Small Business Owner To Know About Network Monitoring And Troubleshooting
Although modern enterprises are different in many ways, the value of their network to their operations varies little. Your business network is essential because it is where business applications are hosted, and essential consumer, product, and business information is stored. However, the broad threat landscape in today’s business environment can lead to network downtime, data loss, and a decreased bottom line. Therefore, your company must prioritize network monitoring and troubleshooting as part of its network security so anomalies in your network can be identified and addressed in time.
What Is Network Monitoring?
Network monitoring is a critical process in network management involving tracking a network’s endpoints and components and providing performance, fault, and traffic monitoring. It offers the information that your network administrator requires to determine whether your network is running optimally in real-time. Network administrators use tools like network monitoring software to locate deficiencies, optimize efficiency, and many more. This way, your organization’s network is always available, allowing you to make informed decisions.
Types Of Network Monitoring Tools Available Today
SNMP-based Network Monitoring Tools
Many of these tools leverage the standard-based SNMP protocol to interact with your network’s hardware and identify the real-time status and resource usages like memory consumption and processor utilization. Also, if your network node is unreachable or its available resources are overloaded, the network tools alert the administrator about the problem.
Active Network Monitoring
Active network monitoring tools test applications from the user’s perspective by performing actual transactions and measuring execution and response time performance indicators.
Flow-based Network Performance Monitoring Tools
These tools can process and capture traffic flow so you can inspect a particular sequence of packets to isolate performance problems between a client and a server. Using a link capacity, you can also use these tools to obtain aggregate statistics about the users and protocols.
Selecting The Right Tool For Your Needs
Given the numerous network monitoring solutions available today, selecting the right option to meet your requirements can be challenging. Nevertheless, you can consider these factors to pick the perfect tool for your unique needs:
- Ease of implementation and customization
- The type of data it collects
- Usability
- Scalability
- Pricing
- Scope of the solution
- Automatic device discovery
- Deployment
- Encryption
Tools IT Professionals Use For Monitoring Their Networks
SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor – One of the leading network monitoring tools that use SNMP to monitor network device statuses.
LogicMonitor – A cloud-based infrastructure monitor that supervises cloud resources and on-premises networks
Datadog Network Monitoring – Offers excellent visibility over each of your network components and the connections between them.
ConnectWise Automate – A great infrastructure monitoring system that has numerous task automation tools
The Importance Of An Effective Network Management System
Proactively managed network – Your network management system can determine critical weaknesses in your IT infrastructure and react proactively before those problems expand to a crisis point.
Maximize performance – A network management system can help with network monitoring and troubleshooting. This way, your team can identify the origin and type of performance issues, eliminate them, and ensure optimum network performance.
Plan for future security risks – Your network management system can also enable you to plan for future network outages and security risks, so you can draft a strategy outlining steps to be taken in the event of a breach or network outage.
Minimized Downtime – A CenturyLink survey identified less downtime as the second most popular benefit of a Network Management System. This translates to more revenue and increased productivity.
Why Do You Need A Good Network Monitoring Solution?
Enhanced Security – Security Magazine estimates that there are over 2,200 malicious attacks daily. A network monitoring and troubleshooting solution prevents you from these attacks and hack attempts.
Save money – You can cut down on the downtime and time necessary to investigate problems, resulting in fewer person-hours and less money spent when issues arise.
Ensure that your security systems are operating as configured.
- Plan for upgrades or changes
- Diagnose problems
- Monitor from anywhere
Different Types Of Network Monitoring Solutions Available Today
- Enterprise Network Management Software
- All-in-one monitoring solutions
- Open-source software
- Application and services monitoring tools
- Intrusion detection tools
Common Problems Faced When Using Network Monitoring Software
- Lack of network visibility, affecting your scope of understanding regarding network performance.
- Balancing active and passive network monitoring
- Configuring network devices correctly
- Drawing effective network maps
- Establishing network performance baselines
Why Choose Externetworks For Your Network Monitoring Needs?
Our expert monitoring solutions ensure that your network is up and running at all times, preventing costly downtimes. In addition, we are always available and have years of professional experience in network monitoring to guarantee complete IT services for your enterprise.
Reach out to us today at www.extnoc.com to get started.
