Software Engineering Institute

In this presentation, the authors discuss Toa, a web-based NetFlow data network monitoring system (NMS). Toa consists of a collection of scripts that automatically parse NetFlow data, store this information in a database system, and generate interactive line charts for network visualization analytics. The system is pseudo real time, meaning that it continuously updates the interactive charts from NetFlow data that is generated every five minutes. Toa also provides an interface to generate customized charts from the data stored in the database, and plugins that connect the visualization charts with the NetFlow data file for more in depth visualizations and analysis. The Toa web GUI presents users with the following network traffic visualization options: (1) per network label (interface, Autonomous System [AS], or network block) traffic, (2) per-port traffic for each network label, (3) network label to network label traffic, (4) customized charts from the database data, and (5) plugins for in-depth analysis of the NetFlow data file.