User’s Guide – version 3.5
NetFlow Tracker
17
Installation
Minimum System Requirements
The type of system required to run NetFlow Tracker depends on the number of devices
sending NetFlow information to it and the amount and nature of traffic handled by
those devices. The following requirements are a guideline; the only way to determine
your requirements is by testing the software’s performance in your network
environment.
•
Intel
Pentium D, Core 2 or Xeon processor or a compatible processor of similar
performance. Multiple processors will improve performance but should be
considered after increasing RAM and the performance of the disk subsystem.
•
2GB RAM. Performance will increase with the amount of RAM available for the
disk cache and database buffers.
•
High performance disk subsystem with substantial free space – the exact nature of
this is dependent on system load. For all but the lightest of loads, a server RAID
card running RAID 5 over at least three high-performance disks is recommended.
NetFlow Tracker stores and queries full information for a week; a busy enterprise
router can generate in the order of 20GB to 50GB of NetFlow information in this
time.
Operating System Support
•
Microsoft Windows
2000 or Microsoft Windows Server 2003. Desktop
operating systems are not supported.
•
Any modern Linux distribution capable of running Java 1.4.2 and MySQL
5.0
(Intel-compatible processors).
Pre-installation Checks
Before installing, there are a few things you need to check:
•
NetFlow Tracker puts a heavy load on the system. It is strongly recommended that
you install it on a dedicated server.
•
You must be logged in as an administrator in order to install the software.
•
NetFlow Tracker uses MySQL to provide database services. Due to the large
database size and optimised structure, MySQL must be configured in a way that
would seriously degrade the performance of many other types of software that use
MySQL. Thus it is recommended that no other MySQL-dependent software be
installed on the server running NetFlow Tracker.
•
The version of MySQL used by NetFlow Tracker is significantly different to that
used by Fluke Networks’ products NetFlow Monitor, NetWatch and
ResponseWatch. If NetFlow Tracker is installed on a server running one of these
products it will not function correctly. Likewise, if one of these products is installed
on a server running NetFlow Tracker, both products are likely not to function
correctly.