Network Monitoring Software

Network Monitoring Software Buyer's Guide

Network monitoring software help IT teams and network administrators manage, monitor, and track the health, performance, and maintenance of a network. A reliable and functioning network is crucial for the vast majority of technology companies, and even organizations that aren't directly focused on technology. If you can't rely on your network, then running a successful business becomes very difficult. Network monitoring tools and software facilitate the upkeep and reliability of a network.

Websites are extremely important to most organizations, and they are the face of that organization online. Therefore, they are get a lot of traffic that affects the organization's overall online presence. Due to this, it is imperative that these websites are always accessible to their clients and customers, and they can suffer very little downtime to be effective. This is where network monitoring software comes in handy, because it a security software network that is designed to monitor and track network related issues.

This guide is designed to help organizations to get a better understanding of the network monitoring software landscape. It will answer many questions that organizations might have to understand this type of software and which particular one will best suit their individual needs.

Network Monitoring Uses

Network monitoring services were designed to help organizations to keep their data centers functioning and healthy, at all times. They help to analyze data, monitor incoming and outgoing data, and detect any threats to an organizations network by examining both devices and applications in real time. They do it in real time, because it helps organizations get warning alerts faster so they can respond to threats promptly. Therefore, organizations need to have effective IT departments to help manage these services. In the past, networks that were unreliable would result in things like delayed emails and other things that made things easier to workaround. However, in today's business world this is different. Having a data network that is unreliable can cause an organization's operations to come to a standstill. For example, if network systems can get IP addresses through DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol), then their system will be unable to communicate with other organization systems. Likewise, organizations' systems will be unable to connect to the internet via any system if there is a function in a DNS (Domain Name System). It is important to know how to manage an organization's bandwidth, because this will allow all users on the network to meet their full productivity. To help with this, there are different network monitoring systems at the top of the industry below that will help with these types of situations. The majority of them are cloud-based system, but all of them will help to keep an organization's network safe and their users securely connected.

Due to the critical nature of these services, a few of them can cross over into the infrastructure category. At this point, DNS can become even more of an issue for management infrastructure issues. Typically, a network administrator would be responsible for managing DHCP services.

First introduced back in 1998 by RFCs (Request for Comments) 1065, 1066, and 1067, SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) was established. Since then, SNMPv2 and SNVPv3 have replaced the original version, and this has made it capable of being adopted across several different platforms. Networking is what SNMP is usually associated with. OSes (Operating systems), like Microsoft Windows, can be configured so that they respond to SNMP commands. Those in charge should make sure that their network management tools will use SNMP efficiently to accomplish the tasks they are needed for.

Anyone that needs to know and understand what is happening on a network has to understand network flows. Cisco routers were the first routers that introduced NetFlow, which allowed analyzation of IP network traffic that was exiting and entering through a particular interface. NetFlow sends data to a point of collect, which is usually a database system, and this makes it easier analyses that are query based. Most switch manufacturers and sampling tools, like sFlow, then follow the same path. Hewlett-Packard, Arista Networks, and Brocade Communications Systems are a few the largest networking vendors that have natural sFlow support. Companies can find sFlow descriptions under RFC 3176.

Important Features of Network Monitoring Software

There are several features that are considered key to having an adequate network management system. A lot of administrators like find the visual graphics that are provided helpful in getting a quick overview of what their current system status is. Not to mention, they can use a dashboard to tweak the arrangements of different graphical elements, as needed. An alert mechanism is important so that someone gets alerted if there is an issue.

IPAM (IP Address Management) is a vital feature for most large corporations. It allows them to keep track of static IP addresses assigned, plus various DHCP pools, that wouldn't be able to managed adequately with the use of a manual system. Since a single person is usually in charge of handling both of those functions, it only makes sense that organization would integrate an IPAM with their network management tool for accuracy and efficiency.

The key to being able to effectively manage a large number of devices at once is automation. The process becomes more efficient with every small administration task that is automated. One of the largest differentiators between different products is the ability to have an automated repair fall and alert. If this is added to a monitoring system along with the ability to connect remotely, the produce becomes a solid option.

SDN (Software-Defined Networking) is needed, but it takes a technologist or vendor to help reduce the confusion it causes. Basically, SDN is a term that describes the forwarding plane and how the network control plane is functionally separated. It is only through these two things that configuring optimum data paths become possible. However, SDN is only found in the top level of performance switches in network monitoring systems.

What Type of Buyer Are You?

Networking monitoring software needs are greatly impacted by the size of an organization. Generally, most features are divided into solutions that are most beneficial for larger enterprises and small businesses separately:

• Large Enterprises - Larger enterprises generally have different server locations, and they could be in different geographical locations, as well. Therefore, they need features that are more advanced. Due to the size of their servers and other issues, their administrators need more advanced tools in order to properly diagnose and prevent network related issues.
• Small Businesses - Since smaller businesses generally only have one server location, they do not need overall advanced features to keep their network running smoothly. The two most important things to small businesses is to be alerted to any potential issue and making sure that their system is maintained properly.

Pricing

Companies can find a lot of free network monitoring software, but they will have limited features. However, companies can usually pay for extra features if they have a larger server network.

The price for most network monitoring platforms is based on the network size, and generally, companies are charged monthly for these services. It makes it easy for companies that have multiple server locations because they can just pay a fee to add the new server to their existing network. Plus, they can choose to pay for extra add-ons and features and 24/7 support to help manage their network system.

Key Considerations for Network Monitoring Software

It is important to know what requirements you need from a network monitoring system, and you should prioritize them on importance. This will allow you to find the right network monitoring system for your organization's need. There are a few parameters that have been set to help an organization identify which solution will work best:

• Customization in specific priorities and processes - Every organization is different, and their systems are equally different. Therefore, it is important that the solution chosen is customizable to provides alerts and how those alerts are processed. As a buyer, an organization needs to know exactly what they want to monitor and if they want that information sent as a report, to a support team, or both options.
• Scope of the System - In the end, the system that you choose should be able to handle any and all of the variations that your process will require. A couple of the things that it should be able to handle are monitoring multiple geographical locations, handle different virtual environments, and process specific network devices.
• Automated discovery of components - Automation becomes increasingly important the larger an organization is. This is due to the fact they have multiple servers and systems, and everything might not be monitored properly. Since it's not always possible to send a technical team to see about every issue, the automation will allow them to prioritize things.
• After-hours support model - Organizations are not open all the time, and therefore, it is important that the system that is purchased will actually benefit the company and provide all of the after-hour support that it needs.
• Scalability - Organizations need to make sure that the system they choose will be able to grow as they do to avoid problems in the future.
• Location of Support Contacts - It is important to know where the contacts for an organization chosen network monitoring solution are. This will help to judge their overall support service for an organization.
• Availability of Internal IT staff - A network monitoring system will only run as smoothly as it can be monitored and the work it generates can be handles. The internal IT team need to know what they are required to do under different circumstances.
• Clearly defined SLA (service level agreements) - This is extremely important before choosing any given network monitoring system. It is imperative that an organization understand each option for timing and the escalation process. The SLA can be negotiated to provide what the organization specifically needs.