
Network traffic monitoring can also inform decisions about how to configure Quality of Service (QoS) across your network. Improved network planning and inventory management: By providing centralized inventory management and detailed bandwidth utilization information, network traffic monitors allow you to make more informed decisions about hardware updates and capacity planning.Enhanced security: By monitoring network traffic in real-time, you can identify potentially malicious behavior and reduce the spread or impact of malware.Similarly, corporate IT departments can report on key performance indicators (KPIs). Detailed SLA reporting: IT pros need a way to demonstrate they’re meeting or exceeding their service level agreements (SLAs), and network traffic monitors can address this use case well.As a result, you gain end-to-end visibility over your network with the ability to drill down as needed. Additionally, many network traffic monitors allow you to create detailed network maps.
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Network-wide visibility: Network monitoring software enables centralized monitoring of all your devices and data flows.Namely, network traffic monitoring done well can deliver these benefits: Why is network traffic monitoring software important?įor the IT teams responsible for keeping networks operational, network monitoring software is an important part of day-to-day operations because of the benefits it can deliver. Network traffic monitoring software will use a variety of protocols including SNMP, WMI, flow protocols, and ICMP (ping) to measure network metrics like latency and bandwidth utilization.Īdditionally, network monitoring software may use techniques like packet captures, active monitoring, and deep packet inspection (DPI) to gain granular insights about the traffic flows across a network. Internet traffic monitors and bandwidth monitors are other common names for network traffic monitoring software. The term network traffic monitoring software refers to software applications that enable administrators to capture data on network traffic in real-time and use that data for reporting, alerting, and analysis. What is network traffic monitoring software? *For the network trivia buffs: a standard ping packet has 64 bytes, 56 for the actual ping packet and 8 for the header. When multiple users stream high-definition video-say, for a videoconference-a lot more network traffic is created because that takes more data. In simple terms, network traffic is all the data flowing across a network at a given time.įor example, when you ping a server, that creates a small amount of network traffic because a few bytes* of data must be sent from your computer to the server and back. Here, we’ll explore the topic in-depth and take a look at the 6 best network traffic monitors available so you can make an informed decision. There are plenty of network traffic monitor software options available that can help you address these challenges, but how do you know which is best for you? But with network perimeters becoming more dynamic than ever before and nodes spread across the cloud, home offices, and corporate data centers, gaining the visibility you need is a challenge. Understanding how data flows across your network is a must for effective network management.
