Kentik Network Intelligence Platform

Kentik  is typically used for troubleshooting and investigating flows that require detailed analysis. The primary use case involves troubleshooting traffic across the network to understand its origin and destination, which allows for better comprehension of inbound and outbound traffic within the network.

For example, when a customer complains about increased usage on their circuits, Kentik  enables investigation into which ASN or prefix this new traffic originates from. The available dimensions can be filtered according to the specific ticket and investigation being conducted, allowing investigation into whether the traffic is new to a new ASN or from a new customer. Kentik displays exactly what is needed and wanted for each investigation.

Dashboards are maintained for monitoring DDoS events, and probes can be used to run tests when not working to gather data, which proves beneficial. There are cases where customers report packet drops at specific destinations during peak times. A probe can be created using a source from the network to test this destination, providing data to demonstrate that traffic moving through the network is not experiencing drops and that the problem may exist with the returning path.

The best features Kentik offers are the Kentik probes, synthetic tests, dashboards, and metrics. For example, a metric can be configured inside an interface so that when the metric falls below one gigabit, an alarm is received indicating that traffic is decreasing or increasing, which provides considerable assistance.

Kentik has positively impacted the organization by providing greater control over certain subjects and enabling monitoring of current traffic. This allows for better understanding of whether there is a critical ongoing case related to incoming traffic, such as a DDoS event, which is crucial for a service provider dealing with numerous customers.

Kentik functions well for current usage, and there is no improvement experience to share.

Kentik has been used for the past three and a half years.

There are no stability issues.

There are no scalability issues.

A significant case involved Kentik sharing the current traffic level, which helped determine whether high traffic was due to a significant event within a customer's network or if traffic was lower than expected. The metrics provided considerable assistance, allowing for the creation of a metric inside a specific interface configured on the device to send an alarm when traffic decreases, particularly for VIP customers where closer monitoring is essential.

For others considering using Kentik, it would be beneficial to understand more about the dimensions when investigating a case or traffic, as the dimensions inside Network Explorer are very useful and powerful for investigating the details of each traffic within the network. The review rating for Kentik is 8 out of 10.

I can also determine whether it is symmetric or asymmetric traffic, and if it goes through any provider that has some kind of bottleneck. That is very important.

Regarding the security part, which is also possible to handle through Kentik, you can configure it in a way that makes the network more secure and reduces the amount of dirty traffic or attacks received.

Kentik has had a high positive impact on my organization. Besides the cost reduction, it has been possible to perform troubleshooting more effectively, and also regarding DDoS-related attacks.

In addition to cost reduction, we had a more reliable connection. Since the moment we identified that it was possible to have a direct connection with content providers like CDN77 , Cloudflare , and Akamai , we established a direct connection there through a PNI with these content providers, making the network less dependent on an IP transit provider.

I believe that something which could help with the interface configuration, such as what is the best way to configure an interface's description so that Kentik can validate, check, or bring more information, would be beneficial.

For example, CDN77  is a streaming platform that was consuming more than 20 GB through Globenet's transit. From the moment we identified that it was high and paid traffic through a transit provider, we were able to contact this streaming provider, establish a PNI, and reduce transit consumption by 20 GB.

I advise others who are thinking about using Kentik to use the tool for cost reduction at first. In a second moment, if they do not have any security tool, they should implement Kentik, because it is possible to block a large attack using only the tool without needing to do a cleanup or clean pipe at that first moment. I would rate this product an 8 out of 10.

I'm using Kentik  for my own internal use. My primary use case is to monitor our equipment and to get a more detailed view of where our inbound and outbound traffic is going.

From Kentik 's traffic analysis features, I can identify my top talkers because I can configure flow information and see where my BGP peers are going. That is the main top insight I can obtain from Kentik.

Kentik's custom dashboards have been useful for decision-making. I can adjust them however I want and tailor them to my needs.

Compared to PRTG, Kentik's real-time network monitoring features are definitely superior. Everything is presented in graphs, which makes it easier to monitor and read. The user interface is also user-friendly.

I do not currently use Kentik's anomaly detection.

I had communication with Kentik's technical support through a WhatsApp group. When I faced any issues or there were problems with my Kentik collector, they provided immediate support and feedback regarding my configuration.

Regarding additional features for Kentik, I would appreciate more options. Currently, the way I'm configuring it uses reactive alerts, which means alerts are triggered when an issue occurs. I would prefer more proactive alerts in the future. For example, if Kentik notices that packets are dropping on a certain interface, I would want an alert beforehand that could suggest the interface might go down or experience issues before the problem actually happens.

Based on my two weeks of experience, I believe Kentik is very good. However, there are still other features I want to explore, such as DDoS features or analytics features including CDN  analytics. I haven't fully explored these yet. So far, there is definitely room for improvement, but in my experience, I believe it's already quite good.

I have been using Kentik for two weeks so far.

I rate Kentik's technical support at seven or eight because we did not face many issues, so I couldn't really evaluate them thoroughly.

I switched to Kentik because my previous license was expiring, and I was looking for a better solution or something comparable. I found that Kentik seems to provide more features and has an artificial intelligence troubleshooting agent that could help diagnose issues.

PRTG had a counteroffer with another solution they were working on, but I decided to proceed with Kentik.

The initial setup with Kentik was straightforward. With the guides from my account manager, the setup was simple. The guides they provided were easy to follow.

I need five administrators for Kentik. Regarding the pricing, I'm not thoroughly versed in it because my sales representative handled that aspect. Based on my understanding, I believe it's worth the price.

I had communication with Kentik's technical support through a WhatsApp group.

I rate my overall experience with Kentik as a product at nine out of ten.