Network Buddy

Home network scanner and real-time bandwidth monitor with a web dashboard. When a MikroTik router is present it uses the RouterOS REST API for authoritative device names, exact per-device bandwidth, and per-port traffic — no packet sniffing required. Falls back to local ARP/nmap scanning if the router is unreachable.

Features

• Discovers all devices via RouterOS DHCP leases + ARP (or local ARP/nmap)
• Real-time per-device upload / download rates via RouterOS IP Accounting
• Per-port traffic panel for the RB5009 router and CRS310 switch
• WAN throughput chart (2-minute rolling window)
• Live updates via WebSocket every 2 s; auto-rescan every 30 s
• Graceful fallback: works without MikroTik (local scan + psutil)

MikroTik Setup (required for full features)

1 — Enable the REST API on the router

/ip service enable www-ssl
/ip service set www-ssl port=443

2 — Create a read/write API user (recommended over using admin)

/user group add name=netbuddy policy=read,write,api,!local,!telnet,!ssh,!ftp,!reboot,!policy,!test,!winbox,!password,!web,!sniff,!sensitive,!romon
/user add name=netbuddy group=netbuddy password=STRONG_PASSWORD

3 — Enable IP Accounting (for per-device rates)

Network Buddy enables this automatically via the API on startup. You can also do it manually:

/ip accounting set enabled=yes account-local-traffic=no

4 — Repeat for the CRS310 switch

Same steps — REST API, a dedicated user, and note the switch management IP.

Quick Start

# 1. Copy and edit credentials
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env — set ROUTER_PASS, SWITCH_HOST, SWITCH_PASS

# 2. Run
bash run.sh

Open http://localhost:8000. To access from any device on your network: http://<this-machine-IP>:8000

Manual Setup

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python run.py

Configuration (.env)

Variable	Default	Description
ROUTER_HOST	192.168.4.1	RB5009 IP
ROUTER_USER	admin	RouterOS username
ROUTER_PASS	(empty)	RouterOS password
SWITCH_HOST	(empty)	CRS310 IP — leave blank to skip
SWITCH_USER	admin	Switch username
SWITCH_PASS	(empty)	Switch password

Dependencies

Package	Purpose
fastapi + uvicorn	Web server & WebSocket
httpx	Async HTTP for RouterOS REST API
scapy	Fallback ARP scanning & packet capture
psutil	Fallback interface bandwidth stats
python-nmap	Fallback enhanced scanning
python-dotenv	Loads .env credentials

Data source priority

MikroTik RouterOS REST API  ←── used when router is reachable
   • DHCP leases  → authoritative hostnames
   • ARP table    → IP / MAC mapping
   • IP Accounting → exact per-device upload / download rates
   • /interface   → per-port traffic on router and switch

Local fallback  ←── when MikroTik is unreachable
   • nmap → scapy ARP → /proc/net/arp
   • psutil interface counters (total only)
   • scapy packet sniffer (per-device, needs root)

Project Layout

Network-Buddy/
├── app/
│   ├── main.py        # FastAPI app — orchestrates data sources
│   ├── mikrotik.py    # RouterOS REST client + monitor
│   ├── scanner.py     # Local device discovery (fallback)
│   └── bandwidth.py   # Local bandwidth monitor (fallback)
├── static/
│   ├── index.html     # Dashboard
│   ├── style.css      # Dark theme
│   └── app.js         # WebSocket client, charts, port panel
├── settings.py        # Config (reads .env)
├── run.py             # Entry point
├── run.sh             # Convenience start script
├── .env.example       # Credential template
└── requirements.txt