Author Michael Talbert is a certified systems engineer and web designer with over 8 years experience in the industry. For more information on VoIP and Unified Communications, visit the website VoIP-Facts.net, or the VoIP Blog for up to date industry news and commentary.

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A network monitoring tool can be acquired online for free. While most system administrators feel that anything free is of no use, but that is absolutely not true. You can find many great tools online that are free that work every bit as good as the paid versions. When looking for a free version of the tool you need, you need to be careful and choose wisely.

One of the main things you need to check before you download any free tool to examine your network is it free of viruses? There are many hackers out there who just love to cause damage to other people’s systems. What they will do is take free software and put viruses on there that will infect the computer networks causing all kinds of trouble both financially and mentally.

Now lets talk about the kinds of tools you need and what they can do. The over-all operation of the computer network can be managed satisfactorily using a number of these free network-monitoring-tools.

The monitoring tools and their uses that can be found online for free are:

Ping tester

A network monitoring tool essential for detecting servers and other network devices within a network. This kind of monitoring instrument will usually perform pinging activities in the background.

Bandwidth monitoring tool

System Administrators need a monitoring tool that can measure bandwidth usage of each server as part of network management systems. Information logs can be extracted in a daily, weekly or monthly basis from this tool.

Network device and node discovery tools

Network management will also require a tool that can detect a network device in real-time. The System Administrator will need to know if a computer user will connect a device to the network since most technical set-up of computers have provisions for plug and play devices.

Process and activity monitoring tools

System Administrators use protocol analyzers and network sniffers to monitor the activities going on inside the network. They are able to identify processes and activities that can pose a threat to the security and operation of the network using these network tools.

Port monitoring tool

This network tool will monitor processes and activities at the serial and parallel ports of network devices. Some tools have enhancement and filtering capabilities that can be useful to System Administrators.

Security monitoring tool

Network monitoring systems use this tool to detect external and internal threats to the network. Though most network-monitoring-tools that can block unwanted traffic are only available for a price, System Administrators usually use free network monitoring tools to detect these attacks and use another system to block them.

A free network monitoring tool can be a great asset to any computer network. Just be sure you know that the tool you are getting is what will do you and your computer system the most good.

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Free Network Monitoring Software is vital for any computer network! For simple straight forward techniques to make sure your network is working properly rush over to http://www.NetworkMonitoringServices.org/!

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Overview:

This article will define a network management strategy for managing the network. It is necessary to define how the equipment is going to be monitored and determine if the current management strategy is adequate or if new applications, equipment, protocols and processes must be identified. Management components are then integrated with infrastructure and security. These primary elements comprise any well-defined management strategy and should be considered when developing your strategy.

Network Management Strategy

• Network Management Groups
• SNMP Applications
• Monitored Devices and Events

Network Management Groups

• Fault
• Performance
• Device
• Security
• Change
• Configuration
• Implementation

Fault Management

This describes the pro-active monitoring of devices, circuits and servers for errors. It specifies what events are monitored and thresholds for generating alarms. Once the alarms are generated, there is an escalation process for addressing any errors. It could be a circuit problem, a router interface or a server link. Service level agreements with local loop providers and long distance IXC for circuit repair are important as is vendor equipment repair contracts. Out-of-band router management allows troubleshooting and configuration of routers with an attached modem. The support technician doesn’t rely on the primary circuit to reach the router. They will utilize a separate analog dial line with a modem connected to the auxiliary port at the router. Escalation support processes are defined that are used by the network operations center (NOC) employees for effective problem resolution. These are some typical support activities:

• Established Tier support levels with job responsibilities well defined for each Tier group
• Defined severity levels and what Tier group is responsible
• Defined response times for severity levels
• Applications for trouble tickets
• Established troubleshooting procedures for employees
• Root Cause Analysis
• Survey support groups for skill levels, identify deficiencies and plan for training programs to address that

Performance Management

This describes the pro-active monitoring of device, circuit and server performance levels. That translates to monitoring and reporting on trends with device CPU, memory and link utilization, circuit bandwidth utilization, server CPU, memory and disk input/output rate. As well campus segments and device interfaces should be monitored for collisions, CRC errors and packet drops. Bandwidth capacity planning is an on-going process of monitoring bandwidth utilization trends for the enterprise network and consideration of business growth estimates. That information is utilized for developing a provisioning strategy addressing company bandwidth capacity needs. The dynamic nature of an enterprise network is such that new locations, employees and application deployments will increase network traffic and utilize available bandwidth. Trend monitoring tools are typically run from the network operations center and focus on enterprise traffic patterns and performance of circuits, routers and switches.

RMON is a popular protocol that is utilized for monitoring router, switch and campus segment performance with probes at various offices across the enterprise. Information can be collected at all layers of the OSI model for statistics on utilizations, packet size and errors. In addition there are specific SNMP applications designed for bandwidth capacity planning. The bandwidth provisioning strategy could involve faster campus and WAN equipment, increased bandwidth for circuits, quality of service protocols or a combination of any of those elements.

Security Management

This describes the management of device and server security that is consistent with the policies of the corporation. Typical devices are firewalls, routers, switches, TACACS servers and RADIUS servers. Security includes community strings, password assignment, change policy, dial security and Internet security.

Device Management

This describes the maintenance of a database inventory that lists all campus and WAN devices, modules, serial numbers, IOS versions, server documentation and design. It is important that companies keep information on these assets for support and warranty issues.

Configuration Management

This describes the process of configuring, and documenting devices, circuits and servers on the enterprise network. A process for configuring new equipment, modifying current equipment and maintaining TFTP servers should be established. Those scripts should be saved to TFTP servers and documented for later use with subsequent configurations. Build a directory structure with a folder for each equipment type and subdirectories for model types.

Change Management

This describes a process for approving and coordinating device configuration changes and is essential for network availability. Staff members that make unapproved changes without alerting affected departments can cause problems if the changes don’t work and are made during busier times of the day. Any changes to the production network should involve at least the network operation center and someone from the engineering group. As well it could be important to let the application developers know of network changes. Any change management process should have these components:

Review Process

• Affected departments consider impact of changes and discuss concerns
• Proof of concept and quality assurance testing
• Develop a timeline for changes approved by all departments
• Departments plan contingencies should there be network issues
• Approval process: software manages and records approvals from groups
• Pro-active monitoring of unauthorized changes

Implementation Management

This describes the process for managing new implementations such that there is no disruption to the production network and the implementation is efficient and effective. These are some network operations center (NOC) activities that should be part of any typical implementation management strategy. Consider vendor support contracts for support with configuration scripts, testing, and design since that will promote an effective implementation.

Standard Network Operations Center Activities:

1. Turn on circuits and ping all new devices to verify connectivity
2. Modify SNMP applications at network operations center for pro-active fault and performance monitoring of new devices
3. Verify devices are SNMP enabled and security is applied
4. Update the inventory database and save configuration scripts to a TFTP server

SNMP Applications

There are a myriad of SNMP applications on the market that focus on managing servers, devices and circuits. An enterprise customer will sometimes employ several applications including their own software that address each management group. The SNMP version that is implemented should be noted at each device and server. This is a list of popular commercial applications and how they could be utilized.

Monitored Devices and Events

Typical devices such as routers, switches and circuits are configured and monitored with SNMP applications. Thresholds are defined for each event that will trigger an alarm when that is exceeded. A polling interval is configured for each event, which describes the time interval between sending of status information from device to network management station. An example would be a router CPU utilization threshold of 60% and a polling interval of 10 minutes.

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Shaun Hummel is the author of Network Planning and Design Guide and has a web site focused on information technology job search solutions and certifications:  http://www.networkjobsolutions.com

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Steve Bulmer is CTO and an author for Consonus, a solutions provider of data center virtualization. Consonus offers virtualization solutions tailor made to fit any business need.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

Monitoring network security is a task that is not just for the big computer companies. More small businesses are running a computer network that needs to be constantly checked. More people are working from home and have to network their computers. They need to make sure that their system is safe from intruders to protect their personal information as well as their client’s information.

In an age where connectivity is in the layman’s hands, where computers the world over work on the same platform, and where linkage happens on scales unimaginable a decade earlier, it’s no wonder that there is an opening in a wide, unknown universe – that of networks. It is this same ‘unknown’ element that makes this sector such a dynamic one, and protecting your ‘doors’ that open into this world is a must, through monitoring network security.

Network monitoring is the key to ensuring efficiency and to keep an eye on the proper running of all tasks pertinent to the world of networks. It enables proper monitoring of all resources and aspects of a network, whether it is a single-server system in a home, or a more complicated, extended network for an enterprise, or even on the scales of LAN and WAN networks. Monitoring network security takes place on numerous levels, and can be done by the network administrator, through dedicated software packages, and also through a remote monitoring service.

Security monitoring takes place through various means, and some of the things that are checked often are firewalls, intrusion-detection systems, log files, website and system and application events, among others.

Security options are available on all network monitoring software packages, and these scan the system for breaches and other intrusions. Bots, worms, Trojans, and sometimes viruses that escape the antivirus program’s scanning can harm a network, affecting bandwidth and performance, resulting in problems encountered by users and clients.

Security services, on the other hand, work almost in a proactive way to make sure that little problems like the big ones do not go unnoticed and are catered to in due time before a problem should occur. Security can also be compromised through ‘mundane’ happenings, such as installation of unauthorized applications and equipment, use of peer-to-peer programs, over-full hard drives, and probes and scans directed at an Internet connection from the outside.

Monitoring network security helps to prevent problems, and also aids in defense against malicious attacks, insure against unnecessary risks, and also by providing awareness as to what is really happening across a network.

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Free Network Monitoring Software is vital for any computer network! For simple straight forward techniques to make sure your network is working properly rush over to http://www.NetworkMonitoringServices.org/!

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Article Source: EzineArticles.com