In this chapter, we looked at additional ways in which we can utilize Python to enhance our network monitoring effort. We began by using Python's Graphviz package to create network topology graphs. This allows us to effortlessly show the current network topology as well as notice any link failures.

Next, we used Python to parse NetFlow version 5 packets to enhance our understanding and troubleshooting of NetFlow. We also looked at how to use ntop and Python to extend ntop for NetFlow monitoring. sFlow is an alternative packet sampling technology that we looked at where we use sflowtool and sFlow-RT to interpret the results. We ended the chapter with a general-purpose data analyzing tool, namely Elasticsearch or ELK stack.

In the next ...