Running a successful company can be an involved and complicated endeavor on most days. With so many important tasks to dedicate your attention to, you may find yourself overlooking important issues. Monitoring the network of your business, for example, is key to keeping your company headed in the right direction. The more complex your network, the more important it is for you to focus time and effort on developing a strategy for monitoring. Though it can take a bit of time, focusing on this key component of your business can be invaluable in the long run.
Take a moment to look over these suggestions about how to develop a sensible strategy for network monitoring. By making a few changes to your current protocol, you can see lasting results that help your company stay on the road to success.
Create a List of Devices
Defining what a “network” is can be a bit complicated. To make matters easy on yourself, remember that the physical side of the network includes any and all devices used to connect to the internet or internal networks of the company. In order for you to start developing a strategy to monitor the network, you need to track and compile all devices associated with your business that are capable of connecting to the internet. This includes computers, routers, modems, and anything else that you might use in the daily operations of your business.
This is an important step to take for many reasons. Most importantly, failing to remember a specific device can lead to an array of more complex and frustrating issues down the line. When a problem appears in your network, you might not be able to successfully troubleshoot or pinpoint the issue because the device where the problem is persisting is not recorded on your logs. Start with a list of all network devices and it will provide you with a useful foundation to build the rest of your strategy off moving forward.
Consider the Flow
After you’ve gotten a better idea for the devices connected to your network, you want to start thinking about more abstract concepts. Specifically, it is crucial to take the flow of traffic into consideration. When your network is dealing with a lot of traffic at the same time, it can lead to certain processes being slowed or disrupted entirely. This can lead to more annoying issues and prevent employees from completing simple tasks in a timely fashion. By focusing on the flow, you can get a better idea of what steps you need to take to ease the situation.
There are several useful tools and resources available to help you better monitor the volume and flow of traffic through your network. Programs like netflow have been developed to target issues like IP flow and provide sensible solutions to help businesses better manage network traffic. Whether you’re looking to improve your abilities at network monitoring or capacity planning, this is the type of application that can help you through the process and find the most practical answers to common questions.
Implement Escalation Procedures
One of the most frustrating problems related to network monitoring is escalation. This refers to an issue that slowly grows more and more complicated as time passes. In many cases, a problem that has gotten too big will require more than one person to tackle. Unfortunately, not all businesses are prepared for this type of scenario. In order to be ready for a situation where a problem requires “all hands on deck,” your network monitoring strategy must include information on how to implement an escalation procedure. Creating this type of plan can make a huge difference for the future.
The specifics of your escalation procedure will depend on key factors related to your business. Namely, you need to think about which employees are trained for this type of situation and how to take these individuals away from daily tasks without disrupting the overall flow of business. It will not be a simple process, but creating a strategy that involves escalation procedures will be a huge help during an unforeseen issue with your network that grows out of control.
Test and Plan Ahead
As you make changes to your network based on what you have observed, you need to constantly test your changes to ensure everything works the way it should. It can also prove useful to plan ahead, as you will need to make major adjustments to your network as your business continues to grow and expand. By making regular tests of your network a routine task, you will have an easier time developing a plan for the future.
Network monitoring is an integral part of operating a business in the modern age. Create your own strategy for monitoring your network and discover how it can make your daily operations a bit easier.
