Collector Configuration

You can modify the basic settings and behavior of the Flowmon Packet Investigator in the Configuration Center. You can find these settings in the main menu (FPI Settings and Resource Manager pages).

Settings

Basic Settings

You can use the Basic Settings panel shown in (the Basic settings figure below) to configure the Flowmon Packet Investigator's main parameters.

The Probe communication subsection specifies the communication interface for the probe and collector appliances. The control port is used for the management of probes by the collector; the data collection port is used for receiving recordings from probes. In most cases, there is no need to change the default values. Clicking Save applies the changes and restarts the Flowmon Packet Investigator.

Groups

Groups are assigned to user roles and allow you to control user access to recordings. Users can create new recordings and download recorded data that belong to the FPI group assigned to their role. Each user may belong to multiple FPI groups based on the assignment of user roles and their respective FPI groups. For more information about user management refer to the User-Management section below.

A list of all groups is located in the Groups subpanel; see the Groups overview figure above. You can add or delete groups and change the disk quota allocated to each group. Users can create new recordings under the group they belong to. Every user in the selected group can then monitor the status of the recording and download the data when the recording is finished.

A simple form (the New group figure above) with three input fields pops up after clicking Add new group. The Name field identifies the group. The Group label field specifies a unique group identifier, which must consist of the following characters: a..z, A..Z, 0..9, -, _. As a next step, assign disk space for data storage. You can change this quota later, by clicking Edit next to the group. The new group will be created after clicking Save.

The Delete button for each group is in the list of groups. This button can be used to delete the group and all its data. The group will be deleted, its access rights to the Packet Investigator will be revoked, and all recordings will be removed from the collector.

Resource Manager

You can assign disk space for data storage in the Resource Manager screen (the Quota settings figure below). This quota determines the storage space that can be filled by recordings of all groups. The sum of group quotas cannot exceed this main quota.

User Management

Each Flowmon appliance has central user management for all the installed modules. It is located in the Configuration Center - System - User Settings tab.

Time Synchronization

The probe and collector appliances must have their time synchronized. The collector is used as a reference point that the probes synchronize with. This requires the Allow inbound NTP connections option to be enabled.

The time synchronization settings can be found in System > System > Time zone. You must enable the Set time automatically option and ensure the selected Time zone is set according to the location of the appliance. Clicking Save applies the changes.