Network Monitoring

Any time you're watching over a computer network to make sure it runs at optimal levels you're doing network monitoring. Somebody who monitors the network looks for slow or failing system problems. In cases where there are problems with the network they will contact the network administrator. Contact may be made by e-mail, phone, in person or in some other form. Network monitoring is a vital function in network management.

Someone may monitor a network for threats from outside sources and may do so manually or with software, such as intrusion detection systems. Or, they may monitor the system for problems that occur internally from the network, such as crashed servers, improper connections and data overload. Sometimes they monitor both internal and external functions of the network.

When performing any type of monitoring, the person may set up a test message or HTTP request to be retrieved to determine the status of the server. What they look for is measuring the response time and availability in the network, as well as the reliability and consistency of that network.

There are now certain tools and software that have automated aspects of network monitoring. For example, in case of a timeout or when a network connection cannot be established usually there is an alert given by the system. An alarm may sound or a message may be sent to the proper authority.

Ideally, you want to set up a network system that works to identify and prevent network related problems before they occur and crash the system. In this case, you want to have certain warning systems in place to alert you to the data the server can handle so you can make adjustments to stop server crashes.

Most monitoring contains logs of all the actions and functions of the network so that network administrator can review it in case there are unexpected problems to determine the cause of those problems.

When it comes to Internet connections, most monitors of a network can supervise Internet usage and register different fingerprints so to speak, for each computer connected to the network. In this case, you can trace back all the actions of the network to the computers on which they were performed on.

In any case, when there is a server set up to network a group of computers whether through the Internet or locally, some sort of network monitoring system needs to be established to ensure proper and optimal running of the network.