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What is Network Monitoring?

David White
David White

Network monitoring is spying for a good cause. Actually, it's something you want at least one of your systems to be doing. While your other systems are performing their vital functions, you need to set aside at least one computer or set of computers to monitor network activity. Think of this as policing your network traffic.

This network monitoring must be done by a system that is always on. Your system should have dedicated power lines or, at the very least, backup generators attached to it. This is the most critical part of your network, since it is the one that sounds the alarm if something is wrong.

Network monitoring can alert a network administrator to computer viruses and malware.
Network monitoring can alert a network administrator to computer viruses and malware.

Monitoring takes note of slow or failing systems and notifies the network administrator of such occurrences. Such notifications can take the form of email messages, pager alerts, or plain old phone calls. No matter what form they take, network problem messages should take the highest priority.

Network monitoring can alert a network administrator to problems caused by overloaded systems, crashed servers, lost network connections, virus or malware infections, and power outages, among other things. This last instance is why the system needs to have backup power: You can’t very well be notified of a power outage if the system that is supposed to do the notifying also loses its power.

Entry and exit URLs may be tracked during network monitoring.
Entry and exit URLs may be tracked during network monitoring.

In order to monitor a network, a “ping” or test is commonly sent to each computer or system on the network. If the system does not respond or takes too long to respond, the system does its job by notifying the network administrator of the problem. Pings are intended to be replied to instantaneously; anything else hints at a larger problem than just the absence of a ping.

Administrators may need to manually check issues found through network monitoring.
Administrators may need to manually check issues found through network monitoring.

Other network monitoring software makes a practice of regularly taking virtual snapshots of the network’s workflow. Any irregularities in this workflow are logged and, if they are serious enough, reported to the network administrator. Some well-known software manufacturers make monitoring applications that are standalone products; other manufacturers embed the software in larger applications or software suites.

Network monitoring is used to ensure that important secrets are not stolen and leaked to the public.
Network monitoring is used to ensure that important secrets are not stolen and leaked to the public.

Network monitoring can also be as basic as tracking the flow of visitors to and from a website, also tracking such statistics as time of visit, number of pages on the site visited, and entry and exit URLs. This kind of monitoring isn’t necessarily the kind that reports problems, unless the network administrator programs it to; rather, website software tracks and reports web activity for analysis.

Discussion Comments

anon939094

The costs of my company have dropped a lot since we started using monitoring software. We currently use the monitoring software, Pandora FMS. It is open source and we have modified parts of the code to adapt to our environment. It's great. We know instantly when a system or network has been dropped, or can predict when a log is filling a filesystem every day. This helps us to keep our systems clean and we do have to pay a posterior SAT when something breaks.

barryherne

It is getting more and more common to install and implement network monitoring software in companies. And if the staff are aware of it, I don't see any trouble at all with it. It only makes the security side stronger. We use Anturis in our form to see the whole net of the business.

anon268743

@anon48539: The source code depends upon the usage that you are going to bring up for the monitoring, since networking monitoring tools have different codes.

Amy Amster

Any company, large or small can benefit from network monitoring software to protect their business.

anon58937

can you provide the source code of network monitoring project?

anon48539

can you provide the source code of network monitorning project?

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    • Network monitoring can alert a network administrator to computer viruses and malware.
      Network monitoring can alert a network administrator to computer viruses and malware.
    • Entry and exit URLs may be tracked during network monitoring.
      By: Juan J. Jimenez
      Entry and exit URLs may be tracked during network monitoring.
    • Administrators may need to manually check issues found through network monitoring.
      By: ambrozinio
      Administrators may need to manually check issues found through network monitoring.
    • Network monitoring is used to ensure that important secrets are not stolen and leaked to the public.
      By: Africa Studio
      Network monitoring is used to ensure that important secrets are not stolen and leaked to the public.