What does ntop use for data collection?

ntop (or ntopng) functions as a network probe that captures and analyzes raw network packets directly from the network interface, allowing it to provide detailed statistics on traffic, protocols, and hosts.

While log files may contain network-related information, ntop's core functionality for real-time traffic analysis relies on direct packet capture, not on parsing historical log data.

Frame Relay is a WAN technology and not a method of data collection utilized by network monitoring tools like ntop; ntop monitors traffic over various network types but doesn't use Frame Relay as its collection mechanism.

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) is used for polling device information, but ntop's fundamental data collection mechanism for traffic analysis is passive packet sniffing, not active SNMP queries.