Network Monitoring Solutions for IT Pros | Spiceworks

A good network administrator quickly addresses issues that jeopardize your company’s network infrastructure. But a great one goes the extra mile and uses a reliable network monitoring solution to proactively identify, intercept, and prevent the issues.

What’s network monitoring? And why should I care?

Network monitoring serves as your eyes-and-ears, alerting you to any issues on your network. You can keep track of things like printer supplies, software installations, hard drive space, contract due dates – just about anything you can think of that relates to your network.The vast majority of problems that arise in a network are directly related to something changing. The best network monitoring solutions will not only alert you to these changes, but will also help you troubleshoot the issue by allowing you to compare your network’s current state with what it looked like before the change. This means you can solve the problem faster!The most proactive of IT pros set up their network monitoring systems to alert them via email or text message whenever issues arise. This not only keeps them on top of potential problems so they can address them as quickly as possible, but it also prevents them from creating an issue. Plus, this type of proactive problem solving makes you a household favorite with everyone from your boss to your customers!

What should I look for in a network monitor solution?

While every network is different, there are four areas that any best-of-the-best network monitor should be able to do:Monitor PC hardware and supplies: A key component to network monitoring is knowing when changes are made to your network devices. You need to be alerted when disk space is low, disks are removed or added, devices lose connectivity, or toner gets low so you can immediately address the problems.Monitor software: Monitoring software is more than just keeping track of what is being installed and uninstalled on your computers. Proper network monitoring means:

• Keeping track of installations
• Noting which licenses are set to expire
• Knowing which hotfixes (patches to fix specific bugs) are installed
• Staying on top of the current state of all Windows services on each machine
• Making sure all of your computers are protected with an up to date antivirus software

Monitor web traffic: Networks only have a limited amount of bandwidth for all employees to share. For instance, if one employee is using a large chunk of the bandwidth, it causes a traffic jam that negatively impacts everyone else on the same network. This becomes an even more pronounced issue when you use network switches and end up accidentally overloading another switch which leaves the others practically empty. An effective network monitoring setup will let you see where bottlenecks are occurring and how evenly the devices are distributed.Keep track of your IT services info: There are many things on your network you’ll want to track that aren’t necessarily physical objects, such as noting which IT service contracts are set to expire. It’s not something you initially think of when working with a network monitor, but it can provide additional benefits such as helping your organization to save money. By giving you plenty of advanced notice that your IT contracts are set to expire, you allot yourself plenty of time to shop around and do your research to get the best deals.

Which network monitoring tool is best?

OK, so now you understand how monitoring network problems will help keep your users productive, your bosses happy, and reduce your stress levels by addressing issues before they accelerate … but how do you know which network monitoring tool is the right one?As with any other major purchase, you want to do your research and investigate which solutions software companies offer. You’ll find plenty of companies out there with network monitoring solutions that could help your organization. But note that several network monitoring software packages cost thousands of dollars for setup and installation, training, maintenance, and regular patches and fixes. Not to mention, the amount of valuable time you’ll spend evaluating each product to ensure it’s worth its price.