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Network monitoring is essential for any organization that relies on computer networks to keep operations running. Today, this requirement applies not only to large enterprises, but also to small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), government agencies, educational institutions, school districts and other entities. While these organizations depend on smoothly performing networks as much as large enterprises do, they often lack the budget and IT resources to purchase and support complex high-end network monitoring systems.
Virtually any commercially available network monitoring system will meet the functional needs of these organizations. While specific features vary, nearly all alternatives provide:
- A unified "dashboard" interface;- Real-time reports and graphs;
- The ability to monitor common network devices and services;
- Auto-discovery of devices and services for monitoring; and - The ability to set alert thresholds.
With little difference in functionality, it is the underlying technology that differentiates network monitoring systems on vital criteria such as cost, usability, access, ease of installation and maintenance.
Network monitoring products can be grouped into five categories based on architecture:
- Open-source software
- Low-cost desktop software
- Enterprise software
- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
- Appliance-enabled Services (AeS)
All provide essential network monitoring functionality, but their underlying architectures offer differing degrees of simplicity, cost and accessibility.
Open-Source Software
The primary appeal of open-source software is price-there is no up-front cost for the application or ongoing software maintenance fees. Popular packages such as Hyperic, OpenNMS and Nagios are also functionally rich, having been developed over time by communities of developers familiar with network monitoring.
Open-source products, however, involve a number of hidden costs. Generally, deploying an open-source network monitoring application requires purchasing, configuring and maintaining a dedicated server, and often requires installation of additional open-source or commercial applications.
Configuring and maintaining these systems is a time-consuming endeavor requiring specialized knowledge. In addition, data backups require manual setup. Because there is generally no commercial support available, network administrators must rely on web-based resources and their own ingenuity to solve problems.
Finally, open-source systems are impractical for organizations with remote sites and centralized IT staffs, as they don't provide a centralized view of multiple networks. As a result, implementation, use and maintenance of these applications require dedicated IT resources at each location.
Desktop Software
A number of low-cost (priced from $500 to $2,500) internal monitoring products are available for organizations with anywhere from 10 to 1,000 networked devices. Major vendors include Ipswitch, SolarWinds, Breakout Technologies and Nessoft. For small businesses, the chief advantage of these products is cost-but there are tradeoffs to consider.
First, these software systems require considerable effort to maintain. Each patch and upgrade requires IT time to download and install. Plus, data backup must be configured manually. Major upgrades may require a hardware upgrade or even a new hardware purchase. In some instances, the previous monitoring configuration can be lost, requiring IT to rebuild monitoring settings.
Second, these products are difficult to scale. As with open-source applications, the software must be installed, configured and maintained on each network to be monitored, increasing demands on IT resources as networking needs grow.
A third disadvantage of low-cost software is limited visibility. Most low-cost monitoring software resides inside the firewall and is dependent on the network itself for carrying out network device checks and other monitoring activities. If the desktop where the software resides crashes or loses connectivity, administrators lose some or all of their network visibility. And if network administrators want to access low-cost monitoring software from outside the office (e.g., from home using an Internet connection) they must either open firewall holes or set up costly, complex VPN access to the network.
Enterprise Software
HP OpenView, IBM Tivoli, Computer Associates Unicenter and BMC PATROL are sometimes called the "big four" of enterprise network monitoring. Other vendors in this arena include Compuware, NetQoS and NetScout. These monitoring tools are part of much larger network management product lines and are a poor fit for the needs and budgets of organizations with limited IT resources. Depending on licensing, cost can range from $50,000 to more than $250,000, with annual maintenance costs at 15 percent to 30 percent of software costs.
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