Network Monitoring System

Network monitoring for any corporate setup is indispensable. It is critical for any IT function that results in saving a great deal of money in network performance, employee productivity and infrastructure cost overruns. A network monitoring system monitors an internal network for detecting any kind of possible problems. It can find users to help resolve snail-paced webpage downloads, lost-in-space e-mail, questionable user activity and file delivery caused by overloaded, crashed servers, dicey network connections or other devices.

Network monitoring systems are usually different identities from intrusion detection systems or intrusion prevention systems. These other systems detect break-ins and prevent scurrilous activity from unauthorized users. An NMS lets you know how well the network is running during the course of ordinary operations; its focus isn't on security per se. It can be achieved by using specific software or a combination of plug-and-play hardware and software appliance solutions. By using different kinds of software, almost any kind of network can be monitored easily.

How important is network monitoring?

Many people are of opinion that when the network is running absolutely fine there is no need to disturb it. After all, it is not important to care about adding another project for your network managers to scribble across their whiteboards that already crammed floor-to-ceiling? The reasons to insist on network monitoring can be summarized on a high level into maintaining the network's current health, ensuring availability and improving performance. The network monitoring helps you build a database of critical information that users can use for planning for future growth.

Network monitoring is something like combining experience, judgment and technology to chart a system's performance. It checks and tracks data moving along cables and through servers, switches, connections and routers. It helps in considering the importance of real-time information in every case. Network monitoring differs company to company, depending on the use and size of the setup. They monitor networks day and night, everyday.

What can network monitoring systems monitor?

Network monitoring becomes useless when you cannot track the right things. The usual areas to be examined for network monitoring are bandwidth usage, application performance and server performance. It is like a fundamental task, on which all other network-building and -maintenance tasks are based. It generally concentrates on resources that support internal end users. So network monitoring systems have evolved to oversee an assortment of devices:

• BlackBerrys
• Cell phones
• Servers and desktops
• Routers
• Switches

Some network monitoring systems have inbuilt automatic discovery, which enables them the ability to continuously record devices as they're added, removed or undergo configuration changes. These tools segregate devices dynamically. Some common rubrics are:

• IP address
• Service
• Type (switch, router, etc.)
• Physical location

Beyond the obvious advantage of knowing exactly — and in real time — what you have deployed, automatic discovery and categorization of segments helps you plan for growth.