ManageEngine’s (News - Alert) NetFlow Analyzer has topped a new list of recommended tools for network administration. The NetFlow Analyzer provides bandwidth monitoring, detection of network anomalies and traffic analytics.

According to a ManageEngine blog post, it also can be used to validate Quality of Service policies and for WAN optimization. Other uses include verifying SLA on Cisco (News - Alert) IPSLA, as well as DPI using Cisco NBAR, and it can offer voice and video traffic performance reporting by using Cisco Medianet.

Tom’s IT Pro listed the NetFlow Analyzer first in “essential tools” for Network Admin. It is used for network forensics and traffic analytics, Tom’s IT Pro said. In addition, it provides real-time visibility into bandwidth performance of networks.

“The software is not cheap, but it is a one-stop shop to keep an eye on your network performance with a package of tools for bandwidth, application and protocol monitoring that can be split up into different organizational departments, site-to-site monitoring, Cisco WAAS and medianet reporting, as well as numerous features to set up alerts and customized reports,” Tom’s IT Pro said in its review. “There are also add-ons available, including support for security analytics based on behavioral network analysis to help identify malicious scans, probes and attacks.”

The price starts at $795, and there is a free 30-day trial option with limited features afterward. Several customers have found it a worthwhile investment.

"NetFlow Analyzer has helped us reduce the time taken to isolate and contain threats like worms and virus attacks,” Fred Hassard, senior network engineer, Adventist Health, said in a company statement. “It has also helped us to solve network incidents faster, and do better capacity planning.”

It can be used for analysis of diverse products, as well. These include those from Cisco, 3COM, Juniper, Foundry Networks (News - Alert), Hewlett-Packard and extreme. It can be used on various flow formats, too, such as NetFlow, sFlow, cflow, J-Flow, FNF, IPFIX, NetStream and Appflow.

ManageEngine products are used by more than 65,000 established and emerging enterprises, including more than 60 percent of the Fortune 500, to ensure the optimal performance of their critical IT infrastructure. The company has also received recognition for its ADManager Plus, receiving the 2012 Editors’ Best Award and 2012 Community Choice Award from Penton Media’s Windows IT Pro (News - Alert) magazine. ADManager Plus, a simple, easy-to-use Windows Active Directory Management and Reporting Solution, was nominated for these awards in the “Best Active Directory/Group Policy Product” category for the second consecutive year.