Kentik Reviews

DDoS Alarming allows us to get a feel for the bandwidth of an attack and determine if mitigation is needed to prevent collateral damage. Secondly, the flow analysis lets us look at how traffic is transiting our network. This allows us to optimize metrics to reduce cost.

Kentik answers the flow question: what are my flows, where are they are going, and what can I do to better optimize my connectivity. Kentik also baselines flow behavior and can alert you when there are abnormal flows such as DDoS.

We now have real metrics on DDoS attack vectors and use the alerting dashboard to gather information used in CLI filters and eventually in RTBH.

Firstly, my Dashlane password manager attempts to fill in the dimensions field for me, so I just turn off my password manager when that occurs.

Secondly, sometimes its difficult to order the dimensions correctly when trying to make Sankey flow diagrams. It’d be nice if there was a knob somewhere in my users settings that allowed me to make the dimensions box a single column from top to bottom so I don’t have to spend extra time tying to drag a dimension into the correct column to get the order correctly.

I have used Kentik since April of 2016; usually four times a week.

We have not encountered any stability issues.

We have not encountered any scalability issues. Kentik allows us to set sampling of flows on a per device basis.

Technical support is proactive in letting us know when we accidentally stop sending them flows. Additionally, when asking for help in configuring BGP settings, they have expert level knowledge in CLI configuration of network devices.

We did trials on a few competitor solutions. They were too slow, too complex, and required lots of on-premises touches to fix their equipment. They crashed often and they had poor customer service.

Initial setup was relatively straightforward. We had to evaluate which method of flow export/ingestion to use, implement the samplicator instance and then send Kentik the flows. We also had to exchange some information for BGP and SNMP settings.

I’ve told others that they charge based on the amount of devices and provide a discount for education customers. In my role, I haven’t been exposed to the cost of the product.

We looked at Plixer Scrutinizer.

If they haven’t already decided to use it, I typically log into my portal and show them it’s capabilities. Then, I let them know they can get a trial for their network. If they have already decided to use the product, then I tell them they are in capable hands, because the customer support knows networks and servers very well.

Kentik is a mature software product and is provided as SaaS. This is very valuable to me, because I don’t have to maintain a server, worry about resources, updates to software or OS, hard-drive space, or backups. I can just use Kentik to get the data in the format I want, such as reports or ad-hoc information.

Good NetFlow visualization and analysis tools are valuable to anybody who needs to understand the traffic that flows in and out the network.

This solution helps with planning, security, and troubleshooting. Kentik’s data explorer allows easy access to all data, grouped by any variable. You can do a quick overview of the top ten users or peer performance with very little effort.

One of our Network Operations Centers has a large overview screen with a web browser that shows Kentik and the data explorer running. This provides a constant overview of live traffic sorted by the source port.

We use Kentik to monitor the network and get alerts from its alert module if there is a DDoS or other attack on our network.

Kentik is constantly improving. I have seen their alert portion grow this year to include a new Beta that allows you to use automatic mitigation with multiple platforms.

Kentik is used when customers call in to troubleshoot their internet service and to decide on new peering partners.

I would like to see more granular user and security rights. Currently, a user can be a member or an administrator. I would like to limit what a user can see, be it IP or interface. I would like to be able to give my customers access to the data explorer with just their data.

We have been using this solution for about a year.

We did not encounter any issues with stability.

We did not encounter any issues with scalability.

The technical support is very good. Emails to support@kentik.com are answered quickly and competently. Kentik keeps in touch, listens to feedback, and cares.

We used multiple NetFlow products. Kentik shines with the ease of running reports and looking at data.

I was involved in the installation. The setup was easy. Exporting NetFlow records is all that is needed. I also setup a BGP session with Kentik. This allows Kentik to see the AS path and to record it with each record as well.

The benefit in our case outweighs the cost. We use Kentik at the core of our network, which provides us with a central and detailed view of our traffic.

We have used open-source options such as NfSen and SolarWinds.

I would suggest giving it a try. A demo can be set up in no time. You can see for yourself whether or not you like it.