Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Nfsen VS FastNetMon

Compare Nfsen VS FastNetMon and see what are their differences

Nfsen logo Nfsen

NfSen is a graphical web based front end for the nfdump netflow tools that allows you to:

FastNetMon logo FastNetMon

FastNetMon is a very fast DDoS analyzer with sflow/netflow/mirror support.
  • Nfsen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-09-17
  • FastNetMon Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-01-01

FastNetMon is a very high performance DDoS detector built on top of multiple packet capture engines: NetFlow, IPFIX, sFlow and SPAN/port mirror.

It could detect malicious traffic in your network and immediately block it with BGP blackhole or BGP flow spec rules.

It has solid support for all top network vendors and has unlimited scalability due to flexible design.

You could integrate FastNetMon into any existing network without any changes and additional hardware!

Nfsen features and specs

  • Open Source
    Nfsen is an open-source tool, which means it is free to use and can be modified to fit specific needs. This allows organizations to customize it without incurring additional costs.
  • NetFlow Analysis
    Nfsen provides detailed NetFlow analysis capabilities, allowing users to effectively monitor, analyze, and visualize network traffic data, which is crucial for maintaining network performance and security.
  • Web Interface
    It features a web-based interface that makes it accessible from anywhere, providing convenience and flexibility for network administrators to monitor traffic in real-time.
  • Customizable Graphs
    Users can customize graphs and views to display specific data metrics, which helps in quickly identifying trends or issues in network traffic.

Possible disadvantages of Nfsen

  • Complex Installation
    The installation process of Nfsen can be complex, particularly for those who are not familiar with NetFlow tools or Linux-based systems, which might pose challenges for some users.
  • Limited Documentation
    Nfsen's documentation is not as comprehensive as some commercial alternatives, making it potentially difficult for users to troubleshoot or fully utilize all features without external support.
  • Scalability Issues
    Nfsen may face scalability limitations when dealing with a very large amount of network traffic, which can affect its performance or require additional resources as the network grows.
  • Maintenance Requirement
    As an open-source tool, ongoing maintenance and updates may be needed to keep it secure and functional, which requires either in-house expertise or external support.

FastNetMon features and specs

  • High Performance
    FastNetMon is capable of analyzing network traffic at high speeds, making it suitable for detecting and mitigating DDoS attacks in real-time.
  • Broad Protocol Support
    Supports a wide range of protocols, including TCP, UDP, ICMP, and many others, which allows for comprehensive monitoring of network traffic.
  • Customizable Alerting
    Offers extensive configuration options to customize alerting mechanisms based on specific network conditions and attack characteristics.
  • Scalability
    Designed to scale with your network infrastructure, capable of handling substantial amounts of data across large networks.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source software, FastNetMon allows users to modify and adapt the tool to fit their specific needs without licensing costs.

Possible disadvantages of FastNetMon

  • Complex Setup
    The initial setup and configuration can be complex, requiring a good understanding of network monitoring tools and infrastructure.
  • Resource Intensive
    Can be resource-intensive, requiring significant CPU and memory resources to effectively process and analyze large volumes of network traffic.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Users may experience a steep learning curve due to the vast array of features and configurations available in the tool.
  • Limited User Interface
    The user interface is less intuitive compared to some commercial solutions, which might require users to rely more on command-line interactions.
  • Community Support
    While FastNetMon has a community of users, support may not be as robust as that offered by commercial products with dedicated support teams.

Nfsen videos

Episode 19: NFSEN and NFDUMP

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to Install & Configure Nfsen & NfDump on Ubuntu

FastNetMon videos

Distributed Denial of Service with A10, Ansible, and FastNetMon

More videos:

  • Review - Vicente De Luca Detecting and Mitigating DDoS A FastNetMon Use Case

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Nfsen and FastNetMon)
Monitoring Tools
27 27%
73% 73
Log Management
31 31%
69% 69
Performance Monitoring
100 100%
0% 0
Error Tracking
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Nfsen and FastNetMon. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, FastNetMon seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 3 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Nfsen mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Nfsen yet. Tracking of Nfsen recommendations started around Mar 2021.

FastNetMon mentions (3)

  • A DDoS attack with unknown scr and dst port.
    If you have a BGP peering with you ISP/upstream provider, ask them if they have a blackhole community you can broadcast to. Usually they are ASN:666. The only downside is you would only be able to advertise your IP address to that, essentially killing your internet (if that's your only IP) as long as the block is up. We usually set our filter to 15 minutes and most attackers give up after that. At this level, you... Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Processing netwflow data
    Have you looked at fastnetmon ? It's freemium and It looks like the commercial version would work you, but I think the community edition is aslo worth a look. It's primary function is to detect DDOS attacks, but it can export data in ways that might be useful to you. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • WAN Attacks is it just whack-a-mole?
    To mitigate DoS attacks means you need information - preferably before the users start screaming. Running sampling on your edge router with something like Fastnetmon will give you alerting of a probable DDoS attack before it becomes a significant problem. Source: almost 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Nfsen and FastNetMon, you can also consider the following products

Zabbix - Track, record, alert and visualize performance and availability of IT resources

Arbor - Easily manage product development

nfsen-ng - nfsen-ng aims to be an in-place replacement for the ageing nfsen.

Andrisoft WanGuard - DDoS protection software solution for networks. Attacks detected by NetFlow,NetStream,sFlow,jFlow,IPFIX,Port Mirroring and mitigated with firewall filters

NetVizura NetFlow Analyzer - NetFlow Analyzer is a solution for bandwidth monitoring and traffic analysis. It helps with traffic investigation, analysis and reporting

Datadog - See metrics from all of your apps, tools & services in one place with Datadog's cloud monitoring as a service solution. Try it for free.