed drops.

With real-time notifications and detailed analytics, teams can detect emerging issues early, resolve them faster, and ensure consistent network performance across the infrastructure.

**Active Alarms (52)**

| Severity | Alarm | Source | Type | Assignee | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Critical | Incompatible NPS request detected for `50000768` | `50000768` | System | UnAssigned | 10 min ago |
| Critical | Configuration Changed at Mar 27, 2023 1… | Unknown | Config | UnAssigned | 1 hour ago |
| Critical | Interface GigabitEthernet0/0[CiscoRouter7… | CiscoRouter7… | Link Down | UnAssigned | 21 days ago |
| Trouble | 2.0 packets transferred (violated threshold…) | `5.5.5.9` | Realtime Alert | admin | 1 year ago |
| Attention | 50.0 packets transferred (violated threshold…) | `5.5.5.5` | Realtime Alert | UnAssigned | 1 year ago |

## Real-time network speed issues resolved with NetFlow Analyzer

### A sudden slowdown disrupts the entire office

**Problem**  
Multiple teams reported slow applications and lag during video calls. Bandwidth usage appeared normal, yet performance continued to drop.

**How NetFlow Analyzer helped**  
The IT team used NetFlow Analyzer to view real-time traffic across the network. Within minutes, a large file transfer and non-business streaming traffic consuming bandwidth on a core interface were identified. By prioritising critical applications and controlling unnecessary traffic, performance was restored without prolonged downtime.

### Video conferencing fails during an important client meeting

**Problem**  
During peak hours, video calls began buffering and disconnecting across departments. The IT team needed immediate clarity on what was affecting performance.

**How NetFlow Analyzer helped**  
Live application traffic analysis revealed a scheduled backup consuming significant bandwidth across the WAN link. After rescheduling the backup and reallocating bandwidth, video conferencing returned to normal without further disruption.

### Branch office users report inconsistent speed

**Problem**  
Employees in a remote branch started experiencing intermittent slowness while accessing cloud applications. The issue could not be replicated at headquarters, making troubleshooting difficult.

**How NetFlow Analyzer helped**  
The team monitored speed across branch links and quickly identified congestion on a specific WAN interface during peak usage. By rerouting traffic and optimising bandwidth allocation, consistent performance was restored across the branch.

### Unusual bandwidth spike affects critical apps

**Problem**  
Network performance dropped unexpectedly one afternoon, impacting access to essential business applications with no obvious cause.

**How NetFlow Analyzer helped**  
NetFlow Analyzer detected a sudden spike caused by a newly installed application generating heavy background traffic. Real-time alerts and traffic analysis helped isolate the source and control bandwidth consumption immediately, preventing further disruption to critical services.

## Why NetFlow Analyzer stands out as a network speed monitor

- **Correlates flow data across the entire network**  
  Analyses NetFlow, sFlow, IPFIX, and other flow exports to provide detailed visibility into traffic behaviour across routers, switches, and firewalls.

- **Identifies top applications, conversations, and endpoints**  
  Provides granular insights into which applications, users, and IPs consume bandwidth, enabling precise root cause identification during slowdowns.

- **Pinpoints congestion across interfaces and WAN links**  
  Tracks utilisation and throughput across interfaces and site-to-site links to help isolate exactly where performance degradation occurs.

- **Delivers centralised visibility for distributed environments**  
  Monitors traffic patterns and link utilisation across data centres, branch offices, VPNs, and hybrid infrastructures from a single console.

- **Supports historical traffic analysis and capacity planning**  
  Stores and analyses long-term bandwidth and performance data to identify recurring congestion trends and plan upgrades based on actual usage.

- **Enables threshold-based alerts and performance monitoring**  
  Generates alerts for utilisation spikes, abnormal traffic patterns, and speed drops, allowing faster detection and response to emerging issues.

## Key metrics to monitor network speed

- Bandwidth utilisation  
- Throughput  
- Latency  
- Packet loss  
- Jitter  
- Application bandwidth consumption  
- Top talkers and endpoints  
- WAN and interface performance  

## Benefits of monitoring network speed with NetFlow Analyzer

- **Accelerated root cause identification**  
  Quickly isolate bandwidth bottlenecks, top talkers, and congestion points using real-time and historical traffic analysis, reducing dependency on manual troubleshooting.

- **Optimised bandwidth for critical applications**  
  Gain clear visibility into application and user-level consumption to prioritise business-critical traffic and prevent non-essential usage from impacting performance.

- **Proactive performance management**  
  Detect utilisation spikes, abnormal traffic patterns, and speed drops early with continuous monitoring and intelligent alerts to prevent user impact.

- **Data-driven capacity and ISP management**  
  Validate service provider performance, analyse long-term traffic trends, and plan bandwidth upgrades confidently using detailed historical insights.

## Safeguarding your network and data, at once

![NetFlow Analyzer security and compliance](https://www.manageengine.com/products/netflow/images/solarwinds-nta-alternative/safeguarding.avif)

NetFlow Analyzer keeps your network and data safe with advanced encryption and authentication standards. Features like SSL configuration, password protection, and trusted certificates help secure your network at every layer.

NetFlow Analyzer complies with the following data security standards:

- GDPR  
- FIPS 140-2  
- ISO/IEC 27001  

## Case study

An Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer needed a unified solution to manage its large, complex network — supporting video conferencing and MPLS while preparing for future growth. ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer met all their needs with a user-friendly interface, advanced monitoring capabilities, and smooth integration, becoming the top choice for scalable network management.

[Read the full story](https://www.manageengine.com/products/netflow/automobile-manufacturer-case-study.html)