# Network diagnostic tools?  Sniffer software?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-diagnostic-tools-sniffer-software/108352>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 10, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-diagnostic-tools-sniffer-software/108352 "2002-05-10T19:45:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ready29003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@ready29003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ready29003)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-diagnostic-tools-sniffer-software/108352/1 "2002-05-10T19:45:26Z")

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Anyone out there who works in networking support have a great (preferably free) tool for diagnosing sporadic network issues?

What I really would like is some small program that we can install on a computer to monitor all the network traffic and keep statistics.

I would like to be able to test and compare bandwidth between different locations as well as monitor it over time.

any suggestions? Thanks.

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**Author:** ![breaknrun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@breaknrun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breaknrun)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-diagnostic-tools-sniffer-software/108352/2 "2002-05-10T21:43:02Z")

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Umm, it helps to know what OS you’re planning on monitoring.  
I only manage unix servers so the ones I can recommend are mrtg, ntop, and big brother. There are plenty of freeware network utils out there at least for unix. If you are stuck with a windows platform though, all is not lost. Simply get cygwin with gcc and you can build many of the GNU programs. It’s just a wee bit more work.

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**Author:** ![ready29003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@ready29003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ready29003)\
**Post date:** [May 13, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/network-diagnostic-tools-sniffer-software/108352/3 "2002-05-13T16:29:33Z")

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Sorry, it is a windows network. Windows 2000 servers, and all sorts of windows clients from win 95 on up.