Network Monitoring Definition and Solutions
Network monitoring is far more strategic than its name implies. It involves watching for problems 24/7, but it's also about optimizing data flow and access in a complex and changing environment. Tools and services are as numerous and varied as the environments they guard and analyze.
By
Kim S. Nash
,
Alyson Behr
- What is network monitoring?
- How important is network monitoring?
- What can network monitoring systems monitor?
- What kind of networks can they monitor?
- What strategic tasks can network monitoring systems do?
- What questions can network monitoring answer?
- What can network monitoring do for me?
- What tools will I find in network monitoring systems?
- What kinds of network monitoring systems are available?
- What do they cost?
What can network monitoring do for me?
Careful network monitoring gives executives all the ammo they need to justify network upgrades and expansions in order to support new corporate goals. Or to call a vendor on the carpet.
Service-level agreements too often are hard to enforce on the part of client companies because execs have only murky insight into conditions governed by an SLA.
For more on service-level agreements, see The ABCs of SLAs.
An effective NMS will tell managers in clear terms if a given device, service or application is meeting contractually mandated performance levels.
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