Methods and means of local network control

The article describes why network monitoring is needed, how it works, how to look for its tools, approaches to their use and methods of monitoring the local network itself.

In order to keep the network in working order, constant monitoring of its operation is necessary. Using control tools, the administrator can identify and eliminate any threats that interfere with the normal functioning of the network.

The process of monitoring the operation of the network is divided into two stages – monitoring and analysis.

Monitoring monitors the network performance at all its hardware and software levels. It provides visibility to your local computer network (LAN), including computers, routers, servers, printers and more. Engineers use network monitoring to prevent and eliminate network failures.

Why monitor the network?

The network is the life path of the IT infrastructure. When networks fail, the flow of information needed by applications and business operations stops.

Networks are dynamic environments. Network administrators are constantly being asked to add new users, technologies and applications to their networks. These changes may affect their ability to provide stable and predictable network performance.

When problems arise, network administrators are forced to identify the root cause before it affects users, applications, and businesses. This is problematic with intermittent performance issues that are difficult to reproduce and diagnose.

How does network monitoring work?

Networks provide information transfer between two systems, including between two computers or applications. The open Systems interaction model (breaks down several functions that computer systems use to send and receive data. In order for data to be sent over the network, it passes through each OSI component using different protocols, starting from the physical layer and ending with the application layer. Network monitoring provides visibility to the various components that make up the network, which allows engineers to troubleshoot network problems at any level at which they occur.

LAN Monitoring Tools

LAN monitoring tools include a wide range of applications, from simple packet interception software to full-fledged network monitoring applications that provide graphical information with alerts and warnings. They can also be used to detect and identify inefficient channels or network devices. In other words, they provide network administrators with a universal application for monitoring the entire network infrastructure with information collected in real time from the entire network and aggregated in one place.

There are a large number of LAN monitoring tools on the market. Moreover, there is a wide range of available functions that are suitable for both small networks and multinational enterprise systems. However, regardless of the size of the network, when choosing a local network monitoring tool, the following should be taken into account.

Visualization – providing detailed information in real time about what is happening throughout the network, including the health status of all devices and channels.

Alerts and Reports – provide notifications and accurate reports in case of suspicious events, crashes and performance issues.

Setup the ability to accept user-defined alerts, thresholds, and automation.

Multi-vendor must be compatible with the hardware of different vendors and visible from the same application, server or tool.

Analysis tools should include other tools for deep network analysis.

Flexibility and scalability the ability to scale to monitor more devices as the network grows, including simply removing and adding devices.

There are also several approaches to monitoring:

SNMP

Historically, tools have used SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), a standard protocol used to monitor the status of a wide range of devices in IP networks. Currently, this method is often called infrastructure monitoring, since it can cover the entire infrastructure of the company and every device in it.

Network telemetry

To provide more detailed information, other network monitoring tools use network metadata. These tools form a category of network traffic monitoring or network traffic visualization solutions because they are designed to provide information about various aspects of network IP traffic.

For example, they can identify bottlenecks and other sources of deterioration in the quality of service and accurately determine their location in the application delivery chain. This includes not only the faulty element, but also the nature of the problem, be it server latency, an incorrectly configured device, or insufficient channel bandwidth.

Cloud telemetry

Due to the undeniable advantages of flexibility and ease of management, enterprises continue to implement cloud and hybrid infrastructures. However, the cloud creates barriers to visibility, which makes the ability to track cloud traffic a popular feature among network monitoring tools.

Many solutions rely on third-party package brokers to transfer cloud data to them. Although such solutions are certainly effective, they tend to have a high price. To eliminate this disadvantage, vendors develop software tests for deployment in IaaS environments and use flow logs, which are essentially the cloud equivalent of data on flows generated by network switches, etc.

Full packet capture

Some solutions use a strict approach to capturing and processing complete packet data, i.e. not only network traffic metadata, but also the entire communication as a whole. This approach provides full detail, but has huge storage and processing requirements.

Fortunately, some solutions use a hybrid approach to monitoring, in which they rely on streams for most of the traffic monitoring, but if necessary support full packet capture and analysis on request or upon detection.

Network monitoring methods

There are many network monitoring methods that are used by IT specialists. Methods are deployed using network monitoring solutions that automatically detect and respond to security and performance issues.

Intrusion Detection

Monitors local networks for unauthorized access by hackers. This method can be implemented manually, but it is better to use an intrusion detection program that automatically detects viruses and malware, network vulnerabilities such as backdoors, logic bombs and other security threats, individual PCs connected to the network, and file settings. intrusion detection programs create reports after checking the system so that any problems can be solved.

Packet Analysis

A packet analyzer is a program that checks every packet of information passing through a network. The purpose of the packet analyzer is to detect unauthorized network monitoring software that can be installed by hackers to monitor business activity and information processes.

Vulnerability scanning

The scanner will periodically scan the network for vulnerabilities and weaknesses that open up the potential for an exploit. This method differs from intrusion detection because it finds a vulnerability before an attack has occurred. Intrusion detection identifies unauthorized access after a hacker has breached the network.

Firewall Monitoring

Firewalls monitor incoming and outgoing traffic on the network. Monitoring monitors the actions of the firewall to ensure the correct and safe functioning of the process of checking incoming and outgoing connections.

Penetration testing

It is carried out by IT specialists using methods that hackers use to break into the network. The purpose of this process is to take network security to a new level by detecting vulnerabilities that hackers may have known about, but which have not yet been detected using other monitoring methods.

If you have a small business, you can consider network monitoring as an integral part of your data security strategy. As you can see, ensuring the security of a local network requires a lot of effort, which can lead to an increase in network maintenance costs.

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