Robust traffic analysis capabilities are essential to optimizing bandwidth in your environment. Before you implement, make sure your observability solution has these covered.
Monitor and Analyze Network Traffic Patterns
Begin by verifying that your observability solution encompasses a variety of flow formats, including:
- NetFlow
- NetFlow Lite
- sFlow
- jFlow
- IPFIX
- NetStream
- NBAR2
Broad compatibility allows for comprehensive monitoring across diverse devices. By adopting this holistic approach, you not only improve bandwidth efficiency but also bolster the reliability and responsiveness of your network infrastructure.
Provide Granular Traffic Analysis
Granular traffic analysis entails dissecting network traffic in detail, including the specific protocols, application types, and endpoints involved. Does your observability tool include customizable filters on flow data? These filters make it easy to pinpoint which traffic types consume bandwidth and assess whether they are essential for business operations. This level of granularity is vital not only for flow visualizations at the device and interface levels but also for diagnosing and resolving performance-related issues.
Create Network-Wide Visualization
Make sure your observability solution provides effective, network-wide visualizations. By employing clear and comprehensive visual representations, organizations can achieve a system-wide understanding of traffic flows from all sources. Ensure your solution can visualize key aspects such as:
- Top Protocols
- Domains
- Countries
- Endpoints
- Conversations
- Applications
- NBAR2 applications
These insights will enable you to spot patterns and anomalies across the network.
Identify Top Bandwidth Consumers
Your observability solution should provide clear visibility into which devices and applications are the top bandwidth consumers, allowing IT teams to swiftly pinpoint sources of excessive usage. Essential information like 'Top Endpoints' and 'Top Conversations' should be available to quickly identify heavy traffic sources. Your tool should then be able to provide further in-depth analysis at the application level, helping teams understand the specific services, such as video conferencing or file sharing, that are straining network resources. Real-time monitoring of bandwidth consumption is important to ensure that any spikes in usage can be promptly addressed to maintain optimal network performance. Finally, the ability to generate customizable reports and alerts can empower teams to enforce fair usage policies, helping enhttps://orangematter.solarwinds.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpsure a balanced distribution of network resources across all users.
Deliver Data-Driven Insights for Intelligent Resource Allocation
When selecting an observability solution, look for tools that deliver historical traffic data, enabling your team to recognize bandwidth usage trends and effectively plan for future growth. Prioritize solutions that identify underused bandwidth, allowing for optimization and cost efficiency in your network investments. Ensure the tool can offer real-time insights into traffic patterns, which aids in maintaining optimal bandwidth usage. Finally, seek features that alert your team to potential threats, enhancing security alongside performance.
Are you in the market for an observability solution that does all of the above? SolarWinds® Observability provides the capabilities you need to ensure a highly performing network that optimizes your resources. These capabilities have been part of our Self-Hosted Observability option for a year now, and were recently added to our SaaS option. To learn more, head to our user community, THWACK®.
