Before installing the hub or traffic sensor, ensure your environment meets the following requirements.
Open beta
The traffic sensor is currently in open beta. Some features and requirements may still change as we refine the product.
Connection requirements
The computer running the hub (the central component of Network Discovery) must allow the following outbound connections over TLS 1.2 or higher when linked to your Lansweeper Platform:
| URL | Port | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
https://app.lansweeper.com |
443 | Login URL for Lansweeper Sites. |
https://discovery-gateway.lansweeper.com (EU) https://discovery-gateway.us.lansweeper.com (US) |
443 | Authenticates, syncs data, and applies auto-updates from your Lansweeper Site. |
https://download.lansweeper.com/ |
443 | Downloads new versions automatically. |
https://app.lansweeper.com/api/scanner-connect |
443 | Provides connection data to Lansweeper Site for multi-region support. |
If the traffic sensor and hub are installed on different machines, the traffic sensor must be able to reach the hub over the network.
System requirements
Traffic sensors always operate in combination with a hub. The hub manages configuration and receives processed data from one or more sensors, while each sensor focuses on local packet capture and analysis.
For ease of configuration and management during the beta phase, we strongly recommend deploying one dedicated hub per traffic sensor, with the hub and traffic sensor installed on the same machine.
Hub requirements
When adding traffic sensors to the hub, ensure the hub has sufficient disk space to cover the minimum requirement for all sensors combined; for example, 2 traffic sensors require 10 GB of total free disk space.
| Resource | Minimum for up to 2 sensors | Recommended for up to 5 sensors | Recommended for up to 10 sensors | Recommended for up to 100 sensors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | x64, 1 GHz single-core | x64, quad-core 2 GHz | x64, 8-core 2 GHz | x64, 8-core 4 GHz |
| RAM | 4 GB | 16 GB | 32 GB | 256 GB |
| Free disk space (SSD) | 10 GB | 25 GB | 50 GB | 500 GB |
| Internal net speed | 100 Mbps | 1 Gbps | 1 Gbps | 1 Gbps |
| External net speed (to your site) | 20 Mbps | 100 Mbps | 300 Mbps | 300 Mbps |
Traffic sensor requirements
Each traffic sensor host (physical or virtual) needs sufficient resources to capture traffic at line rate without drops. Typical internal capture volume for a sensor is around 200 MB every 5 minutes, or roughly 400 GB per week, depending on the mirrored scope and traffic patterns.
| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | x64, dual-core 2 GHz | x64, dual-core 2 GHz |
| RAM | 2 GB | 4 GB |
| Free disk space | 500 GB | 1 TB |
| Network speed | 100 Mbps | 1 Gbps |
Hardware requirements and performance expectations
The following guidelines are starting points for sizing traffic sensor hosts. Actual requirements depend on your setup.
| Line rate | CPUs | RAM | NIC capacity | Disk (minimum, ~1 hour buffer) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-8 Gbit/s | 8 | 32 GB | 10 Gbit | 25 GB |
| 8-40 Gbit/s | 24 | 64 GB | 40 Gbit | 80 GB |
| 40-100 Gbit/s | 64 | 512 GB | 100 Gbit | 250 GB |
A sensor can read up to ~20 Gbit/s of traffic per interface. Higher rates may require multiple capture NICs, or specialized capture cards.
Next steps
Now that you understand the requirements, you can start installing the traffic sensor.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
How does disk cleanup work on the traffic sensor, and how should I size disk capacity?
The sensor’s disk cleanup process aims to keep local storage at approximately 85% utilization by deleting the oldest capture files first, even if some files failed to upload.
As a rule of thumb, plan your disk size so that 85% of your total disk can hold at least ~2× your hourly capture volume (one hour of data plus one hour of buffer/headroom before cleanup starts deleting). For example, if you generate 25 GB/hour, you should plan for roughly (2 × 25 GB) ÷ 0.85 ≈ 59 GB total disk, which corresponds to ~50 GB usable under the 85% cleanup target and provides ~1 hour of buffer.
What specific information does network traffic data include?
The traffic sensor only captures the connection metadata needed to identify and place devices in your inventory: IP and MAC addresses observed on the network, source and destination IPs and ports of observed connections, the date and time of each connection, and a device identifier so observations can be linked to the right asset