I Built an Open-Source Network Monitoring Tool. Now I Need People to Break It.

ViolinTvex — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 13:42:49 +0000

A switch starts dropping packets. A device suddenly goes offline. Something is wrong with the network, but figuring out why takes longer than fixing it.
You check the monitoring dashboard, open the switch interface, dig through logs, and try to connect the dots.
I kept wondering: why does troubleshooting have to involve so many different places?
That's why I started building ViolinNext, a self-hosted network monitoring platform for Linux.
It brings SNMP monitoring, interface diagnostics, network topology, syslog events, alerts, and reporting into one web interface. The idea is simple: make it easier to understand what's happening across a network without constantly switching between tools.
One area I've been experimenting with is detecting potential network loops by correlating MAC address movements with unusual broadcast traffic. It's not a definitive diagnosis, and that's intentional. I'd rather show the evidence than give an administrator false confidence.
ViolinNext is built with Next.js, React, Node.js, and SQLite. It's open source under GPL v3, with DEB and RPM packages available.
Beta v0.1 Build 2 is out now.
I've tested what I can, but my own environment can only tell me so much. Different devices, firmware, and network setups are where the interesting problems appear.
So I'm looking for a few people willing to try it. You don't need a large network. One router, a managed switch, or a small homelab is enough.
If something breaks, a feature feels confusing, or a metric doesn't look right, I genuinely want to hear about it.
GitHub: https://github.com/violintvex/ViolinNext
Download Beta: https://github.com/violintvex/ViolinNext/releases
What do you currently use to monitor your network, and what's the one thing you wish it did better?

DEV Community: ViolinTvex

I Built an Open-Source Network Monitoring Tool. Now I Need People to Break It.