How do you scale and optimize your network monitoring tool as your network grows?

1 Choose a scalable tool

Not all network monitoring tools are created equal. Some tools may have limitations on the number of devices, interfaces, or protocols they can monitor, or the amount of data they can store, process, or display. Others may require costly hardware upgrades, licenses, or subscriptions to scale up. To avoid these pitfalls, choose a tool that is scalable, flexible, and adaptable to your network needs. Look for features such as distributed architecture, cloud-based or hybrid deployment, agentless or lightweight agents, and dynamic discovery and mapping.

2 Optimize your polling and reporting

Polling and reporting are the core functions of your network monitoring tool. Polling is how your tool collects data from your network devices, and reporting is how your tool displays and analyzes the data. To optimize your polling and reporting, you need to balance the frequency, granularity, and scope of your data collection and presentation. Too frequent or too detailed polling and reporting can consume too much bandwidth, CPU, memory, and disk space, and cause performance degradation or data loss. Too infrequent or too coarse polling and reporting can miss important events, anomalies, or trends, and reduce visibility and accuracy. To find the optimal balance, you need to adjust your polling intervals, thresholds, filters, and aggregation settings according to your network size, complexity, and priorities.

3 Automate your workflows and alerts

As your network grows, so does the workload of your network monitoring tool and your network team. To save time and resources, you need to automate your workflows and alerts as much as possible. Automation can help you streamline your data collection, analysis, and action processes, and reduce human errors and delays. For example, you can use scripts, templates, or wizards to automate your device discovery, configuration, and maintenance tasks. You can also use rules, policies, or schedules to automate your alert generation, escalation, and notification processes. Automation can also help you integrate your network monitoring tool with other tools or systems, such as ticketing, inventory, or backup systems, to enhance your network management capabilities.

4 Segment and prioritize your network

Another way to scale and optimize your network monitoring tool is to segment and prioritize your network according to different criteria, such as location, function, or importance. Segmentation can help you organize your network into smaller and more manageable units, and isolate potential issues or risks. Prioritization can help you focus your network monitoring tool on the most critical or relevant aspects of your network, and allocate your resources accordingly. For example, you can use subnets, VLANs, or VPNs to segment your network by geography, department, or service. You can also use groups, tags, or categories to prioritize your network devices, interfaces, or protocols by performance, security, or availability.

5 Review and refine your settings and metrics

Finally, to scale and optimize your network monitoring tool, you need to review and refine your settings and metrics regularly. As your network evolves, so do your network monitoring goals, requirements, and expectations. You need to ensure that your network monitoring tool is aligned with your current network situation and objectives, and that you are collecting and analyzing the right data for the right purpose. To do this, you need to audit your network monitoring tool settings and metrics periodically, and make adjustments as needed. For example, you may need to add, remove, or modify your devices, interfaces, or protocols that you monitor. You may also need to change your polling intervals, thresholds, filters, or aggregation settings that you use. You may also need to update your alert rules, policies, or schedules that you follow.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?