Implementing network monitoring for organization is not something new for large enterprise networks; but for small to medium sized businesses a comprehensive monitoring solution is often not inside their limited budgets.

Network monitoring involves a system that keeps track of the status of the various elements within a network; this can be something as simple as using ICMP (ping) traffic to verify that a device is responsive. However, the more comprehensive options offer a much deeper perspective on the network.

Such elements include:

• Predictive Analysis
• Root Cause Analysis
• Alarm Management
• SLA Monitoring and Measurement
• Configuration Management
• NetFlow Analysis
• Network Device and Back up

All of these element are key driving factors for any business. If you have read any of my previous blogs you will be aware of the three clear benefits of using a network monitoring system, these benefits include:

1. Cost savings
2. Speed
3. Flexibility

However there a few small cons when looking at this topic.

Security

The security of any solution that requires public connectivity is of the utmost importance; using a cloud network monitoring solution requires a great amount of trust being placed in the cloud provider. If you trust your supplier there should be no reason to worry.

Connectivity

With network monitoring applications that are deployed in-house, the systems themselves typically sit at the most central part of an organization's network.

With a cloud based solution, the connection to an external entity is not going to have such straightforward connectivity, and with this the risk of losing access to managed elements is a real possibility. However if your provider has an automatic back up device installed this is something which should not deter you away.

Performance

This interlinks with connectivity as the availability of bandwidth between an in-house system and managed elements vs the available bandwidth between an external cloud option and the managed elements can be significant.

If the number of elements that require management is large, it is best to find a cloud option that offers the deployment of an internal collector that sits inside the premises of the organization.

There are certainly a number of advantages that come with cloud offerings which make them very attractive, especially to smaller organizations; however it is important to analyze the whole picture before making a decision.

If you would like to find out more about this topic why not schedule a one on one technical discussion with or experienced technical engineers.

Thanks to NMSaaS for the article.