In today’s world of constant threats, it’s important to have the right network and server monitoring solution as part of protecting your company’s infrastructure. The right solution can maximize efficiency and uptime but also alert you to a potential security breach before it becomes devastating and costly. The right solution can also save IT professionals man-hours that would have otherwise have to be spent monitoring the status of servers, routers, switches, and devices. There is no need to spend hours in front of a screen but you still can be notified of any potential issues before a big problem arises. While the benefits are straightforward, choosing the right network and server monitoring software can be hard. Since not all solutions are going to be created equally you will need to choose the one that suits your business.
You want to choose a solution that has different features that can help you achieve goals but you don’t need to invest a lot of resources. There are some important things to consider.
Table of Contents
Scope
One factor to think about is the scope of the software. You can ask yourself some questions in order to determine if the software you are looking at has the right scope. Will the solution be required at multiple sites or just a single location? Will remote sites also need monitoring? Should you include systems that are usually down? Decisions here are going to impact other aspects of picking the software. Take your time and do some research.
Scalability and Connectivity
You need to consider the architecture of the solution, which includes scalability and connectivity. Keep in mind that your network is likely not going to stay the same. Every day your business evolves and so does your network. This means you need to take into account connectivity to ensure that the infrastructure is able to handle the requirements of technology. You also want to consider the scalability and know the load the monitoring software can stand and what your options will be if you do reach that limit. This can help ensure that you pick a program that is going to grow with your business, especially if considerable growth happens.
Deployment
When it comes to deployment, you have a few options, which include the cloud, off-premise, or on-premise. On-premise technology is no longer the norm since it’s likely that your IT team can manage a cloud or on-premise solution, or a third party can manage a cloud or off-premise solution. Many organizations want more control over their network and the activities and these organizations might want a solution that can be managed on-site. For those that want to save money, a cloud solution may be better. For those that don’t have the resources or time to manage the network themselves, an outside provider could be helpful. What’s best for one business won’t be the right solution for every other. Look at the size of your IT team and resources, along with organization goals, in order to determine which is right.
Alerting
Intelligent alerting is necessary should anything be suspicious. Make sure the system will alert you to a number of different activities and the right people can stay in the loop.
