Top 10 Best Practices for Network Monitoring in 2023
When setting up a network monitoring system, it’s important to look for alert storms and tool sprawls.
Network monitoring is defined as the process of mapping and monitoring an organization’s computer network to avoid performance, security, and cost overheads. This article explains network monitoring and the best practices for designing and implementing a network monitoring system in your organization.
Table of Contents
What Is Network Monitoring?
Network monitoring is the process of mapping and monitoring an organization’s computer network to avoid performance, security, and cost overheads.
Networks are the backbone of today’s businesses across industry verticals. A computer network connects every device, server, service, and data store across the company. Employees need this network to work and collaborate seamlessly, while consumers need it to experience flawless service. When a computer network goes down, the effects are far-reaching for the business. For example, Facebook’s one-day outage in 2019 cost approximately $90 million in revenue. It left Facebook scrambling to assure its users that their data was in safe hands and to keep its brand value intact.
Today’s technology is dynamic, and this reflects on the computer network. The network can constantly shift and morph thanks to virtualization and cloud adoption. Cybercriminals are always looking for ways to penetrate a network to reach the underlying critical resources. With more consumer data being pumped into businesses than ever before, industry regulators have mandated that companies protect and secure sensitive information.
It is essential to have a network monitoring system to navigate through all this, even at the ground level. Network monitoring is akin to car maintenance. Car owners rely on various indicators to track their vehicle’s condition. Besides addressing ad-hoc issues, they also have the cars serviced once or twice a year.
These services include visual inspection and replenishment of brake fluid, anti-freeze, etc. Sometimes, more comprehensive tests to check the full brake, suspension, and wheel alignments are performed. As a result of this whole system, the car’s lifespan improves, costs are saved in fuel and part-replacement, and its resale value doesn’t plummet.
Network monitoring is more or less the same, except that there are no engines and oil filters. It looks into:
- Network devices: A few examples are laptops, mobile devices, printers, routers, switches, and firewalls.
- Links: Links enable devices to communicate and include network interfaces and physical wiring such as fiber optic cables.
- Servers: Email servers, web servers, application servers, and data centers are some of the most critical assets of an organization.
- Service providers: Most companies use service providers for everything, from collaboration software such as GSuite to cloud services such as AWS.
A monitoring system analyzes key parameters like network availability, response time, disk usage, CPU utilization, and uptime. It also analyzes hardware parameters such as fan speed, temperature, and power supply status. Network monitoring isn’t just about monitoring various components such as routers, firewalls, and switches. It encompasses the configuration of these components and remediation based on spotted vulnerabilities and overloads.
Steps involved in typical networking monitoring implementation are:
- Discovering and documenting the network: While designing a monitoring system, admins take stock of every switch, server, and mobile device connected to the network. Every connection between these components is mapped.
- Selecting a protocol: The ‘protocol’ defines how these components feed information to the monitoring tool. The most common protocol is simple network management protocol (SNMP). SNMP works by querying devices for information and maintaining them in a management information base (MIB) with unique identifiers. Monitoring tools use this information to assess network health. This querying or ‘pinging’ happens in designated intervals.
- Setting the baseline: Normal behavior is first established to know what an anomaly is. This means parameters such as CPU utilization threshold are decided on. The optimal intervals for pinging each network component are also established.
- Choosing the network segments and components to be monitored: This ensures that the system isn’t overwhelmed at any point in time.
- Choosing the right monitoring tool: This would ideally meet all the requirements set by the previous steps and work with existing administration software.
Usually, the term ‘network monitoring’ encompasses web server testing, application and services monitoring, email network monitoring, access management monitoring, network packet analysis, VOIP monitoring, and network performance monitoring.
This might seem like a lot of expensive and time-consuming work, but the advantages of network monitoring are far too many to be ignored.
See More: What Is a Computer Network? Definition, Objectives, Components, Types, and Best Practices
Key Advantages of Monitoring Networks
The continuous monitoring of an organization’s network can make or break its services. Network monitoring has important advantages, such as:
Network Monitoring Advantages
1. Saves costs at multiple levels
Network monitoring allows IT admins and security teams to spot suspicious behavior at the outset. It prevents damages caused by data breaches. It detects compromised systems as well as overwhelmed systems—both of which can cause significant network downtime. We all know that downtimes can be expensive and may eventually result in loss of paying customers. Network monitoring also allows admins to spot components that are being under-utilized or over-utilized, thus allowing them to cut down on several overheads.
2. Enhances infrastructure security
All security information and event management (SIEM) tools rely on network monitoring data to spot unexpected traffic, anomalous behavior, unknown devices trying to access the network, and rogue applications. This is extremely important as it serves as an early indicator of a cyber attack or ransomware. A well-implemented network monitoring system also provides complete network visibility, eliminating beaches of unaccounted network devices by cybercriminals. Access management monitoring also keeps insider threats at bay.
3. Enables automation of critical tasks
Alerts caused by monitoring systems are used to trigger remedial actions. For example, if CPU utilization stays above 80% for more than half an hour, a new server can be spawned to absorb the workload while admins look into the problem. These alerts also give admin teams enough advance notice to upgrade or add capacity as required.
4. Guides disaster recovery implementation
Network monitoring warns admins of potential incidents and disasters, thereby giving them enough time to kick off the disaster recovery plan (DRP). The network monitoring playbook specifies baseline behavior and anomalies and lists the conditions under which incident response plans and DRPs are triggered.
5. Improves productivity
Monitors catch performance issues that may slow down business operations and hinder employee productivity. Network admins can focus on bettering the infrastructure instead of constantly looking into alerts caused by capacity and utilization problems.
6. Provides data to forecast future requirements
The information provided by monitoring tools helps decision-making. It provides early insights into upcoming expansions in infrastructure. Network monitors provide history performance data that can be leveraged to predict future scaling requirements. They also highlight holes in the network that may need to be fixed at a timeline based on the severity.
Network monitoring is certainly very important. However, a recent study by Positive Technologies revealed that three out of ten companies have low or no network visibility. This indicates poor network monitoring practices. The following section covers the best practices to design and implement a comprehensive network monitoring system.
See More: What Is Software-Defined Networking (SDN)? Definition, Architecture, and Applications
Top 10 Best Practices for Network Monitoring in 2023
To build a robust monitoring system, multiple stakeholders at all levels in the company need to be involved. Once all network components are identified and ranked by criticality, the following best practices need to be followed:
Network Monitoring Best Practices
1. Establish baseline network behavior
The starting point of any network monitor system implementation is establishing baseline network behavior. A document must highlight what certifies normal network behavior, the acceptable range of values for all monitored parameters, and which devices are connected. It also details how the network interacts with devices and services outside the network.
This information creates the basic blocks on which all decision-making about the monitoring system design is built. It might be tempting to skip this step, assuming that we know everything there is to know about our organization’s network. But remember, if the foundation is shaky, the end product will not be sustainable or scalable.
2. Ensure high availability of the monitoring system
Often, network monitoring tools themselves are hosted within the same network that they are monitoring. This means that if the network goes down or slows down considerably, the monitor goes down with it as well, and that makes the analysis of collected data nearly impossible.
Therefore, monitoring tools must be deployed with high availability and failover options kept in mind. The easiest and most inexpensive way is to replicate and store all monitor data in an independent data center. The failover can trigger the automatic installation of another network monitor. This system can then be configured to fetch information from this backup in emergencies.
3. Eliminate potential tool sprawl
Today, most enterprises have NetOps teams to focus on network operations. Just as DevOps teams look into automation and validation of development tasks, NetOps teams look to streamline network-related operations. By extension, the task of network monitoring primarily falls on them.
Most NetOps teams start with basic, highly-specialized open-source tools and add the necessary tools when the requirement arises. After a few years of scaling up, network monitoring teams start handling three to ten tools at a time (known as tool sprawl).
Tool sprawls are highly inefficient since it takes time and resources to extract relevant information from them and then make the connections. To eliminate tool sprawl, companies must start with monitoring solutions that are scalable and can be tuned to interface with existing and newer tools. Even if the number of tools being used cannot be brought down strictly to one, interoperability must be one of the essential features to look for.
4. Look out for alert storms
The daisy chain topology is a layout in which identical components are connected in a series, just like the petals of a daisy flower. In large enterprises, the most common daisy-chained component is the switch. A failed switch may set off multiple alerts cascading down to each switch in the chain. This is called an alert storm.
Alert storms occur when alerts are not placed in properly analyzed and strategic places. Too many alerts can cause fatigue and lead the NetOps team to ignore legitimate alerts. Alert storms also distract them from performing other critical operations.
5. Ensure configuration management ties in with monitoring
A variety of devices are involved in keeping data flowing through a network. A router has different configuration parameters compared to a switch. Proper configuration is vital to a stable and secure network. It is common to retain the default configuration that comes out of the box with the device. This isn’t advisable since the organization’s requirements may not match with the default values. This is where configuration management comes in. Configuration management involves tweaking individual values without causing a significant impact on the network.
When configuration management tools tie in with monitoring tools, admins can control users and devices with complete network visibility. This leads to fewer errors and allows them to test pending changes at a smaller scale. Configuration management also automates new components to the network while keeping the baseline and network map updated in the monitor.
6. Collect data from multiple network devices for a complete picture
The complete picture of network health is painted by a combination of information polled from the various devices connected to it. Each data point, be it packet sizes or SNMP data, must be analyzed in conjecture with others to see what kind of insights can be derived from them.
Goals must be set at the beginning of the network monitoring design exercise, just like with any other major activity. These goals can then be filtered down to those insights that are required to fulfill each of them. These insights can then be backtracked to see from where the information can be obtained. Monitoring must also be tuned to filter out unnecessary noise. This kind of analysis takes practice. If an organization is out of time or expertise, it makes sense to hire a consultant or talk to a service provider.
7. Configure and maintain a robust dashboard
Network monitoring hinges on one thing — a dashboard that provides complete visibility of every aspect of the network. Admins must be able to spot abnormal behavior just by glancing at the dashboard. Visualization is important for any monitoring activity. While most monitoring tools automatically build network maps, there must be provision to add specific input. Dashboards also need to be customizable based on the role of the person looking at them and the location.
The ideal way to design the dashboard is to give weightage to the most critical components while showing the rest as part of incident flows at first glance. A cluttered dashboard will only become unwieldy as the network grows and slows down analysis and remediation.
8. Have a documented escalation process in place
Most incident responses start at the network monitor dashboard. Barring natural disasters, all other threats to the network show up first on the monitor. This is why network monitors should be equipped with an escalation matrix. The escalation matrix is usually part of incident response plans. It is a document that defines when an escalation should happen, what processes are to be followed, and who needs to be involved at each level.
Any networking issue spotted on the dashboard must go through the right channels for resolution. This is especially pertinent for large enterprises with global networks, with multiple administrators and teams handling them.
9. Create reports at each layer of the network
A typical network follows the TCP/IP four-layer model, with some still falling back on the seven-layer model of the open systems interconnection (OSI). Each layer is tied to a function such as application, transport, internet, and network access layer. A good network monitoring tool makes sure that information is presented at each level of these layers. This provides complete coverage of all aspects of the network.
Apart from this, reports must also be based on incident flows and problem management. Reports are critical to network monitoring because:
- They validate the existing network
- They highlight historically relevant information
- They expose trends that can be used to reorganize or scale the network
- They provide regulators with proof of compliance
10. Ensure the right expertise for each aspect of monitoring
As mentioned earlier, network monitoring is a sum of application monitoring, web service monitoring, and a host of other monitoring functionalities. For each type of monitoring, the right type of expertise is required to extract the most optimal information necessary. Each of these follows its own communication protocols, with some even using APIs.
The game plan for each monitoring exercise varies. For example, web servers emulate user flows to see if something breaks in the middle. Similarly, monitoring a database server requires querying using a DB scripting language, for example, SQL. Each of these needs a different skill set, and the NetOps team must reflect this.
See More: Wide Area Network (WAN) vs. Local Area Network (LAN): Key Differences and Similarities
Takeaway
A company’s posture is directly connected to its network infrastructure. The network grows with the company, which means that large enterprises need dedicated experts to improve network performance, stability, and security. Businesses can opt to build a monitoring system from scratch or subscribe to services based on what resources they have at their disposal. It is vital since the scope of network monitoring stretches from everyday operations to consumer data protection.
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