A high performance network is a basic 'must have' for a functioning IT infrastructure in any company. To ensure smooth business procedures, all processes should run without complications, including the internal and external communication between various company locations, as well as with clients and partners. Malfunctions and failures in operational processes easily result in loss of time, as well as financial loss.
Of course, every company has different requirements for a network monitoring solution, and as the market offers numerous different tools and solutions, careful selection of a suitable solution is a must. How do you find out which one's the best for your network?
Several basic factors, besides the cost of the solution, should be considered in the decision making process. Consider the given infrastructure as well as the characteristics of potential solutions. You must be absolutely certain on two points: which requirements you have for the system, and for which area of application the solution is needed.
The basic function of network monitoring software should be to provide the administrator with the time needed for other useful tasks instead of having to keep a permanent eye on the infrastructure and all connected systems. In other words: the solution works automatically after a simple installation, so that it creates space instead of creating more work for the IT personnel.
The selection of an appropriate network monitoring system generally complies with the size of the network and the scenarios to be controlled. These scenarios include, for example, servers, switches, workspace computers, as well as the connections between these and the connection to external locations and the Internet. Two important areas that should be monitored in every company are the website and email communication. With the former, it is important that general performance and individual components, like shops or forms, are monitored in addition to mere response times. Also, look for a solution that can grow according to the demand.
Monitoring of bandwidth, usage and availability belong to the core elements of a monitoring solution's technical requirements. It is important to watch for extensive support of the most common protocols and technologies, like WMI, NetFlow, sFlow, jFlow, Packet Sniffing and SNMP, for example, as most networks are extremely heterogeneous IT landscapes. Comprehensive monitoring is possible through coverage of the most popular protocols. It is also advantageous to have optional remote monitoring available for multiple locations or distributed networks. This is sometimes even a component of particular service packages or licenses.
Alarms are an important function for relieving IT personnel as they alert the responsible administrator of existing errors, reached or crossed thresholds or devices that have crashed. With most solutions, these alarms can be tailored to suit the company's needs, so that the administrator can be reached per email, text message or pager notification, Syslog or HTTP request.
The network monitoring solution should also offer the corresponding options for monitoring cloud computing systems. A selection of different sensor types that are designed specifically for application in virtual environments is beneficial here, for example, for VMWare, Microsoft hyper-V, Parallels Virtuozzo Container or Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
A network monitoring service should be user-friendly with clear, comprehensible menus and intuitive operation. The user interface must be constructed flexibly and designed for use as, for example, a Windows, Web or mobile interface. As a general rule, automatic network recognition after installation should be a standard feature of the solution.
Some solutions offer predesigned templates for an overview of the software and hardware components, which can be customized as needed. IT personnel can often choose between summary and detail views.
A plus factor is integrated upgrade options,in case the network expands in the future.