Infrastructure and networks
Network monitoring: what it is and why it is important
To ensure that everything is running smoothly, network monitoring has become an increasingly central topic, both in terms of network performance and IT security aspects, which are increasingly critical for organizations.
In a matter of a few years, the network has gone from being an infrastructure that can connect a few computers and servers to representing something much deeper, especially with the spread of cloud services and IoT systems active in the network periphery (edge computing).
The number of devices connected to the enterprise network continues to grow, as does the physiological complexity of managing increasingly hybrid and branched, on-premises and cloud architectures.
Let’s look at what is meant by network monitoring today and what are the main factors organizations need to be aware of in order to observe and ensure the optimal performance of their network infrastructures over time.
Network monitoring: what is it?
Sometimes the IT literature uses network monitoring and network management as synonyms, but it would be more appropriate to consider monitoring as a more specific function than management as a whole, involving additional aspects than monitoring the network and the devices and users connected to it.
Network monitoring is concerned with collecting and analyzing a variety of logs generated by the components of an enterprise network, where routers, switches, firewalls, load balancing, as well as all endpoints used by users, such as servers, workstations, and mobile devices, are included.
The data collected in the logs are filtered and analyzed to identify a variety of possible anomalies that could be symptomatic of the presence of problems such as:
- Errors in devices
- Broken links
- Interface errors
- Loss of data packets
- High application response time
- Unauthorized configuration changes
Current network design should be understood in a hybrid sense, regardless of whether on-premises, public cloud or private cloud resources are involved, as well as whether multicloud services are used.
The network monitoring system must provide a 360-degree observation to detect overload points, errors on switches/routers, or identify abnormal spikes in network traffic, just to name a few of the most frequently encountered issues within an enterprise network infrastructure.
Along with network monitoring in the broad sense, it is useful to associate network performance monitoring (NPM), a process that deals specifically with monitoring and measuring the quality of a network service.
In other words, NPM helps network administrators to collect data on network behavior, assess the performance of predetermined variables, and thus identify possible risks or issues that might arise.
In performing these tasks, monitoring applications must be able to alert administrators with a series of automated alerts so that timely action can be taken to resolve the problem while avoiding or containing as best as possible any disruptions to the network.
Network monitoring systems analyze traffic flow to measure the performance and availability of data packets.
Thresholds can be set to identify the presence of a problem so that instant alerts can be received if this is altered.
Static thresholds have been overcome by the fact that modern NPM systems use machine learning systems that make it easy to identify anomalies in the network dynamically, facilitating alert generation while reducing false alarms in context.
NPMs use a number of specific protocols.
For example, many tools employ the simple network management protocol (SNMP) to manage and monitor the behavior of network elements.
An SNMP agent is critical for operations such as reconfiguring devices, taking devices offline in the event of anomalies and uneven operation, as well as regular collection of operating data summarized in system logs.
SNMP is only one of the protocols used in network monitoring.
Some devices of, such as routers and switches, employ Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), for example, to correlate information about operations over IPs (Internet Protocol).
However, there are many other protocols, some of which are dependent on the proprietary technologies of network monitoring system vendors.
Importance of network monitoring
Proper and conscious network monitoring activities can generate tangible benefits for companies of any size and type of business, including:
- Cost savings: due to reduced downtime and faster resolution of possible problems that may arise on the network.
Automating network monitoring significantly reduces the impact of human resources on low value-added activities, allocating them to more productive functions and strategies for the business. - Better user experience: anticipating problems on the network through sound diagnostics helps avoid disruptions and inconveniences on the user experience, whether employees or end users.
- Increased cyber security: constant monitoring makes it easier to detect traffic anomalies, as well as to identify unknown devices connecting to the network.
Logs enable SIEMs and other specialized monitoring software on security functions to anticipate dangerous cyber attacks propagating through the network, such as ransomware. - Better peak traffic management: exceptional conditions such as peaks occurring at certain conditions or times of the year can be monitored to enable administrators to keep balancing under control, allocating additional resources where they are actually needed so that performance problems do not occur on the network.
Types of network monitoring
By way of example, we mention three of the currently most popular types of network monitoring.
Network packet analyzers (network packet analyzers)
The information in the packets determines, for example, whether data is being routed correctly, whether employees are visiting secure Web sites, and whether sensitive data is at risk of exfiltration on the network as it moves through the network.
Application and services monitoring (application and services monitoring)
Access management monitoring (access management monitoring)
Access management systems in fact have monitoring functions specifically designed to quickly detect network vulnerabilities and detect intruders before they can cause concrete damage to the IT infrastructure.
Toward network monitoring with Deda Cloud: ideal solutions for every business
The best monitoring tools, when properly configured, currently provide optimal visibility over the entire network, thanks to a unified control panel capable of communicating, through a single screen, the status of the monitored network components.
In other words, network monitoring software is able to highlight any out-of-norm parameters, automatically suggesting or performing further checks, as well as carrying out continuous diagnostics on components such as switches, routers, firewalls, servers and software services, applications or URLs, from which more or less critical network problems could arise.
For maximum effectiveness, a network monitoring system must feature robust high availability criteria, so that a hardware/software problem can be automatically resolved by failover to another network monitoring application without generating tangible discontinuities.
A network monitoring application should ensure at least the following aspects:
- Visibility over the entire network infrastructure
- Monitoring, troubleshooting, and correcting network performance problems.
- Tools for root cause analysis of network problems.
- Dashboard with data visualization tools and automatic generation of insights/reports on network status.
Choosing and configuring such tools requires solid expertise both in the technologies to be implemented and a thorough knowledge of the corporate network being monitored.
Technological certifications and proven experience in the field, in close contact with the supply, configuration and management of networks of dozens of companies in Italy, make Deda Cloud the ideal partner to implement a correct and conscious network monitoring activity in any business context.
