Documentation forNetFlow Traffic Analyzer
Analyzing network traffic and bandwidth is a key capability of SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted (formerly Hybrid Cloud Observability) and is available in the Advanced edition. NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) is also available in a standalone module.

View NTA data in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console

Once you have configured and enabled a NetFlow source, you can view the various types of NetFlow statistics that it records in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console. The statistics are provided as widgets grouped to form individual views.

Views

A view is a web page showing information about your network and the traffic going through individual nodes and interfaces. A view consists of widgets. You can customize which widgets you want to have on a view.

NTA provides two basic types of views:

Summary views

Display traffic details on all nodes and interfaces managed by NTA, such as top applications, conversations, and endpoints. You can access your summary views either in the My Dashboards > NetFlow views or by clicking an item in another view. For example, clicking on an application in the Top 5 Applications Summary view displays a summary view covering the use of the selected application in all nodes monitored in NTA.

Detail views

Display traffic information on individual objects in your network, such as interface details, node details, and application details. You can access your detail views by opening a summary view, and then clicking on the object whose details you want to see.

Widgets

A widget is a building block of your views. It displays on your views as a box and provides information about different aspects of traffic monitoring, usually in a chart and a table. Some widgets are meant to be used on summary views, some are suitable for detail views, and some can be useful on both view types. The information shown pertains to either all devices NTA monitors (if used on a summary view) or to the selected object (if used on a detail view for a node, interface, conversation, application, CBQoS class, or other object).

As of NTA 2023.1, you can embed your NTA widgets, such as Top Endpoints or Top Applications into the Custom Object widget. This allows you to create custom dashboards using NTA widgets and review data for Top Endpoints or Top Applications for various nodes or interfaces side by side. For more information, see Specify entities and the metric in custom object widgets.

NTA widgets have the following limitations when embedded into the Custom Object widget:

  • If you select multiple objects (nodes or interfaces), the Custom Object widget will not display NTA metrics.
  • The Custom Object widget does not react to filters, such as time range, IPv4/IPv6 traffic, or flow direction when placed on an NTA view.
  • The Custom Object widget does not react on the Flow Navigator.
  • You cannot switch between Advanced (NBAR2) and NetFlow applications when you embed the Top Applications widget into the Custom Object widget. Either NBAR2 or NetFlow is selected automatically based on your data.

The following Top XX NTA widgets can be embedded into the Custom Object widget:

The following endpoint-centric Top XX NTA widgets can be embedded into the Custom Object widget:

  • Top XX Applications (Endpoint Centric)

  • Top XX Conversations (Endpoint Centric)

  • Top XX Domains (Endpoint Centric)

  • Top XX Endpoints (Endpoint Centric)

  • Top XX IP Address Groups (Endpoint Centric)

  • Top XX IP Groups Conversations (Endpoint Centric)

  • Top XX Protocols (Endpoint Centric)

  • Top XX Receivers (Endpoint Centric)

  • Top XX Transmitters (Endpoint Centric)

  • Top XX Type of Services (Endpoint Centric)