1. Think Outside the Network
The network manager frequently receives complaints when things on the network slow down. Usually, more links, bandwidth, and faster routers are requested. Even though the network is generally to blame for complaints, the real offender can be somewhere else.
The world in which we live is application-oriented. Marketing, sales, human resources, payroll, and benefits are all frequently outsourced to specialist third-party applications. Although the network manager has no control over how these applications operate, they can have an impact on how the network functions and how the client experience is felt in general. The user frequently blames the network even if it is lightning-fast and has plenty of capacity available if an application is taking too long to respond to a request.
Network traffic should be continuously monitored as a fix for this problem. The genuine response time problem can be easily identified if the network manager is aware of the applications being used and receives reports on application response times. Although organizations may not have direct control over application quality, with the right monitoring and analysis, they can identify the cause of response problems. Effective monitoring can prevent spending money on issues that do not exist and offer the data required to collaborate with third-party application providers to solve problems and enhance service.
2. Future Planning
Growth is inevitable. The network upgrade from last year already requires an update. BYOD allows employees to work remotely using laptops and cell phones. Demand for networks has increased due to digital change. Even more devices will be connected to the network as a result of IoT and 5G expansion. Engineering for "peak times" has been superseded by a worldwide business model requiring access around-the-clock. An increase in computer speeds, bandwidth, and a variety of other considerations now requires thoughtful planning.
Understanding the past and present is necessary for making future plans. A thoughtful study of what can be anticipated in the future can be developed with the aid of knowledge of past and present traffic patterns. With no predetermined path for future expansion, the goal is just to ease current pressure, which results in a vicious cycle of crisis management.
On the other hand, ongoing observation of traffic patterns, application usage, and device expansion can result in informative analysis that aids in the development of a long-term growth strategy. This kind of intelligent expansion planning helps decrease network bottlenecks and outages, rush charges, and create a clear route forward within established budget and performance criteria.
3. Embrace Your New Normal
This advice is vital. You won't be alert to potentially disastrous anomalies if you don't have visibility into your traffic and know what is typical. A 2022 study in IT Governance found that it takes an average of 287 days to identify a data breach. When organizations did not adapt their IT to cope with the pandemic or make other similar changes, the average cost of a breach was $5.01 million, as compared to the global overall average of $4.24 million. An intriguing observation was that 53% of breaches are found by a third party. All of this suggests that businesses are unable to distinguish between legitimate and malicious traffic.
Organizations can develop patterns and construct metrics to determine what traffic belongs on the network and what traffic has the potential to be harmful by constantly monitoring and recording all network traffic. Today's AI tools even can foresee potential issues before they do damage.
4. GIGO
Garbage In, Garbage Out is a dated computing phrase that applies here. For your network's present and future, the three suggestions listed above are essential. Continuous traffic monitoring and analysis can assist identify issue areas, plan for future expansion, and more rapidly identify potentially fraudulent traffic that could end up costing the organization millions of dollars. Traffic analysis, however, is only as good as the data fed to the tools.
Independent network TAPs offer a fail-safe connection of monitoring links to tools that provide traffic visibility and analysis. TAPs give these instruments perfectly accurate and comprehensive mirror copies of the traffic. TAPs pass all packets, in contrast to SPAN or mirror ports that could erratically drop packets during busy times or fail to pass all of the packets. Additionally, TAPs are network-independent and do not increase internal switch traffic or add latency.
To learn more about network monitoring and visibility, contact Network Critical’s expert team at www.networkcritical.com
