Avoid network downtime

As our reliance on technology continues to grow, so too does the requirement for seamless, uninterrupted network performance. Today’s enterprises depend on adequate IT infrastructure to function and any network downtime can spell disaster when it comes to productivity and, ultimately, profits.

Monitoring and managing growing IT networks can be overwhelming, particularly in the age of the cloud. While any network administrator knows that satisfactory service delivery is dependent on adequate bandwidth, gaining a true understanding of the demands on that bandwidth can be complicated using traditional monitoring tools. Uncovering the source of bandwidth use and network bottlenecks can prevent avoidable expenditure, as users can uncover and remedy problems rather than outlaying for additional bandwidth unnecessarily.

When the call of ‘the network is slow’ becomes an increasingly common refrain, it is crucial for IT professionals to have clear grasp of the users, applications, and protocols that consume available bandwidth, and to quickly identify underperforming network devices. Identifying issues at this level provides true transparency and allows network managers to act on the real—rather than perceived—issues and to additionally utilise that information for forward-looking endeavours, including capacity planning.

The SolarWinds^® Bandwidth Analyzer Pack is a solution created for network engineers by network engineers, allowing users to effectively detect, diagnose, and resolve network issues quickly and easily.

Combining the fault, availability, and performance monitoring capability of our Network Performance Monitor (NPM) with the bandwidth monitoring functionality of NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA), the Bandwidth Analyzer Pack is an all-in-one solution.

Monitoring and analysing network bandwidth performance and traffic patterns allows fast identification of critical issues, such as bandwidth hogs or underperforming devices, and makes streamlining overall performance a clear-cut exercise.

Application traffic can be tracked from designated ports, source IPs, destination IPs, and protocols with advanced application mapping. Traffic forensics capability offers analysis of traffic patterns over months, days, or minutes, and by drilling down on any network element using a clear and simple graphical interface. The historical data available in NTA allows users to identify the cause of issues, regardless of when they occurred. All information is provided through a single page analysis dashboard with drill-down capability for deeper investigation.

While network responsibilities have grown, the increased use of off-site services means that visibility into network issues can be constrained. Most traditional monitoring tools don’t offer insight into the most important function of the network: supplying services to users. The NetPath™ component of NPM makes it easy to view traffic, configuration, and performance details for on-premises, hybrid, and cloud services using critical path, hop-by-hop analysis. This delivers an enhanced quality of service, as network administrators can see outages and other potential problems, and instigate rectification before users are impacted.

NetPath is more than a visual traceroute. It offers visibility into all critical network paths for deeper insights and faster time to resolution. Users can see all devices, applications, networks, and vendors in single-page path analysis for more signal and less noise, as well as track every hop and view latency either historically or in real-time.

Using the Bandwidth Analyzer Pack, the entire enterprise IT infrastructure can be monitored from a single, customisable console. Operators can easily drill down into specific details and view histograms and baselines for key metrics.

Network administrators receive immediate notification of existing issues—before they become critical—through the use of intelligent alert notifications. Topology-aware alerts can be configured for correlated events, sustained conditions, and complex combinations of device states. The system can also be configured to deliver instant alert notifications, including a list of ‘top talkers’ when an interface exceeds its bandwidth utilisation threshold.

The system is capable of analysing router traffic flow data across equipment from multiple vendors, providing insight into the health and performance across the entire application delivery environment.

If network performance matters to your business, you can find out more and download a free, fully-functional, 30-day trial of SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer Pack, by visiting our website here.