Host Pools

Host Pools are logical groups of hosts that are described in detail in the “Network Interfaces” section of this document. This page show the list of defined and currently active Host Pools.

Host Pools List

The Host Pools List Hosts Page

Each row of the table shows, for each pool, the following information:

  • The Pool Name as defined by the user during Host Pool creation
  • A Chart icon to access historical pool traffic timeseries. Historical pool traffic charts must be enabled from the preferences page and are a feature that is only supported in the Professional version.
  • The number of active hosts in the pool
  • The number of alerts detected as the sum of host alerts for each host in the pool
  • Seen Since, with the amount of time it has lapsed since the first packet sent/received by any of the hosts in the pool has been observed
  • Breakdown, showing a bar that gives visual insights in the use of both pool traffic directions
  • Throughput, with the overall actual throughput of the pool
  • Traffic, with the total traffic exchanged by the pool

Pools can be created or managed from the System interface, Pools menu. It is possible to add new pools using the “plus” button in the same page.

Edit Pools

The Pools Page

Once an Host Pool is created, it is possible to add members to it. Host Pool members can be added from the Pools > Host Pool Members page, using the “plus” button.

Edit Host Pool

The Host Pool Page

The Host Pools configuration, which includes the definition of host pools along with the pools members, can be easily exported to JSON and imported into another ntopng instance from the Settings > Manage Configuration page. Imported host pools will replace the existing ones.

An “Alias” can be associated to each pool member to ease the its identification. Typically, one would assign a mnemonic label as member alias (e.g., “John’s iPhone” or “Smart TV”).

A view of host pool statistics is accessible from the actual interface, Hosts > Host Pools menu. The view shows live pool information (e.g., overall pool throughput) and provides access to the historical pool traffic timeseries (Professional version) as well as to the currently active pool members.

Traffic Policies

Host pools can also be used to enforce traffic policies (e.g, block YouTube traffic for the “John” pool and limit Facebook traffic at 1 Mbps for the “Guests” pool). This feature is available in nEdge (when ntopng is used inline as described in the “Advanced Features” section of this document), or when ntopng is used in combination with nProbe in IPS mode (see Using ntopng with nProbe IPS).