Open Source Alternatives for Packet Capture and Response Time

dan

Is there an open-source solution equivalent to commercial packet capture tools like Riverbed, NetScout, or ExtraHop that can provide response time metrics? I’ve been exploring tools like ntop and Elastic Packetbeat, but they mostly offer basic information such as source, destination, and TCP/UDP ports, without comprehensive performance metrics. So far, the closest tool to meeting my objectives is Wireshark, specifically using the “Statistic > Flow Graph” feature.

kate

To set this up properly, you’ll likely need to configure xFlow monitoring. A few years ago, I set up Elastic with Elastiflow, which was completely free at the time. Now, it seems there’s a commercial model alongside a free tier. Elastiflow offers detailed monitoring, but if you don’t need that level of detail, consider PRTG. I find it to be an underrated monitoring tool—it’s not as flashy as most observability tools, but it gets the job done and offers great value for money. Plus, it has a free tier and can collect xFlow data.

aaron

Perhaps https://github.com/pavel-odintsov/fastnetmon could be a good alternative to Elastiflow.