---
title: "In on premises data centers"
canonical: "https://thoughtdata.refined.site/space/TUD/55643297/In%20on%20premises%20data%20centers"
format: markdown
---
### NetSense DPI Sensor on physical machine

For On-premises data centers

Netsense DPI software needs a dedicated physical machine for its functions and can be installed on any commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) desktop or server(Eg :  desktop/server from any OEM like Dell, HP, IBM, Supermicro etc). 

For network links which are less than 1G and below Netsense can also be installed on any generic purpose machines. For monitor network links greater than 10G and above a server class hardware is required for optimal performance.

| **Traffic Volume** | **#Links** | **Link**<br>**Speed** | **Machine Type** | **Compute Requirements** | **#Network Ports** | **NIC Card** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| upto 500 Mbps total traffic volume | 1 | 1 Gbps | Desktop | Minimum 4 CPU, 16 GB RAM, 1TB + HDD | 2 | Intel/Broadcom 2 Port 1G |
| 500 Mbps to 1Gbps total traffic volume | 1 | 10 Gbps | Server | Minimum 8 CPU, 32 GB RAM, 3 TB + HDD | 2 | Intel/Broadcom 2 Port 10G |
| 1Gbps to 5Gbps total traffic volume | 1 | 10 Gbps | Server | Minimum 24 CPU, 96 GB RAM, 10 TB + HDD | 2 | Intel/Broadcom 2 Port 10G |
| 5Gbps to 10Gbps total traffic volume | 1 | 10 Gbps | Server | Minimum 48 CPU, 128 GB RAM, 12 TB + HDD | 2 | Specialized Napatech 4 X 10G NIC card |

**Monitor Network Interface Card (NIC)**

The COTS desktop/server hardware requires a separate NIC to monitor the network traffic. The monitor NIC card can be any off the shelf available 1G or 10G NIC card(single/dual/quad ports). For on premises networks where speeds are greater than 5Gbps per link. ThoughtData provides a specialized packet capture FPGA based NIC card along with Netsense software. The specialized NIC card is included in the cost of Netsense software and provides best performance for high speed links. 

For <1G and 5G traffic volume links, Intel and Broadcom server based NIC cards are highly preferred and tested by ThoughtData.   
ThoughtData’s customer support can help with compatibility check for NIC cards from other vendors before installing Netsense (packet sensor) software on the COTS systems.

Monitoring performance on commercial off the shelf NIC cards depends on the type of card used. Generally, for any traffic throughput rate less than 50% utilization per port upto 5Gbps, commercial NIC cards can be used. For throughput rates greater 50% utilization ThoughtData recommends specialized Monitoring NIC cards as commercial NIC cards can not handle >50% of traffic volume per port. The specialized NIC card is  purpose-built for high speed packet capture and analysis.

ThoughtData technical pre sales team will guide during the POC process the right options for your IT environment.

**Hardware Resource Requirements(for On premises networks only)**

Performance of Netsense packet sensor software directly depends on amount of network traffic on the links which it is monitoring and also resources(CPU, Memory, Storage) available on the system on which it is installed. Refer to Table 1 below for COTS server minimum resource requirements for specific monitoring requirements.

NetSense DPI sensor storage requirements

Storage is used only for packet recording and storage requirements directly depends on data retention for packet store on Netsense packet sensor. Higher the storage higher the packet data retention. Netsense packet sensor software continuously wraps the storage for packet recording to keep the last "X" days worth of data for investigation and analysis. Storage size directly depends of volume of network traffic being recorded into the disk. The above storage requirements are for minimum data retention periods.  

**OS Requirements**

ThoughtData's Netsense packet sensor is only supported on Linux based OS. Recommended and well tested OS is **Ubuntu 64bit 22.04 LTSR Server. **Netsense packet sensor can also supported on other Linux OS like redhat/fedora/suse/centos upon request.

Related Topic

[Setting up Netsense packet sensor with right traffic feeds in on premises data centers](Setting_up_NetSense_packet_sensor_with_right_traffic_feeds_in_on_premises_data_centers.htm)