Network monitoring tools may assist in identifying solutions for a variety of issues, such as delayed web page downloads, misplaced emails, doubtful behavior from users, poor file delivery due to overcrowded and crashed servers, along with any issues regarding network connections. Lets find out what Network Monitoring tools works better and efficiently.

Best Network Monitoring Tools

Among the vast variety of options available in the market, choosing the best network monitoring tool for you would be based on your unique requirements. This could include your specific demands, the size and complexity of your network, and your budget, all of which would determine which solution is the most ideal for you.

Some of the best network monitoring tools include:

Nagios: 

Nagios is an open-source software program used to monitor and alert network servers and devices.

Features:

• Network and host monitoring: Checks that servers, network equipment, applications, and services are operational and performing as planned.
• Alerting: When it notices an issue with a monitored device or service, it sends notifications by email, SMS, or other channels.
• Event handling: If an issue is found, it can automatically take relevant action, like restarting a service or alerting an administrator.
• Plug-ins: These are scripts that may be executed to verify the status of a device or service and can be used for its extension.

Historical reporting: This may save historical information on the services and devices being tracked, which is useful for reporting and trend analysis.

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor:

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) is a network monitoring software application designed for IT experts.

Features:

• Network mapping: Offers an interactive network map, displaying the connections between devices and assisting managers in finding issues fast.
• Real-time monitoring: Delivers real-time visibility into network performance, which involves traffic flow, device availability, and response time.
• Alerting: Allows administrators to handle problems more quickly by sending alerts by email, SMS, or other channels when it discovers an issue with a device or service.
• Customizable dashboards: Administrators can view the data that is most essential to them with ease using its customized dashboards.
• Traffic analysis: Helps in seeing trends, using patterns, and possible security issues owing to its comprehensive traffic monitoring and reporting.

Wireshark:

Wireshark is an open-source network protocol analyzer that lets you view what’s going on in your network at a granular level for free.

Features:

• Network traffic capture: Supports a large number of network protocols and may record network data from several interfaces.
• Live capture and offline analysis: Allows real-time network traffic collection and analysis.
• Protocol decoding: TCP, HTTP, UDP, DNS, and other network protocols may be decoded and shown.
• Filtering: Filters the network traffic that has been recorded, which makes it simpler to locate particular packets that you want.
• Color coding: Highlights particular kinds of network data, like faults or possible security issues, using color coding.

Zabbix: 

Zabbix is an open-source software program for keeping track of numerous metrics, such as those related to network equipment, services, servers, and software.

Features:

• Monitoring: May keep an eye on a variety of indicators, such as network traffic, device availability, and reaction time, to make sure everything is operating as it should.
• Alerting: When it notices an issue with a monitored device or service, it sends notifications by email, SMS, or other channels, assisting managers in taking immediate corrective action.
• Event correlation: Can identify and investigate complicated events, and then take appropriate action, like restarting a service or alerting an administrator, in response to those events.
• Flexible data collection: Provides support for a variety of data-gathering techniques, such as SNMP, JMX, IPMI, and others, which makes it easier to keep track of a variety of devices and services.
• Historical data storage: Provides administrators with the ability to observe trends and evaluate performance by archiving previous information regarding monitored metrics.

PRTG Network Monitor: 

PRTG Network Monitor is a professional network monitoring software tool that helps in ensuring that the systems run smoothly without any outages.

Features:

Network monitoring: To make sure they are operating as intended, PRTG may monitor a variety of network equipment, servers, software, and services.

Real-time monitoring: Offers real-time insight into network performance, which includes traffic flow, device accessibility, and response time.

Alerting: Upon discovering an issue with a device or service, it notifies the administrators by email, SMS, or other channels, enabling them to take fast action.

Reporting: Administrators may create comprehensive reports on tracked metrics and performance trends using its feature.

Autodiscovery: With its auto-discovery capability, new network devices may be discovered and added to the monitoring system automatically.

Datadog: 

Datadog is a monitoring and analytics platform that enables businesses to monitor, display, and evaluate the performance of their applications, infrastructure, and services over the cloud.

Features:

• Infrastructure monitoring: This can keep an eye on a variety of infrastructure components, which includes servers, network devices, containers, and cloud resources.
• Application performance monitoring: Offers comprehensive insight into app performance, which involves response time measurement, error reporting, and request tracing.
• Log management: Can gather, store, and analyze log data, which makes it easier to track system performance and fix problems.
• Real-time data analysis: Offers real-time data analysis, enabling administrators to swiftly identify and address problems as they happen.
• Scalability: Manages large amounts of monitoring data and is scaleable to fit the requirements of expanding companies.

Why is Network Monitoring Tools Important?

Network monitoring tools are crucial since they give you insight into the functionality, security, and availability of your network. Using network monitoring tools has several advantages, including:

• Early problem detection: Network monitoring tools may spot issues before they become serious. This allows you to fix them right away and cut down on downtime.
• Enhanced security: These tools offer you any information you require for taking action to stop security attacks. These also warn you about possible security risks like unauthorized access or malware, etc.
• Improved network performance: You may discover and fix bottlenecks, along with enhancing overall network performance with the use of network monitoring tools, which can offer real-time visibility into the performance of your network.
• Increased efficiency: Your total efficiency may be increased while cutting expenses with the use of network monitoring tools that can optimize network usage and better manage resources.
• Better decision-making: The data and information you require for designing your network’s capacity, allocating resources, troubleshooting issues, and resolving them are provided by network monitoring tools.
• Compliance: The visibility and information you require for proving compliance with standards like HIPAA, PCI DSS, and others are provided by these tools, which may assist you in meeting regulatory obligations.

FAQs

1. How often should I monitor my network?
   The frequency of network monitoring is determined by a company’s particular demands and the significance of its systems and services. Although some businesses may keep an eye on their networks in real-time, others might only do so occasionally.
2. How do I choose among the best network monitoring tools for my company?
   Choosing the best network monitoring tools for a company will rely on a variety of factors, such as the size and complexity of the network, the devices and services it will be monitoring, and the available budget.
3. What are the different types of network monitoring tools?
   Network performance monitors, application performance management tools, and log management tools are just a few examples of the various types of network monitoring tools.
4. What kind of data should I monitor on my network?
   Depending on the particular requirements of the company, a network must monitor certain types of data. Network traffic, response time, device availability, and system logs are examples of common data kinds that are tracked.
5. How can I ensure the security of my network monitoring data?
   The use of secure communication protocols, putting access control procedures in place, and encryption of sensitive data are all ways to guarantee the security of network monitoring data.
6. Can network monitoring be done on the cloud?
   Yes, companies may monitor their networks from the cloud with the help of cloud-based network monitoring technologies.