Top 10 Linux Network Monitoring Tools

Keeping control of our network is vital to prevent any program from overusing it and slows down the overall system operation. There are several network monitoring tools for different operating systems today.

In this article, we will talk about 10 network monitoring tools for Linux that will run from a terminal, ideal for users who do not use GUI or for those who want to keep control of the network use of a server through from ssh.

Best Monitoring tools for Linux

Iftop

Linux users are generally familiar with top. This tool is a system monitor that allows us to know in real-time all the processes that are running in our system and can manage them easily.

Iftop is an application similar to top but specialized in the monitoring of the network, being able to know a multitude of details regarding the network and all the processes that are making use of it. We can obtain more information about this tool and download the necessary packages from the following link.

Vnstat

Vnstat is a network monitor that is included, by default, in most Linux distributions. It allows us to obtain a real-time control of the traffic sent and received in a period of time, chosen by the user.

We can obtain more information about this tool and download the necessary packages from the following link.

Iptraf

IPTraf is a console-based, real-time network monitoring utility for Linux. (IP LAN) – Collects a wide variety of information as an IP traffic monitor that passes through the network, including TCP flags information, ICMP details, TCP / UDP traffic faults, TCP connection packet, and Byne account. It also collects statistics information from the general and detailed interface of TCP, UDP, checksum errors IP not IP ICMP IP, interface activity, etc.

We can obtain more information about this tool and download the necessary packages from the following link.

Monitorix – System and Monitoring Network

Monitorix is a lightweight free utility that is designed to run and monitor system and network resources with as many Linux or Unix servers as possible. An HTTP web server has been added that regularly collects system and network information and displays them in the graphs.

Monitorix will track the average system load and its usage, memory allocation, disk health, system services, network ports, mail statistics (Sendmail, Postfix, Dovecot, etc.), MySQL statistics and many more. It is designed to control the overall performance of the system and helps in detecting faults, bottlenecks, abnormal activities, etc.

Download and more information here.

Dstat

A monitor is somewhat less known than the previous ones but also usually comes by default in many distributions.

We can obtain more information about this tool and download the necessary packages from the following link.

Bwm-ng

One of the simplest tools. It allows you to get data from the connection interactively and, at the same time, export them to a certain format for easier reference on another device.

We can obtain more information about this tool and download the necessary packages from the following link.

Ibmonitor

Similar to the above, it shows network traffic filtered by connection interface and clearly separates the traffic sent from the received traffic.

We can obtain more information about this tool and download the necessary packages from the following link​.

Htop – Linux Process Tracking

Htop is a much more advanced, interactive and real-time Linux tool for tracking processes. It is similar to the top Linux command but has some advanced features such as an easy-to-use interface for process management, shortcut keys, vertical and horizontal view of processes and much more. Htop is a third-party tool and is not included on Linux systems, you must install it using YUM (or APT-GET) or whatever your package management tool.

For more information on installation, read this article. We can obtain more information about this tool and download the necessary packages from the following link.

Arpwatch – Ethernet Activity Monitor

Arpwatch is a program that is designed to control the resolution of addresses (MAC and changes in the IP address) of Ethernet network traffic in a Linux network. It is continuously monitoring the Ethernet traffic and records the changes in the IP addresses and MAC addresses, the changes of pairs along with the timestamps in a network. It also has a function to send an e-mail notifying the administrator, when a couple is added or changes. It is very useful in detecting ARP impersonation in a network.

We can obtain more information about this tool and download the necessary packages from the following link.​

Wireshark – Network Monitoring tool

Wireshark is a free application that enables you to catch and view the information going forward and backward on your system, giving the capacity to bore down and read the substance of every parcel – separated to meet your particular needs. It is generally used to investigate arrange issues and additionally to create and test programming.

The open-source convention analyzer is generally acknowledged as the business standard, prevailing upon what’s coming to it’s of honors the years. Initially known as Ethereal, Wireshark highlights an easy to understand interface that can show information from many diverse conventions on all real system sorts.

Conclusion

​In this article, we have taken a gander at a few open source network monitoring tools. Because we concentrated on these instruments as the “best” does not really mean they are the best for your needs. For instance, there are numerous other open source monitoring apparatuses that exist, for example, OpenNMS, Cacti, and Zennos and you need to consider the advantages of everyone from the point of view of your prerequisite.

There are also different apparatuses that might be more good for your need that is not open source.

What more network monitors do you use or know to use in Linux in terminal format?