Network Top Talkers

The term top talkers refers to the hosts and endpoints that consume the most bandwidth in a network. Network top talkers often handle a high volume of network traffic, such as data, voice, and video, and can slow performance for other users.

As a result, you’ll want to quickly identify top talkers. Not only will knowing which users, devices, and applications are top talkers help when it comes to network performance monitoring, but it can also assist with network troubleshooting and even capacity planning. You’ll be able to pinpoint current and potential bottlenecks, better understand how and where your network resources are being used, and reallocate bandwidth accordingly to improve your network’s overall performance.

It’s also worth noting that an unexpected top talker might be a sign of a security issue. For example, a compromised computer might transmit excessive amounts of data in the form of malicious traffic.

NetFlow Traffic Analyzer offers a variety of predefined alerts, including:

• Flow alerts: Creating alerts on recently processed flows will help you quickly pinpoint and resolve quality issues that occur. The Create a Flow Alert panel makes creating flow alerts simple, and you can configure SolarWinds to update you if:
• An application threshold has been met: An alert will be triggered if one of your NetFlow-reporting nodes reports traffic over or under a predefined threshold. You can also create an alert across several applications and NBAR2 applications, meaning you’ll receive a notification when traffic exceeds all the selected applications’ combined threshold.
• An application is or is not present in Top Applications: This notification will tell you whether an application or NBAR2 application is included or absent in the Top XX Applications or NBAR2 Applications lists.
• A flow is no longer being received: You can also configure NTA to alert you if a device doesn’t send over any data within a set period.
• Top talker alerts: You can also set NTA up so it provides alerts on your top talkers. Notably, you can use the:
• High receive percent utilization with top talkers alert: This alert will be triggered whenever traffic received surpasses the predefined threshold for bandwidth usage.
• High transmit percent utilization with top talkers alert: On the other hand, this alert will indicate when the traffic transmitted exceeds your threshold.
• CBQoS alerts: If you want to confirm that CBQoS (Class-Based Quality of Service (CBQoS) policies have been applied to traffic and are working as intended, you can use CBQoS alerts.

However, it’s worth noting that many of these alerts must be enabled to ensure you receive an update, as they aren’t turned on by default. To check if an alert is enabled, simply click Alerts & Activity then Manage Alerts. This will open the Alert Manager, where you can filter your alerts to show NTA-only items. You can type “netflow” or “CBQoS” into the search box and then check to see if specific alerts are on.

Network optimization is essential in today’s world, whether you’re a small two-person operation or have thousands of users on your network. After all, connectivity matters—and your network needs to be in peak shape to continually provide seamless, efficient service and a high-quality user experience. This will enable users to do everything from communicating to working to streaming more easily.

By strategically fine-tuning bandwidth allocation, minimizing latency, and managing traffic congestion, network optimization empowers organizations to deliver swift data transmission, low-latency communication, and uninterrupted access to online services. This not only enhances productivity and customer satisfaction but also paves the way for innovation, as optimized networks provide the agile foundation required for emerging technologies such as IoT, cloud computing, and real-time applications to thrive.

When you use tools and techniques to actively monitor and improve your network’s performance, you can identify bottlenecks and resolve performance issues faster. In some cases, you can even mitigate delays, disruptions, and other network problems altogether. By concentrating on optimizing your network, you can set your organization up for success, reduce downtime and costs, and improve your security posture.

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer can help with:

• Malicious and malformed traffic identification: Identifying problematic traffic can be tricky, but NTA uses port 0 monitoring to identify DDoS attacks and other malicious traffic.
• Wi-Fi traffic monitoring: Outages can grind an organization to a halt, but the good news is that NTA enables you to track and analyze Wi-Fi traffic. You’ll be able to spot potential problems quickly and take action to improve network performance.
• Plan bandwidth capacity: Planning ahead isn’t always easy, but NTA’s intuitive network analytics software and detailed reports can help you discover top talkers and plan bandwidth capacity.
• Analyze network protocol: NTA also features protocol scanners that can gather traffic data, enabling you to explore IP flow conversations, monitor network bandwidth usage, and troubleshoot network issues and congestion.