4. Software & Hardware Requirements¶
Installing Wansight will not negatively impact your network’s performance. The full installation and configuration process can take less than one hour..
Wansight 8.4 can be installed on the following Linux distributions running on 64-bit Intel/AMD processors:
4.1. Hardware Sizing Guideline¶
The software was designed to be completely scalable, so its components can be installed on a single server with adequate hardware resources or distributed among multiple servers across the network.
We highly recommend installing the software on dedicated servers rather than Virtual Machines because:
Below is a brief overview of how important each hardware resource is for each software component.
CPU Speed |
CPU Cores |
RAM Size |
Disk Size |
Disk Speed |
Network Adapter |
|
Console |
High |
High |
High |
Very High |
Very High |
Very Low |
Packet Sensor |
Very High |
High |
Medium |
Low |
Low |
Very High |
Flow Sensor |
Low |
Low |
High |
Very High |
Medium |
Very Low |
SNMP Sensor |
Very Low |
Low |
Very Low |
Very Low |
Very Low |
Very Low |
Sensor Cluster |
Medium |
Medium |
Medium |
Very Low |
Very Low |
Very Low |
4.2. System Requirements for Console¶
Architecture |
64-bit x86 |
CPU |
1x 2.4 GHz quad-core Xeon |
RAM |
2 x 8 GB |
NICs |
1 x Fast Ethernet for management |
HDDs |
2 x 7200 RPM HDD (SSD highly recommended), RAID 1, 350 GB |
The Console server is responsible for storing the database and centralizing all operational logs, graphs, and IP accounting data. Its performance depends on its configuration, I/O performance, and the applications it utilizes, such as MySQL/MariaDB, Apache HTTPD, PHP, and InfluxDB. For reliability, the server should include redundant hardware components, such as fans, power supplies, and disks configured in RAID.
To access the web interface, use one of the following supported web browsers: Google Chrome 64+, Firefox 52+, Microsoft Edge 12+, Opera 43+. Ensure JavaScript and cookies are enabled. Java and Adobe Flash are not required.
For the best experience, use Google Chrome and a display resolution of 1280x1024 or higher. On macOS, install the Consolas font to ensure SVG graphs render correctly.
4.3. System Requirements for Packet Sensor¶
Capacity |
10 Gbit/s, 14 Mpkts/s (wire-rate) |
40 Gbit/s, ±30 Mpkts/s |
Architecture |
Intel Xeon 64-bit, dedicated server |
Intel Xeon 64-bit, dedicated server |
CPU |
1x 2.4 GHz Xeon E5-2640v4 |
1 x 2.4 GHz Xeon E5-2680v4 |
RAM |
4 x 2 GB DDR4 (quad channel) |
4 x 8 GB DDR4 (quad channel) |
NICs |
1 x 10 GbE adapter (Intel 82599+ or PF_RING/DPDK-supported chipset) 1 x Fast Ethernet for management |
1 x 40 GbE adapter (Intel XL710+ or most DPDK-supported chipsets) 1 x Fast Ethernet for management |
HDDs |
2 x 5400 HDD, RAID 1, 10 GB (including OS) |
2 x 5400 HDD, RAID 1, 10 GB (including OS) |
Packet Sensor can be load-balanced over multiple CPU cores with the following hardware/Capture Engines:
➔ Intel 82599 chipset network adapters, such as Intel X520, Intel X540, HP X560, or Silicom PE310G4DBi9-T➔ PF_RING (with or without ZC) high-speed packet I/O framework➔ Netmap high-speed packet I/O framework and its supported NICs➔ Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) and most of its supported NICs
Packet Sensor can scale its capacity beyond 100 Gbit/s by enabling packet sampling on the switch or TAP or by defining a Sensor Cluster to aggregate multiple Packet Sensor instances across servers equipped with 10, 40, or 100 GbE adapters. The number of connections between IPs is not a limiting factor.
4.4. System Requirements for Flow Sensor¶
Capacity |
15000+ flows/s |
Architecture |
64-bit x86 |
CPU |
1 x 2.0 GHz dual-core Xeon |
RAM |
1 x 8 GB |
NICs |
1 x Fast Ethernet for management |
HDDs |
2 x 7200 RPM HDD, RAID 1, 60 GB |
Flow Sensor can monitor an almost unlimited number of interfaces. On modern hardware, it can process tens of thousands of flows per second without issues. Each Flow Sensor instance receives flows from a single flow exporter. A bare-metal server with sufficient RAM can run multiple Flow Sensor instances, as RAM is more critical than CPU speed for this Sensor. Using a bare-metal server instead of a virtual machine is strongly recommended for optimal performance.
Flow Sensor stores flow data locally in a highly compressed binary format. However, querying non-indexed flow data can be time-consuming. If frequent querying is required, it is advisable to use a fast SSD for improved performance.
4.5. System Requirements for SNMP Sensor¶
Capacity |
20+ devices |
Architecture |
64-bit x86 |
CPU |
1 x 1.6 GHz dual-core Xeon |
RAM |
1 x 1 GB |
NICs |
1 x Fast Ethernet for management |
HDDs |
2 x 5200 RPM HDD, RAID 1, 20 GB |
SNMP Sensor can monitor an unlimited number of interfaces of a single networking device. Additionally, any server can run virtually unlimited SNMP Sensor instances, depending on available hardware resources..
4.6. System Requirements for Sensor Cluster¶
The hardware requirements for Sensor Cluster are very low because the traffic information is pre-aggregated by the associated Flow Sensor, Packet Sensor, or SNMP Sensor instances. It is best to run it on the Console server.