How to Select the Best Network Performance Monitoring Tool

Before we begin to identify the top best network performance monitoring tool, it is critical to understand the importance of network monitoring within an organization. It is crucial as network engineers have to monitor the health of our networks constantly. Instead of reacting to the problems between the hosts and network services, we need to proactively ensure sufficient safety and security from potential vulnerabilities. Baseline behavior of our networks helps to detect the malfunctions and eliminate the threats before it may shoot-up to multiple points. It is only with continuous monitoring one can maintain higher standards in the company.

Network monitoring is employed in all types of industries, corporate and university level establishments. Even E-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart constantly monitor their sites for traffic to increase the onsite performance efficiency that gives their visitors a pleasant browsing experience.

There are parameters helpful in selecting the best tool available in the market like traffic analysis, server management, network configuration management, fault management, process monitoring, and remote network monitoring. They all basically fall under identity, probe, map, monitor and resolve network issues. Most monitoring systems are equipped with these features.

Below are the few major points discussed which can be devised in selecting the best network performance monitoring tool. These features can help isolate and resolve the errors quickly.

Misconfiguration of the Network

Most commonly faced by every company is the misconfiguration of the network. When there is an expansion in the network service, adding a firewall, specifying new rules may block other applications resulting in a free entry to non-business network traffic. Monitoring tool should ensure that these changes do not adversely affect other devices in the network.

Monitoring tool should see that no other existing rules are broken and allow a rollback feature if the results are unsatisfactory. It should also help in retrieving the network configurations for later review. Network performance monitor tool should be smart enough to make bulk changes in the configuration to prevent loss of time.

Report and Alert messages

When there is connection failure, communication through various nodes gets affected. Each element in the network such as cables, core switches, IP addresses, transport protocols contributes to the data transfer functions. Failure can happen either at single or at multiple points. The monitoring system should alert the issue at various levels i.e. server issue, routing problem, hardware failure, malfunction etc. The monitoring system should be capable enough to provide specific data for identifying the issue for troubleshooting.

Alerts should be generated when there is a violation in the threshold value. An automatic reset system should be in place to monitor further violations in the network. There are cases where the threshold violations are bound to occur, resulting in multiple alerts. The monitoring system should consolidate and support duplications based on such violations. Alerting and reporting complement each other and help identify the root cause of any network issue.

High Availability with failovers

A tolerance feature in the Monitoring Systems ensures that the service is always available in case of security lapses. If Monitoring Systems goes down, the data collected will be useless and this makes the problem detection difficult. Engineers will not be able to access the data for analysis that causes the troubleshooting to undergo unnecessary delay.

In case of primary monitoring system failure, it is advisable that the failover system is installed in the DR (Disaster Recovery) site. High availability with failover options is one of the primary criterions for selecting the best monitoring tool for business enterprises which helps the network team to react quickly and troubleshoot efficiently.

Cluster Storage

Monitoring Systems ensures continuous evaluation of the data gathered in the network. The accumulated data can slow down the performance of the system. It is important to ensure that a large amount of collected data by the Monitoring systems are aggregated and stored in clusters to save space. This helps to monitor systems to work with full efficiency with no strain on storage space requirements.

Remote Network Monitoring

A much-needed feature with a centralized server system with remote monitoring provides a bird’s-eye view of various network operations. This not only allows one to monitor the remote networks but also initiates necessary actions when demanded and thereby lead to easy monitoring and management.

Remote monitoring reports the faults, findings, and performance to the central system. This helps in expansion of company’s data in large scales without having to compromise on the site security and performance.

IT infrastructure at par with Company’s Growth

Growth in business may result in expansion in a number of employees, devices to manage the workload, bandwidth, network, storage space and many more things. In most cases, the monitoring system will require an upgrade to process additional resources. In some cases, the additional installation will help the efficiency and improve the functionality of the Monitoring system.

Moving Forward

Monitoring Systems can be available to monitor in-house or cloud-based automation from a single location. Live performance indicators of our servers, networks, and workstations using a unified platform help locate the issues quickly. While planning to invest in network monitoring tool, consider a few options available which provide a commendable solution to network performance monitoring.

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