Cybergauge is a deceptively simple, but nonetheless powerful bandwidth monitoring utility.

Point it at a switch, router or other network device and it can tell you how much bandwidth is being used on each of the available network ports.

It can plot usage, create daily, weekly or monthly reports, and even send you an email or other alerts when bandwidth levels are getting low.

All you need to run Cybergauge is a network-attached PC running Windows 2000 or XP. Trial software can be downloaded from the Cybergauge site for free and it installs in seconds.

The only real limitation is that it will only monitor devices that can understand the simple network management protocol (SNMP), which rules out a lot of low-end products.

However, most business-class devices do support SNMP, and the latest version Cybergauge 7.0 understands all implementations up to SNMPv3. This means it can monitor a wide range of hardware; and not just switches and routers, but internet gateways, network-attached storage (Nas) appliances, file and application servers, and even network printers.

For our tests, we started with an internet router to see how much of the broadband link was being used – surprisingly little, as it turned out. We then moved on to investigate a managed switch, the software-enabling device that measures the impact VoIP has on the bandwidth available to data users on our network. Lastly we used Cybergauge to monitor our network printers to see if they affected performance – they didn’t.

In each case all we had to do was type in the IP address of the device and its associated SNMP community name. Details of the device and its interfaces were automatically retrieved and we could choose which of the ports we wanted to look at. That done, it was simply a matter of clicking the Start button to begi n monitoring.

The base licence enables you to monitor up to five devices with no limit on the number of interfaces involved. There’s very little to go wrong. In fact, the only issues we had were in deciding which of the ports to monitor – this wasn’t helped by the rather arcane names used by the vendors – and getting the settings right when using SNMPv3 because of additional security features.

Cybergauge can also be configured as a Windows service so monitoring can continue around the clock, regardless of who’s logged on. It’s also possible to customise the built-in alerting system to configure alerts and issue reports for specific time-frames, for example to send out alerts only on weekdays.

Utilisation graphs can be viewed, printed and exported from the management console provided, and there’s the option to copy chart images in Jpeg format to a remote FTP server for display on websites. Reports can be generated on an ad-hoc basis or according to a pre-set schedule. These can include uptime, total utilisation, traffic distribution, and percentage billing information, as well as comprehensive usage data to help with capacity planning.

On the downside, there’s no automatic discovery of devices as exists in more general SNMP management consoles, and the interface can get a bit cluttered at times. These are minor irritations in an otherwise excellent bandwidth monitoring utility that will find a place in any small-business management toolkit.