Network monitoring is a critical pillar of cybersecurity, system administration, and ethical hacking. Whether you manage a homelab, an enterprise network, or a penetration testing lab, visibility into traffic, uptime, and performance is non-negotiable.
In this guide, we review 7 powerful open-source network monitoring tools that are widely used by system administrators, SOC teams, and security professionals.
Why Network Monitoring Matters
Effective monitoring allows you to:
- Detect network intrusions and anomalies
- Identify performance bottlenecks
- Prevent downtime and outages
- Collect forensic data for incident response
- Support compliance and auditing
For Kali Linux users, penetration testers, and DevOps engineers, these tools often complement packet analysis, IDS/IPS systems, and SIEM platforms.
