Hi all: I have a win NT network with a T1 connection and with a domain running. The domain has a PDC and a BDC. I have close to 12 PCs and 5 servers connected to the domain. The operating systems are win2k, win2k server, winnt server and win XP professional.All the machines have static IPs. This is the problem I have been having. I think our T1 connection lately has been going off and on...this is not for any noticeable lengths of time but for like 5 secs/10 secs randomly. This is because, I have AOL messenger running and it keeps disconnecting and connecting itself randomly throughout the day. Also, I am not sure if people are trying to hack into our systems or if our bandwidth is being stolen by someone for their own use. I am in the process of installing a firewall that we just got but I would like to know if there is a good network monitor out there that monitors the network and lets me know if there suspicious activity. Something that keeps track of bandwidth being used by the network and individual PCs and alerts me to possible bottlenecks. For e.g. if the internet's down, if the monitor can tell me if it is down as that particular computer is not able to communicate with the gateway or if there is problem with the router itself etc. The catch is we are a small company and we cannot afford to go out and but sophisticated systems worth thousands of dollars. If you can suggest anything which is reasonably cheap, it will be great. Thanks, Ram.

See if this is what you're looking for. http://www.ntop.org/ntop.html

You are a small company and can't afford... Can you afford to lose all of your data? Can you afford to reinstall all of your systems from scratch? Get the network OFF the T1. NOW! Not later, not when you have time, not when you get the firewall in place. NOW !!! Use a known clean wkst with uptodate antivirus and ZoneAlarm to get on the internet. Download utilities to see if you have trogans/hacks or to see if you have been compromised. Once cleaned up put your firewall in place. THEN and ONLY THEN connect backup to the T1 You have been a candy store with a broken front window with children from Lord of the Flies. Your configuration is just the candy store hackers/warez look for.

If you have been in operation for a while without a firewall then there is little doubt that your network has been comprimised. I would first download some trojan detection software http://www.moosoft.com/products.php is a good one. Scan all of your systems. You will be suprised to see what you find. If you are experiencing loss of bandwidth then it is possible that your system have distributed denial of service clients installed which are being used to attack other systems via syn flood or icmp traffic. Ideally you would want to format and reinstall all OSs because not all trojans are detectable, only the known ones, but in any case you will need to change all passwords on the machines, get them current with respect to service packs and hotfixes, and get the firewall in and configured ASAP

only thing i can say is firewall firewall firewall any thing will will help a little