What is allowlisting?

Allowlisting is a security measure that permits only pre-approved software, email addresses, users and other entities to have access privileges within a network or system. Unlike traditional security approaches that block known threats, allowlisting operates on the principle of denying everything that is not explicitly allowed. This approach significantly narrows down the potential attack vectors, ensuring that only legitimate and safe entities can interact with your systems.

How does allowlisting work?

Allowlisting operates on a simple but effective principle: only the trusted can enter. Imagine it as having a VIP list for a highly secure event. Only those whose names are on the list can get through the door, no exceptions. This is exactly how allowlisting works in the realm of cybersecurity. System administrators create a detailed list of entities deemed safe — these can be specific software applications, IP addresses or even email senders. This curated list then serves as a digital gatekeeper, a first line of defense ensuring that only pre-approved, verified entities can interact with a network or system, or execute on devices.

The beauty of allowlisting lies in its precision and control, providing organizations with the ability to enforce strict security policies and significantly reduce the risk of cyberthreats. Here’s a deeper dive into how it functions:

• Compilation of the allowlist: The first step involves the meticulous gathering and verification of all entities that an organization considers safe. This could include everything from essential software tools that the company uses daily, to specific external contacts allowed to send emails to the company’s servers. This process requires a deep understanding of the organization’s operational needs and potential security risks.
• Acting as a gatekeeper: Once the allowlist is established, it acts as a rigorous checkpoint for all incoming and outgoing digital traffic. Any attempt to access the network or run software on company devices must first pass through this checkpoint. If an entity is not on the allowlist, it’s automatically blocked, preventing any unauthorized access or execution.
• Enforcing security policies: Allowlisting isn’t just about blocking unauthorized entities; it’s also a strategic tool for enforcing the organization’s cybersecurity policies. By having a concrete list of approved entities, organizations can ensure compliance with internal security standards and regulatory requirements. This level of enforcement helps maintain a secure and controlled digital environment.
• Minimizing risks: The goal of allowlisting is to minimize the risks associated with cyber threats. By limiting access and execution to only known, trusted entities, organizations can significantly reduce their exposure to malware, ransomware and other forms of cyberattacks. This proactive approach to security ensures that the organization’s digital assets are protected against unauthorized access and malicious activities.

In conclusion, the mechanism of allowlisting provides a robust framework for enhancing an organization’s cybersecurity posture. Through the strategic compilation of approved entities, acting as a vigilant gatekeeper, enforcing stringent security policies, and effectively minimizing potential risks, allowlisting empowers organizations to defend their digital landscapes against the ever-evolving threats of the cyber world.

What are the benefits of allowlisting?

The benefits of implementing allowlisting are numerous. It enhances security by significantly reducing exposure to malware and cyberattacks. It offers better control over network traffic, ensuring that only authorized entities can gain access. Moreover, it can lead to improved system performance, as only essential and approved applications are allowed to run, reducing the load on resources. Key benefits include:

• Streamlined IT operations: By limiting the number of applications and services running on the network, IT teams can more easily manage and monitor system activities. This streamlined approach not only simplifies the maintenance and troubleshooting processes but also enhances the efficiency of IT operations, allowing teams to focus on more strategic tasks rather than constant firefighting.
• Compliance and audit readiness: Many industries are governed by strict regulatory requirements regarding data protection and cybersecurity. Allowlisting helps organizations comply with these regulations by providing a clear framework for what is permitted to run on their systems. This readiness simplifies the audit process, as organizations can quickly demonstrate their proactive measures in securing their IT environment against unauthorized access and potential breaches.
• Reduced attack surface: One of the most critical benefits of allowlisting is the significant reduction in the organization’s attack surface. By strictly controlling which applications, IP addresses and email senders are allowed, organizations eliminate numerous potential entry points for attackers. This reduced attack surface makes it more challenging for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities, thereby enhancing the overall security posture of the organization.

Together, these benefits demonstrate how allowlisting goes beyond just a security measure. It becomes a strategic approach that enhances operational efficiency, ensures compliance and fortifies defenses against cyberthreats, making it an essential component of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy.

Challenges and considerations of allowlisting

Allowlisting, despite its efficacy as a security measure, confronts several challenges that organizations must navigate to leverage its full potential effectively. Beyond the initial setup and the issue of false positives, there are additional considerations that require careful attention:

• Rapid technological changes: The digital landscape is constantly evolving, with new software, applications and updates being released at a breakneck pace. This fast-paced environment can make it challenging to keep the allowlist current without inadvertently blocking newly safe or necessary technologies. The dynamic nature of IT environments necessitates a flexible yet secure approach to allowlisting, where updates are frequent and thoroughly vetted.
• Comprehensive coverage difficulty: Achieving comprehensive coverage with an allowlist is another significant challenge. With organizations using a vast array of systems, applications and devices, creating an exhaustive list that covers every possible entity that needs access can be daunting. This is compounded when dealing with remote work scenarios where external IPs and personal devices come into play, increasing the complexity of maintaining an accurate and effective allowlist.
• User resistance and productivity impact: Implementing allowlisting can sometimes be met with resistance from users within an organization, especially if it’s perceived as too restrictive or if it impedes their ability to use preferred tools and applications. This resistance can lead to decreased productivity or attempts to bypass security measures, which in turn can introduce new vulnerabilities. Educating users about the importance of allowlisting and finding a balance between security and usability are crucial steps in mitigating these issues.

These challenges underscore the importance of adopting a holistic and adaptive approach to allowlisting. Organizations must engage in continuous monitoring, regular updates and stakeholder education to ensure that allowlisting remains an effective security measure without hampering operational efficiency or innovation. Additionally, leveraging advanced security solutions that can automate some aspects of the allowlisting process can significantly reduce the administrative burden and enhance overall cybersecurity posture.

Best practices to implement in allowlisting

Implementing allowlisting as a cybersecurity measure comes with its set of challenges. While the method is highly effective in securing digital assets, organizations need to navigate these challenges to leverage allowlisting fully. Alongside the critical need for regular updates to the allowlists, monitoring for anomalies, integrating allowlisting with other security measures and educating users, here are three additional considerations:

• Adaptability to evolving business needs: One of the main challenges is ensuring that the allowlisting process remains adaptable to the evolving needs of the business. As organizations grow and evolve, so do their software and network requirements. New applications may need to be added to the allowlist, and others may become obsolete or no longer trusted. Keeping the allowlist relevant and up to date requires a dynamic approach to cybersecurity management.
• Balancing security with usability: Striking the right balance between securing the network and ensuring that users have the access they need to perform their jobs can be tricky. Overly restrictive allowlisting policies may hinder productivity or lead to workarounds that compromise security. It’s crucial to find a balance that maintains high security without impeding the operational efficiency of the organization.
• Managing false positives and false negatives: Another significant challenge is the management of false positives — where legitimate software or activities are incorrectly blocked — and false negatives, where malicious activities bypass the allowlisting measures. Both scenarios can have detrimental effects, either by blocking essential business operations or by allowing threats to penetrate the network. Developing a process to quickly address and rectify false positives and enhance the detection accuracy to minimize false negatives is vital for the effectiveness of allowlisting.

To navigate these challenges, organizations should consider the following strategies in conjunction with the established best practices:

• Implement a tiered allowlisting approach: By categorizing allowlisted applications and services based on their criticality and risk, organizations can apply different levels of scrutiny and control. This tiered approach can help in balancing security with usability.
• Leverage automated tools for management: Automation can play a key role in managing the allowlist, especially for large and dynamic environments. Automated tools can help in the timely identification and incorporation of necessary changes to the allowlist, reducing the administrative burden.
• Regularly review and audit allowlists: Scheduled reviews and audits of the allowlist ensure that it remains accurate, relevant and secure. This practice helps in identifying any unnecessary entries that can be removed and ensuring that new requirements are accurately reflected.

By addressing these challenges with thoughtful strategies and best practices, organizations can ensure that their allowlisting approach remains robust, effective and aligned with their cybersecurity objectives.

Kaseya VSA (RMM): A superior solution

Kaseya VSA (RMM) stands out as a superior solution for implementing allowlisting and enhancing your cybersecurity posture. Its comprehensive application security assessment capabilities make it an indispensable tool for businesses looking to secure their networks and data. By leveraging Kaseya VSA, organizations can streamline the allowlisting process, ensuring that only authorized applications and users can access their systems, thereby fortifying their defenses against cyber threats.

Why should businesses consider Kaseya VSA RMM?

Kaseya VSA RMM is not just a tool; it’s a comprehensive solution designed to meet the complex cybersecurity needs of businesses. Its robust allowlisting capabilities, combined with extensive monitoring and management features, provide businesses with the peace of mind that their systems and data are secure. By choosing Kaseya VSA RMM, businesses can enhance their cybersecurity measures, reduce their vulnerability to attacks and ensure the smooth and secure operation of their IT environments.

Interested in learning more about how Kaseya VSA (RMM) can secure your business with its cutting-edge allowlisting capabilities? Learn everything about Kaseya’s VSA (RMM) for more information and insights. Request a demo today and discover the power of effective allowlisting with Kaseya VSA.

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This integration benefits managed service providers (MSPs) and small to midsize businesses (SMBs) by providing them with a more streamlined and effective approach to network management. Users can seamlessly oversee both the hardware and software aspects of Datto networking solutions from VSA, allowing for greater control over their environments.

Technicians can swiftly pinpoint and address issues from within VSA, saving valuable time and resources. Manually managing networks and switching between solutions to do so are now a thing of the past.

The synergy between VSA and Datto networking products

Datto’s networking solutions, like routers, switches and access points, are synonymous with reliability, performance, ease of use and efficiency. Users get access to capabilities and customer service that are typically associated with enterprise-grade networking solutions at a price that is easy on the wallet.

When integrated with VSA, a unified RMM that is consistently pushing the envelope on what an RMM can do, the possibilities are endless. We call VSA unified because it is a four-in-one tool that combines powerful remote control, software/patch management, executive reporting and endpoint monitoring into a single, easy-to-use solution.

The integration between VSA and Datto’s networking solutions, which are considered the best in the industry, promises to make discovering, deploying and managing networks effortless and cost-effective for technicians. While SMBs can impress their end users with consistent uptime and exceptional performance, MSPs can deliver high-quality managed networking services in a way that will give them a competitive edge and boost profitability.

Your one-stop network console

Managing networks is a colossal task for which technicians conventionally use a network management tool. Syncing these solutions with an RMM is frustrating and time-consuming, to say the least. The integration is poor, and juggling two solutions to solve a simple network problem is almost always counterproductive. Since inefficiency abounds, the risk of errors increases as well.

The critical integration between VSA and Datto networking tools allows technicians to monitor and manage all their Datto networking devices from one single, centralized console, eliminating the need to juggle multiple tools. Additionally, technicians get a comprehensive view of their entire IT infrastructure, allowing them to identify and troubleshoot any issue in their managed environment quickly.

Let’s say, for example, suppose a technician or support staff member receives an alert for a slow network on VSA. Right from VSA, they can then zoom into the device associated with the RMM agent that triggered the alert and get a full readout on the device. Again, without leaving VSA, technicians can also examine the switchboard or router the device in question is connected to to determine if it’s a larger issue. The entire process takes only a few clicks, and issues are resolved within minutes. Technicians can utilize the power of automation in VSA to begin auto-remediating everyday network problems that distract them from completing important tasks.

Once integrated, technicians can even unlock management functions for Datto networking devices in VSA to resolve issues like remotely resetting an access point, unblocking a wireless client or resetting a switch port faster.

What are the benefits?

Here are the top benefits of VSA’s integration with Datto’s networking solutions.

• Boost productivity: By tackling networking issues right within VSA, technicians do not have to switch between solutions. They can address issues faster and save valuable time.
• Get complete visibility: VSA gives technicians a comprehensive view of the IT environment, including details of all the networking devices. It allows them to address not only the issues for which a ticket is raised but also identify and address any underlying problem.
• Seamless integration: Since both products are from the same Kaseya family, the integration is seamless. You won’t have to worry about a glitchy integration that hinders network maintenance or impacts performance.
• Troubleshoot issues faster: Accessing network devices from within VSA and auto-remediating common issues reduces manual labor, resulting in faster problem resolution. Additionally, automated network monitoring can help identify security threats faster and more accurately than manual monitoring. This, in turn, can prevent costly data breaches and other network-related issues.
• More uptime: Seamless integration empowers you to manage networks more efficiently and address issues before they snowball into bigger problems. A well-maintained network leads to fewer glitches, higher performance and provides more uptime.
• Superior customer service: The integration is especially beneficial to MSPs who can differentiate their managed network services by providing clients with more uptime and quick issue resolution. By adding managed network services to the roster, MSPs can even explore unlocking a new revenue stream.
• Cost savings: The integration also helps to reduce the cost of network management, as technicians no longer need to monitor the network manually.

Experience the power of VSA and Datto Networking integration

The integration between VSA and Datto networking solutions will make building and managing your networks unbelievably easy. You no longer have to juggle multiple tools or fret over making tools from different vendors grudgingly integrate. With centralized access to all your on-premise and remote devices on a single console, you can start focusing on strengthening, securing and improving your network performance rather than spending time on putting out little fires.

Since you don’t have to invest in additional hardware, the burden on your wallet will also get lighter. To see how VSA and Datto networking can ease the pain of managing your network, get a free, personalized demo of VSA today.

The post Datto Networking and VSA: Your Shortcut to Smarter Networks appeared first on Kaseya.

By Jennifer Perez-Harris

The post Hitachi’s SASE: How Umbrella & Duo Delivered Identity and Security  appeared first on Kaseya.

A more recent example is Taylor Swift’s album, “Midnight,” which not only shattered all records on release but also caused a global outage on Spotify. Having anticipated high traffic to its servers, Spotify was able to return to business within minutes.

Network performance management prevents situations like these from surfacing and leaving your employees or customers without access to your service. Just a few minutes of downtime can cause irreparable damage to your company and brand, resulting in significant financial loss.

What is network performance management?

The goal of network performance management is to improve the availability and efficiency of an organization’s network systems by monitoring and analyzing network performance metrics. Network performance metrics provide a window into the health of various network components.

A network is made up of several components, such as routers, cables, switches, servers, applications, protocols and operating systems, that communicate with each other to keep information flowing. The seamless flow of data between these components allows employees and customers to access a company’s resources anywhere, anytime.

The efficiency of a network depends on identifying bottlenecks, taking corrective action and optimizing resource usage. Neglecting these aspects of network management can result in unplanned outages and downtime, negatively impacting your revenue and reputation.

Why is network performance important?

Businesses must have access to smooth and seamless networks in today’s connected world. It’s only on the back of a good network that employees can collaborate and communicate to drive projects forward and provide seamless customer service.

Having to deal with slow networks or unexpected downtime can be a frustrating experience. Neglecting network performance management will undoubtedly impact your employees’ productivity and customer experience, but it can also lead to serious security risks. You can prepare your network for potential spikes in bandwidth usage or server overload through network performance management. With robust network management practices, you can instantly rectify any issue without compromising the end-user experience.

Network performance management goes beyond analyzing performance metrics to identifying patterns and trends in the network. Businesses and IT professionals gain real value when they use the data to make network changes, impacting performance and network management costs while positively impacting the overall user experience.

What is the difference between network performance management and network performance monitoring?

The difference between network performance management and network performance monitoring is the use of performance metrics for different objectives.

Network performance monitoring involves assessing and optimizing various networking infrastructure components to improve performance and usage. IT professionals use several network metrics to gauge the performance of their networks, such as latency, throughput and bandwidth. Some of the methods they use are monitoring Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) devices, flow data and packet capture.

While network monitoring focuses on maintaining network health, troubleshooting issues and ensuring everything stays in good shape, network management aims to improve the overall network infrastructure to make it more efficient. To this end, IT professionals leverage performance analytics, network simulations and predictive modeling to improve networks, upgrade configurations and prevent network disasters.

What is the network performance management process?

Depending on the network configuration, the process may differ from company to company, but the following steps are universal.

Quality data collection

Effective network performance management starts with collecting quality data, but each node on the network generates a massive amount of data that becomes hard to sift through. This is where network monitoring tools come to the rescue. Since each network is unique and designed to fulfil an organization’s specific needs, you can configure network monitoring tools to pull out only relevant data. The tool sifts through a sea of metrics, such as packet loss, network traffic, node outages, SNMP performance and bandwidth usage, to help you identify the most critical performance indicators. The technicians can either review and analyze the information themselves or, even better, they can let AI, machine learning or AIOps handle the analysis.

Comprehensive metric analysis

You can get a complete report card on the performance of your networking stack, complete with metrics and analysis, by using network performance monitoring software. But how do you know which metrics matter the most? By identifying the ones that provide the most comprehensive view of your multilayered network, you can become more aware of areas that frequently experience problems.

By using this valuable data, your IT team can create network management policies to improve productivity and user experience while mitigating any issues. Moreover, with a more precise understanding of your multilayered network, you can make more informed decisions and design more effective network management rules.

Continuous performance logging

When it comes to identifying performance issues, time is of the essence. That’s why network performance monitoring tools automatically record all performance concerns and relevant details. This includes the circumstances surrounding each issue, which can be invaluable in identifying patterns of recurring problems.

By referring to a log of past concerns, your IT team can quickly assess problem areas that require closer monitoring or more in-depth investigation. This saves time by directing your focus toward the most critical issues first.

Preventative security monitoring

Network performance management is also a security strategy. A robust network performance management tool can alert you to security threats and vulnerabilities before they become full-blown disasters. It can help detect malware, unsecured network devices and other vulnerabilities before they affect your data. If you catch these issues early, your IT team can develop protocols to prevent and manage weak points, in turn protecting your end users.

What are the benefits of network performance management?

With network performance management, you can closely monitor key metrics to address issues like slow speeds, poor connectivity and system failures. Keeping your network in good shape will ensure a seamless and efficient experience for all users.

• Maximize network availability: Network performance management helps optimize network resources and bandwidth usage, resulting in high-quality delivery of critical services to end users and improved customer retention.
• Minimize network downtime: Real-time alerts and insights provided by network performance management tools allow businesses to detect and troubleshoot issues before they result in expensive downtime or outages, minimizing their impact on the company.
• Enhance network scalability: As your business and network needs evolve, IT technicians can leverage historical data and insights from the network management tools to make informed decisions for topics such as scaling or reconfiguring the network.
• Secure network operations: Cybersecurity attacks often deplete network resources, so any significant deviation in resource usage could indicate a potential security threat. By staying vigilant and closely monitoring your network’s performance, you can help ensure the safety and security of your organization’s valuable data.
• Optimize bandwidth usage: By monitoring the amount of data being transmitted across devices, network performance management tools can pinpoint areas of inefficient bandwidth usage and excessive network congestion, and hence help optimize network performance and efficiency.
• Identify network performance trends: Network performance management tools leverage machine learning and AI capabilities to identify patterns in large data sets that would otherwise be impossible to discern. This data can inform decisions for future network investments and upgrades, improving resource allocation and network performance.

What are the challenges with network performance management?

Modern-day networks are complex and managing them is easier said than done. The road to a fast and reliable network presents many challenges that technicians must overcome with skill and care. Technicians often encounter challenges, such as inadequate network visibility, setting performance baselines, planning and updating capacity, configuring new devices and minimizing disruptions. They often have to do it all at the same time.

Network performance management software can act as a trusted assistant, helping IT professionals deal with all these issues and keeping networks in the pink of health. A core feature that changes how technicians manage networks is a network topology map that lets them visually see the network infrastructure and zoom in on devices and nodes for more significant insights. Features like data analytics and in-built report creation are the cherry on the cake.

What is network performance management software?

A network performance management tool is an advanced program that lets IT professionals view the various components of their network infrastructure on an interactive dashboard. IT professionals should be able to configure the tool to monitor the performance of any IP-based device and get the metrics even remotely. We will reiterate that a good tool should be easy to deploy and provide a network visualization map that gives a comprehensive view and insights into the health and status of the network.

When choosing a tool, make sure it integrates with core IT tools, like remote monitoring and management and documentation solutions, and has automation capabilities so that technicians can devote more time to essential business tasks instead of mundane tasks.

Monitor and manage network performance with Kaseya

Network performance monitoring is a challenging and complex task.

Kaseya’s network performance monitoring tool, Traverse, lets you easily monitor and manage your networks and data centers, whether private or hybrid clouds, virtualized or distributed. Traverse is super easy to deploy and will help you stay on top of your game with network alerts, trend analysis and machine learning features. Moreover, you can leverage its predictive analytics feature to identify problems before they impact critical services. Traverse also easily integrates with essential IT solutions like documentation, messaging and BI tools.

It’s a complete package designed to meet all your networking needs on a budget. If you are facing a persistent networking challenge that you can’t find a workaround for, then schedule a demo of Traverse today.

The post Network Performance Management: Processes, Benefits and How to Accomplish It appeared first on Kaseya.

In today’s connected and digital world, where businesses are operational 24/7, network performance monitoring helps MSPs and IT departments prevent connectivity-related outages and other performance issues. Read on to learn the why and how of network performance monitoring and its impact on business productivity, profitability and reputation.

What is network performance monitoring?

Network performance monitoring involves assessing and optimizing the various networking infrastructure components to improve performance and usage. Businesses cannot succeed without a reliable and efficient network in place. Therefore, IT professionals constantly monitor their company’s and clients’ network infrastructure to ensure it runs efficiently and optimally and data and information move securely and uninterruptedly.

Today, networks must be built and managed to accommodate a variety of devices, applications and data types. Many factors contribute to the complexity of network setups today, including mobile device proliferation, data explosion and cloud computing. Moreover, depending on changing business needs, IT professionals have to reconfigure the networks, optimize them, change settings and even upgrade the infrastructure to make it more efficient.

Network monitoring helps IT professionals manage all these elements from a single tool. It helps them detect issues in real time and take corrective action to avoid downtime and productivity losses. Bandwidth and latency issues are signs of poor network management and, if left unattended, can further degrade performance. Network monitoring also helps and prevents cybersecurity breaches. Regular network monitoring helps IT professionals identify and fix vulnerabilities before threat actors exploit them.

Why is network performance monitoring important?

Network performance monitoring enables IT professionals to identify and troubleshoot issues before they snowball into bigger problems and adversely impact business operations. A glitchy or unreliable network can stall business operations, hurting productivity and frustrating customers and users. Monitoring networks not only helps IT professionals avoid these outcomes but it also optimizes the use of resources. An underutilized network increases costs, while overutilization causes congestion and painfully slow performance. By using advanced network monitoring tools like Traverse, businesses can easily visualize their entire network on a topography map and diagnose and fix issues right from the dashboard.

Network monitoring is also a cybersecurity strategy and plays a big part in keeping threats and breaches at bay. Network monitoring tools can detect anomalies in a network traffic pattern or unauthorized activity and alert IT professionals. It even identifies the device or region where the problem resides so technicians can quickly quarantine and remediate the issue. Network monitoring is essential to prevent malware like ransomware from gaining access to the network, which can compromise the integrity and security of company and client data.

IT professionals use several metrics to gauge the performance of their networks. Some common ones are latency, throughput and bandwidth, which we will look at in more detail later in the blog.

How can network performance be monitored?

IT professionals use a network monitoring tool to monitor their networks, collect data on network performance, analyze it, remediate issues and create informative reports. Here are some methods IT professionals use to monitor their networks.

SNMP

Monitoring Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) devices, such as routers, switches and printers, allows system administrators to quickly detect and remediate potential issues before they can cause major damage to an organization’s productivity.

Standard monitoring of SNMP devices involves configuring of network devices to report various pieces of data. This data gives a detailed view of the health and operational status of these devices. Network monitoring allows devices to generate alerts when events occur outside the set thresholds. This flags networking issues that can lead to IT system and service downtime.

For example, for network devices like routers and switches, SNMP monitoring can collect information such as interface metrics for operational status, bandwidth in and out, and errors in and out. For printers, information such as operational status, printer current status, detected error state and printer cover (i.e., door) status can be collected.

Flow data

Network flow data monitoring is a way to get insights into the health of the network traffic, everything from the source and destination of the traffic to data transferred and the protocols used. It is combined with other network monitoring methods to comprehensively view a company’s network performance. Flow data is configured in devices like routers and switches and collects data from IP traffic. When analyzing data, it doesn’t drill down to the details like packet capture monitoring methods. Still, it gives a general overview of the traffic that helps to identify anomalies in traffic patterns that can indicate a security incident.

Packet capture

Packet capture is another way to analyze and detect anomalies in network traffic. Instead of looking at traffic summary, it intercepts and captures data packets from anywhere on the network or a subnet. Packets are bits of information that travel from the source to the destination. Information transmitted over a network is broken into smaller packets that take different routes to the destination server. At the receiver’s end, they combine to form the complete message.

Two ways to perform packet capture are network tap and port mirroring. A network tap involves placing a device between a switch and the destination server. Port mirroring uses a switch port to send a network packet copy to another switch port connected to a network monitoring connection.

Packet capture allows granular traffic data analysis and provides insights into bandwidth usage and security issues. Network congestion and misconfigured devices can cause dropped packets, resulting in the user not receiving the data properly. A packet capture provides an exact copy of the data for analysis, while flow data summarizes it into a general picture.

What are network performance metrics?

Metrics measure a network’s performance and bring to light the issues and areas for improvement. They help identify potential errors, outages and malfunctions in real time so that IT professionals can resolve them as soon as they arise. Additionally, metrics provide insights into whether network infrastructure and devices are performing optimally. Let’s look at the commonly used network performance metrics:

Bandwidth

We’ve all had the experience of restarting our routers to get better internet bandwidth at home. It does help to speed things up. In simple terms, bandwidth is the amount of data transmitted over a network within a specific timeframe. An example is how quickly you can buffer or download a movie. The more data you can download quickly, the faster the network’s speed. IT professionals analyze bandwidth data to optimize usage and stay within the bandwidth threshold. Going beyond the threshold will overburden the network and translate to connectivity issues, slow network and lost hours in productivity.

Throughput

While bandwidth provides a theoretical insight into the data transmission rate, the throughput metric offers insights into actual data transmitted over different networks. It does this by checking how many data packets reach the destination server. When the throughput metric is low, it means that data packets are being frequently lost or dropped from the network and must be retransmitted.

Latency

The lag or delay in data transmission over a network is calculated using the latency metrics. Data is transmitted faster over a network with low latency and more slowly over a network with high latency. Low latency networks are vital in today’s digital world where applications and services are provided online and data is stored and accessed in the cloud. Too much latency in a network can stop applications from working properly and hurt customer satisfaction and business operations.

Jitters

A jitter is a variation in the delivery time of packets over a network. Data shared over a network is sent to its destination in smaller packets. Depending on how these packets travel, they may experience different network issues, such as congestion or equipment failures, that can impact their arrival times. By reducing jitters, network administrators make data delivery smoother and less glitchy.

Packet loss

While being transmitted over a network, data packets can get dropped, lost or corrupted. When they get corrupted, it disrupts the end-user experience and can be detrimental to business in the case of a client-facing service. IT professionals analyze this metric to reduce packet losses caused by congestion on the network, faulty hardware or software.

Network availability

Business operations are adversely affected by an unreliable network that suffers frequent outages. The result can be a significant reduction in productivity and revenue. Network availability is the simplest and most critical network performance metric that provides insights into how often a network is operational and available for use.

What is a network performance monitoring tool?

A network performance monitoring tool is an advanced software that lets IT professionals view the various components of their network infrastructure on an interactive dashboard. These tools are quick to deploy and provide a network topology map that gives a comprehensive view and insights into the health and status of the network. A network monitoring tool has a host of features that IT professionals can leverage to monitor devices, identify and troubleshoot issues, and take steps to optimize network performance — all in real time. It helps users to work more productively and deliver seamless service to clients, in turn boosting revenue. By uprooting inefficiencies in the IT infrastructure, the tool helps reduce the costs associated with downtime, maintenance and upgrades, thus increasing the bottom line.

A great network performance monitoring tool should integrate with other core IT tools like ticketing, IT documentation and BI solutions so technicians can manage tickets from within the same dashboard. This will help technicians utilize the solutions stack fully and provide better network management services. An advanced network monitoring solution should also have automation capabilities on the menu so that technicians can spend less time on mundane tasks and devote more time to other essential business tasks. Lastly, it should provide top-notch reporting so that IT professionals can demonstrate the tool’s value to clients and stakeholders.

What features should a network performance monitoring tool have?

With many networking monitoring tools in the market, choosing the right one can be challenging. Look for the following features when shopping for a network monitoring tool:

• Network discovery: This refers to how easily and quickly the tool can be deployed and detect the devices and software that need monitoring and managing. Ideally, a network performance monitoring tool should support devices from various vendors so that administrators can monitor everything from a single console.
• Topology mapping: This feature can automatically discover and map network topology, providing a visual representation of the network infrastructure and helping administrators quickly identify the location of performance issues.
• Targeted analysis: This feature enables IT professionals to zero in on the specific network or device causing problems for applying fixes. This helps technicians resolve issues quickly and optimize network performance.
• Configuration management: This feature helps IT professionals track, monitor and make real-time network configuration changes. Businesses need to change network configuration depending on changing business needs, and this feature allows them to go about it efficiently and quickly.
• Event tracking: This feature allows technicians to track, assign severity levels and troubleshoot networking events like SNMP traps, win events and syslogs before they escalate.
• Predictive analytics: In predictive analytics, past data is analyzed to diagnose issues that may arise in the future and provide network insights to help avoid them. Thus, a network problem can be detected and resolved before it negatively impacts operations.
• Real-time monitoring and alerts: An ideal network performance monitoring tool should be able to monitor network performance metrics in real time and provide alerts when performance issues are detected, allowing administrators to respond quickly to and resolve problems.
• Compliance support: Networks must adhere to certain industry and regulatory compliance requirements. Compliance support helps professionals keep track of metrics that will keep them compliant.
• Robust reporting: Advanced network monitoring tools provide detailed analytics and reporting capabilities that enable administrators to track network performance over time, identify trends and generate insightful performance reports.

What are the benefits of a network performance monitoring tool?

Network monitoring is a must-have in today’s increasingly digital world. Modern networks are fraught with challenges and complexity with on-premises, hybrid cloud and virtual assets that need constant monitoring. By using an advanced network monitoring tool like Traverse, you can easily monitor all your networks and data centers, whether large or small. Here are some benefits organizations can realize by deploying a network performance monitoring tool.

• Speedy deployment: Network monitoring tools can be deployed in a matter of hours. Thus, IT administrators can start detecting and troubleshooting problems on the spot and start optimizing the network from day one.
• Comprehensive monitoring: Modern network monitoring tools provide insights into all aspects of network infrastructure, such as routers, switches, servers, applications, modems and access points, so technicians don’t have to waste time looking for problems and can make better decisions based on all the real-time data available to them.
• Minimized downtime: Keeping your network up and running is more than just handling network issues when they arise. A modern networking tool uses advanced analytics to predict potential problems before they occur. In turn, this leads to more uptime, productivity and revenue.
• Network health improvement: With complete visibility into network performance and capacity, IT professionals can keep network health and usage at their peak.
• Seamless integrations: Today’s IT infrastructure is interconnected, and verticals rarely work in silos. Using network monitoring tools that integrate seamlessly with the broader tech stack helps IT professionals complete their tasks more efficiently and reduce security incidents.

Monitor network performance with Traverse by Kaseya

Traverse by Kaseya is one of the most advanced network monitoring tools in the market that will help your IT professionals tackle even the most complex and challenging networking tasks easily and quickly. It is extremely easy to deploy and will instantly give you a comprehensive view of your networking environment through an interactive topography map. Traverse makes network management easy with the capability to solve any networking issue you may encounter. You’ll enjoy superior uptime and network efficiency. Get in touch with us today to schedule a Traverse demo.

The post Network Performance Monitoring: How to Measure Network Performance appeared first on Kaseya.

What is the difference between a NOC and a SOC?

A NOC maintains and monitors a company’s IT infrastructure, including the network infrastructure, endpoints and cloud setups, to ensure they run smoothly and efficiently at all times. It handles problems arising from technological causes like power and internet outages, and natural causes like hurricanes. The goal is to ensure that an organization’s users or clients can access the IT network and necessary resources 24/7. NOC services also often oversee patching and server maintenance for an organization.

NOCs also help organizations maintain uptime so the business does not take a hit. About 82% of companies have experienced at least one unplanned downtime outage over the past three years, with the average number of outages being two. A single hour of downtime can set organizations back by hundreds of millions and tarnish their reputation. In 2021, Amazon missed out on an estimated $34 million in sales due to an internet outage. Similarly, in October 2021, Facebook and its affiliated brands, like WhatsApp and Instagram, were unavailable for an astounding six to seven hours, sparking angry memes and a nearly $100 million revenue loss.

A SOC, on the other hand, monitors an organization’s endpoints, network and servers to keep it safe from cyberthreats. They look for anything suspicious in the IT infrastructure that portends a cyberattack in motion and take steps to analyze and remediate incidents if one occurs.

Cybersecurity is one of the biggest challenges facing organizations today. In 2022, 71% of companies worldwide were affected by ransomware, with 62.9% of ransomware victims paying the ransom. Threats are not only increasing in number but also complexity. Poor cybersecurity practices mean security breaches can run for multiple years before they are detected. By then, much of the damage has already taken place. Zoetop Business Company, which owns Shein and its sister brand Romwe, was fined $1.9 million towards the end of 2022 for failing to handle a data breach from 2018, which affected 39 million customers.

Essentially, SOC analysts detect cybercrime, build defenses against it, then eliminate it if one occurs. All this is done to maintain a company’s data, infrastructure, and operational integrity. After all, the financial and reputational damage in the wake of a successful cyberattack can be devastating and often irreversible.

Definition of NOC and SOC

NOC technicians need to have a strong understanding of networking concepts and must be able to troubleshoot issues quickly. On the other hand, SOC analysts must be well-versed in security technologies and threat detection methods.

NOC: A NOC monitors, manages and maintains an organization’s networked devices and systems. A company can have a NOC team internally or partner with a third-party NOC service provider. As an external service, NOCs can deliver IT services to the client and the client’s customers or employees.

SOC: A SOC is an in-house or third-party facility that houses an information security team responsible for continuously monitoring, detecting, analyzing and responding to any cybersecurity incidents on a 24/7/365 basis. The operation uses predefined processes and solutions to prevent and remediate cybersecurity incidents and strengthen an organization’s security posture.

Purpose

A few similarities exist between a NOC and a SOC, namely their monitoring and management capabilities. Both facilities monitor endpoints, devices, network infrastructure, cloud, virtual machines and all other components of IT, but for different end goals.

A NOC monitors endpoints and IT systems to identify and resolve issues that can hurt the performance and availability of the IT infrastructure. After all, slow systems and glitchy software only delay work, negatively impacting service level agreements (SLAs). In addition to identifying and resolving issues, NOC staff may also plan network capacity. This eliminates potential bottlenecks and other performance issues, helping users experience fewer interruptions and enjoy smoother overall operations. A NOC’s role is to keep the IT machinery well-oiled by eliminating and fixing technical problems, preventing service outages and preparing against unforeseen conditions that can cause business downtime. They also manage a help desk to handle requests such as password resets, recovering deleted data and new user onboarding.

A SOC ensures that a company’s security remains strong. It also undertakes device and IT asset monitoring to identify signs of intrusion or malicious activity. SOC analysts regularly monitor log files, network traffic, escalating privileges and unusual or unauthorized activities, among other things, to find clues of a potential cyberattack. Besides actively looking for threats, SOCs also investigate incidents when they occur and take appropriate action to mitigate them. A SOC team comprises security analysts, incident responders and other security professionals who provide 24/7 monitoring and bolster an organization’s security posture. Without the round-the-clock vigilance of a SOC team, most cyberattacks would breach a company’s defenses undetected, causing severe damage.

Functions

A NOC’s objective is to minimize downtime, maintain the health and functionality of an organization’s IT infrastructure, and ensure that the network is always available and running smoothly.

• Network monitoring and management: It involves monitoring network devices, servers and databases to ensure they function as intended and that data passes through them securely.
• Software and application management: This involves installing, updating, troubleshooting and patching software and applications to ensure smooth performance at every stage of the lifecycle.
• Communications management: It involves implementing strategies to help organizations securely share information internally and externally through email, audio or video.
• Business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) services: BCDR services address data storage, backup and disaster recovery to help organizations keep their operations running even during major disruptions like natural disasters, power outages, data breaches and other catastrophic events.
• Network analysis and reporting: This task involves measuring data transmission efficiency using latency, jitter, packet loss and throughput metrics. It also involves checking a network’s overall stability and reliability and making suggestions for improvement.
• Third-party services management: In IT, vendors, contractors and freelancers work together to propel the engine forward, but keeping track of them can become challenging. NOCs streamline the processes by keeping track of all contacts, licenses and payments jobs with third-party vendors and take the stress away.

A SOC performs continuous monitoring and analysis of security events and detects and responds to security incidents, such as cyberattacks, malware infections and unauthorized access to sensitive information.

• Threat monitoring and management: A constant assessment of the threats to your systems and data will allow you to identify and mitigate potential threats before they become actual incidents.
• Vulnerability scanning and management: A key component of threat monitoring, vulnerability scanning helps identify weaknesses in the systems that attackers could exploit.
• Incident response, recovery and remediation: A tried and trusted three-pronged approach that helps organizations minimize the impact of an actual security incident.
• Security log management: A log is a storehouse of data, and security log management helps organizations identify threat trends and learn from past incidents.
• Compliance management: Compliance management helps ensure that an organization’s systems and processes meet regulatory requirements.

Expertise

While both NOC and SOC experts need a strong understanding of IT systems and tools, their areas of expertise and how they conduct their business are strikingly different.

A NOC is staffed by network engineers who monitor the performance of a network, endpoints and all other IT devices, systems and components for efficiency and reliability. NOC analysts need a good understanding of networking concepts to manage IT infrastructure proactively, prevent outages and performance issues, and identify and troubleshoot problems. They use IT solutions like RMM, network, cloud, virtualization management tools, backup and disaster recovery tools, and a host of other software to do their job effectively. The NOC team is also responsible for ensuring that security solutions are installed and patched regularly.

On the other hand, SOC teams rely on notifications and alerts from the installed security solutions to guard the company’s security perimeter. SOC experts use advanced tools and systems to examine a company’s network and data for anomalies that can signal an intrusion or a cyberattack in progress. Their job doesn’t end with keeping an eye out. They are also responsible for investigating, triaging and mitigating cyberattacks when they occur. For the SOC teams, keeping up with the latest cyberthreats is crucial to devise robust strategies that keep organizations safe. Along with the staple RMM, SOCs work with tools like vulnerability scanners, dark web monitoring tools, threat intelligence platforms, etc.

While NOC analysts work to improve an IT infrastructure’s performance, output and efficiency, SOC experts work towards hardening a company’s security perimeter and ensuring the infrastructure’s resilience against vulnerabilities and security risks.

Opposition

A person’s responsibilities as a NOC or SOC are greatly affected by the challenges or opposition they face.

NOCs must deal with challenges that are not naturally occurring or caused by humans, such as system failures, power outages and natural disasters. They must keep networks and systems running smoothly and make resources available to users at all times. Essentially, the IT infrastructure must run at its best 24/7. Hard-pressed for time, NOC analysts are tasked with dealing with increasing endpoints, users and networks daily. Keeping up with the ever-changing IT environment, with different kinds of devices in use, remote and hybrid work environments, IoT devices, cloud, 5G and fast-speed internet, NOCs must constantly be on their toes. NOC experts bring structure to chaos and ensure that organizations are always operational.

On the other hand, SOC experts must contend with greater forces of chaos. The security of a business is constantly under attack by threat actors actively devising new ways of compromising it. To keep these threats at bay, SOC analysts must be on a war footing at all times. While SOC experts work to strengthen a company’s defense, malicious forces on the other side are trying to destroy it. It’s a never-ending battle, and SOC experts must stay on top of all the latest tactics. A small slip on their part can cost organizations millions.

Which is best: NOC or SOC?

We can tell you that neither is better than the other. Whether you need one or both depends on your organization’s needs NOC monitors and manages your network infrastructure and keeps things running smoothly while SOC is necessary for security monitoring and incident response. They serve different functions but are indispensable for a complete picture of your organization’s IT environment.

Should NOC and SOC be combined?

Combining the two departments may not be such a great idea in the long run. Although they both fall under the IT umbrella, the skillset and processes required to run them vary. Moreover, they serve different end goals too. However, having both teams work together is a good practice to ensure a fully robust infrastructure. If the NOC wishes to deploy a new network, it is always a good idea to work with SOC experts to find the most secure method. Likewise, NOC analysts can work with security teams to identify the most critical IT assets and plan a monitoring strategy focusing on them first.

Scale your business with Kaseya NOC Services and Managed SOC

Kaseya knows that finding the right NOC and SOC partner is crucial to the success of your business. This is why we provide them both under one roof, so you don’t have to spend time searching for the best options in the market.

Our NOC Services are cost-effective, and you can easily add or remove services based on your business cycle and needs. Sit back and let our executives handle all the tasks keeping you from growing your business. We assure you that our experts will blow you away with their performance, plus you’ll receive regular reports on the work they do for you.

We know cybersecurity is on your mind, and security headaches give you sleepless nights. With our SOC experts on duty, you don’t have to worry about a thing. Our SOC team will safeguard your endpoints, networks and cloud 24/7 to keep your organization protected always.

Get started with a NOC Services quote or Managed SOC demo today.

The post NOC vs. SOC: Understanding the Differences appeared first on Kaseya.

What is a Network Operations Center (NOC)?

A NOC, pronounced like the word knock, is an internal or a third-party facility for monitoring and managing an organization’s networked devices and systems. NOC services, in the context of modern-day IT-managed services, typically involve the delivery of IT services that focus on endpoint monitoring and management. Endpoints, in this context, refer to servers and workstations (desktops and laptops) as well as Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) devices.

A NOC services company is a third-party resource that delivers IT services on behalf of its clients to the client’s customers or employees. A typical NOC uses various tools and techniques to monitor and manage networks, systems and applications. For example, it may use network management software to monitor traffic levels and identify potential problems, system monitoring tools to monitor endpoint and server performance and resource utilization, and application monitoring tools to track response times and identify errors.

Apart from identifying and resolving issues that arise, the staff at a NOC facility may also be involved in network capacity planning. Better overall network performance is another advantage of a NOC. Proactively monitoring and managing the network can help avoid potential bottlenecks and other performance issues. As a result, users experience fewer interruptions and enjoy smoother overall operation.

What is meant by network operations?

Network operations refer to all the activities needed to keep a network running smoothly, such as monitoring network devices and performance, configuring equipment, troubleshooting problems, and managing upgrades and changes. Network infrastructure includes everything from routers and switches to firewalls and load balancers, as well as the physical cables that connect all of these devices. Real-time monitoring keeps these assets functioning properly, safe from cyberattacks and prevents network outages.

In large organizations, a dedicated NOC staff may work round the clock to keep the network running smoothly. In smaller companies, the network operations team may be part of the IT department overseeing network monitoring and other IT tasks. Many companies outsource their network monitoring activities to one NOC due to its cost-effectiveness and ability to free up their IT staff.

What is the role of a NOC?

The role of a NOC is to provide 24/7 monitoring and support for an organization’s network infrastructure. A dedicated team of experts constantly monitors the network, identifying and resolving issues before they cause major disruptions.

When issues arise, NOCs resolve them on their own or by working with other teams within the organization, such as the help desk or IT operations, to identify the root cause of the problem. They also support users in accessing network resources safely. This may involve providing step-by-step instructions or troubleshooting tips. In some cases, NOCs may even remote into users’ computers to resolve an issue directly.

NOCs serve as a valuable resource for organizations of all sizes. Small businesses may not have the internal resources to support a full-time network operations team, so outsourcing to a NOC can be a cost-effective solution. A NOC can supplement an existing in-house network operations team for larger organizations, providing additional expertise and capacity.

What does a NOC do?

A NOC provides a variety of services to its customers. While not all NOCs are the same, they typically provide some or all of the following services:

Network monitoring and management

Network monitoring and management involves tracking all network devices, servers and databases to ensure they function properly and the data passing through them is secure. Network monitoring consists of three primary components:

• Network devices: Includes routers, switches, firewalls and other hardware that make up the network infrastructure.
• Network servers: Computers that host applications and provide services to users on the network.
• Network databases: Stored data used by applications on the network.

Security monitoring and management

These following components form the foundation of robust security monitoring and management system. While each item is important in its own right combined, they create a comprehensive security strategy that can help protect your system, users and organization from the most sophisticated attacks.

• Firewalls: Firewalls act as a first line of defense against cyberattacks by blocking unauthorized traffic from entering your network.
• Antivirus: Antivirus software protects your system from malicious programs and viruses that can wreak havoc on your system.
• Intrusion prevention systems (IPS): Intrusion prevention systems monitor network traffic for suspicious activity and can block malicious traffic before it reaches your system.
• Threat analysis: Threat analysis is the process of identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities in your system and developing plans to mitigate them.
• Incident response: Incident response is a set of procedures to be followed in the event of a security breach or attack.
• Policy enforcement: Policy enforcement ensures users comply with security policies and procedures.

Software and application management

Software and application management is the process of managing software and applications throughout their lifecycle. This includes:

• Installation: There are many factors to consider when installing a program, such as its compatibility with other programs, system requirements and licensing. Robust software and application management plan evaluates all aspects, making the process efficient and minimizing disruptions.
• Updates: It is essential to update software and applications on time to maintain security, compatibility and functionality. A good software and application management plan includes procedures for regularly checking for updates and installing them on time.
• Troubleshooting: Despite a sound installations and updates plan, problems can still arise. A well-documented and troubleshooting plan will help you locate and resolve issues quickly, which can involve working with the vendor or developer of the software.
• Patch management: Patch management is crucial to keeping software and applications up to date. The process involves identifying when a patch is available, testing it to ensure it works and deploying it properly. A patch is a piece of code used to fix a bug or vulnerability in an application or operating system.

Communications management

Communications management looks at how effectively and securely an organization’s employees share information between themselves and with clients. It includes developing and implementing communication strategies and assessing their effectiveness in a bid to optimize them.

• Email: Sending an email is easy and quick. All you need is an internet connection. However, emails can be easily ignored or deleted, and often it is difficult to convey emotion or tone through written words alone.
• Voice: Voice communication, whether over the phone or in person, is more immediate than email and can effectively convey emotion, but it can be more disruptive if not used properly.
• Audio: Audio-only communication, such as podcasts or recorded messages, can be a good middle ground between email and voice. It is less disruptive than a voice call but can still convey emotion and tone more effectively than written words alone.
• Video: During the pandemic, video communications connected a closed world and allowed for face-to-face interaction, even from a distance. As companies continue to explore remote working options, video communication allows participants across geographies and time zones to convey complex information and build great business relationships.

Business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) services

BCDR services help organizations keep their operations running even during major disruptions, like natural disasters, power outages, data breaches and other catastrophic events. The three key components of BCDR are:

• Data storage: Data storage is the foundation of any BCDR plan. You must securely store your company’s critical data for easy and quick access during an outage or disaster.
• Backup: A backup is a copy of your data that can be restored in the event of an IT system failure, cyberattack or natural disaster that can compromise the integrity of your data and systems. It is important to test your backup system regularly to ensure it works when needed.
• Disaster recovery: Disaster recovery is the process of restoring your systems and data in the event of a major outage or disaster. It is crucial to test your disaster recovery plan periodically as a way to ensure its reliability.

Network analysis and reporting

Network analysis and reporting are key to improving the performance of a network.

• Network performance: It refers to testing the speed and efficiency with which data can be transmitted across a network using metrics like latency, jitter, packet loss, throughput, etc.
• Network health: This analysis refers to a network’s overall stability and reliability and provides information about uptime and any potential problems that may be causing disruptions.
• Optimization proposals: These are suggestions for improving a network’s performance, including changes to the hardware, software and configuration of the network. They may also include how a network is used, such as implementing new policies or procedures.

Third-party services management

Keeping track of all the vendors, contractors and freelancers your company employs can be frustrating. In addition to their other duties, a NOC will help keep track of all contacts, licenses and payments jobs on your behalf.

• Vendor: A vendor can be a company or an individual that sells goods or services to another company. They are contracted to provide specific products or services and are paid on a per-project basis.
• Contractors: A contractor is an individual or company that provides services to another company on a contractual basis. Contractors get paid by the hour or project and are not considered employees of the company they work for.
• Freelancers: They are individuals who work for themselves, providing their skills and services to companies or individuals on a contractual basis. Freelancers are typically paid by the project and set their own hours.

What is the difference between a NOC and a SOC?

A NOC is a facility responsible for maintaining optimal network performance and ensuring the organization’s IT infrastructure meets all service level agreement (SLA) requirements. On the other hand, a Security Operations Center (SOC) is tasked with protecting an organization against cyberattacks that could otherwise cause business disruption.

A SOC is a centralized facility within an organization or a third-party service provider that houses an information security team responsible for continuously monitoring, detecting, analyzing and responding to any cybersecurity incidents on a 24/7/365 basis.

What is the difference between a NOC and a help desk?

The main difference between a help desk and a NOC is their respective focus. A help desk is a support service that helps users with technical issues related to a company’s products or services. A NOC is a facility that monitors and manages the infrastructure of a network.

A help desk is operated by customer service representatives or technical support staff trained to assist users with questions or problems. They may provide support via phone, email or live chat and are focused on providing quick resolutions to specific issues.

On the other hand, NOCs are staffed by network engineers or other IT professionals who monitor the performance of a network and its components. They proactively manage networks to prevent outages or performance issues and use specialized tools to identify and troubleshoot problems.

While both serve different purposes, they play a vital role in keeping things running smoothly.

What are the best practices for a NOC?

By partnering with a NOC, you get round-the-clock monitoring and support, quick identification and resolution of issues, and peace of mind knowing that your network is in good hands. Here are some best practices for establishing and maintaining a quality NOC.

Document all policies and protocols

In order to maintain a high-functioning NOC, it is important to document all policies and protocols related to roles, responsibilities, prioritization and procedures. A clear understanding of these concepts will help the NOC team to manage day-to-day operations and address any issues that may arise more effectively.

• Roles: Each member of the NOC team should have a clearly defined role to avoid confusion and overlap in responsibilities.
• Responsibilities: All members of the NOC team should be aware of their duties as well as the collective responsibility of the team as a whole. This makes individuals more likely to take responsibility and accountability for their roles.
• Prioritization: The NOC team must understand how to prioritize tasks and events to address the most critical items at the earliest opportunity.
• Procedures: The NOC team should have well-defined processes for managing day-to-day operations and addressing any incidents or issues that may arise. Staff and technicians should know the steps to follow for maximum efficiency.

Provide thorough and frequent training

Frequent training is essential for NOC staff. They need to be up to date on the latest changes in the network and how to troubleshoot common problems. This way, they can quickly resolve any issues that come up.

Emphasize timely, round-the-clock response

As networks are constantly in use, a NOC must have a 24-hour response time. Issues can arise anytime, and a NOC must have staff on duty round the clock to ensure a timely response.

Communicate regularly and often

Communication is vital for a NOC to function effectively. Timely and clear communication between the NOC staff and other departments within the organization, stakeholders, employees, customers and everyone else involved is essential. Having everyone on the same page helps resolve issues that may arise faster.

Regularly maintain and test systems

A NOC needs to maintain and test its systems regularly. This way, they can be sure everything is working properly and no potential problems are lurking around the corner.

Analyze and review performance

There are a few key things to keep in mind when analyzing and reviewing performance in a NOC. First, identify your goals and objectives and what you are trying to improve or accomplish. Next, gather data and information related to your goals. It could come from various sources, including system logs, application monitoring tools, user feedback, etc. Once your data is collected, it’s time to start analyzing it. Look for patterns, trends and anything that stands out as unusual. Finally, review your findings with your team and stakeholders. Discuss what could be causing issues and develop improvement plans.

What are the benefits of a NOC?

The benefits of partnering with a NOC include improved network uptime, faster problem resolution and better overall network performance. Here are just a few of the ways a NOC can help improve your business:

Increased efficiency

By monitoring your network 24/7, a NOC team can identify and resolve potential problems before they cause downtime. In many cases, issues can be resolved before they have a chance to cause any significant damage. It means more productivity for your business. By contrast, you may fail to detect problems without a NOC until an outage or disruption occurs.

Expert service

With a team of IT experts, you’ll always have someone to turn to when you need help with your network. Whether you need assistance with troubleshooting or want advice on system management, a NOC will be there to help. A NOC will proactively monitor and manage your network round the clock, so you can focus on running your business.

Real-time, 24/7 monitoring and reporting

NOC uses the latest tools and technologies to monitor your network round the clock. They can provide you with real-time reports so you can stay up to date on the status of your network.

Customizable and scalable

As your business grows, a NOC can scale its services to meet your changing needs or alter your service package based on periodic changes in demand. You can also customize the services to suit your needs.

Kaseya NOC services

If you’re looking for a way to accelerate your business growth and increase profitability, Kaseya NOC services can help. With our experienced team of IT professionals, we can help you scale quickly without incurring costly overhead. This will free up your staff to focus on high-value services. In addition, our flexible services are designed to meet your changing needs as your business grows. Whatever your requirements, whether it be a change in demand for your services or exponential growth, we are here to help you succeed. For more information about our NOC service and to receive a quote, click here.

The post What Is a Network Operations Center (NOC)? Definition, Role, Benefits and Best Practices appeared first on Kaseya.

Although this development isn’t a complete surprise, its pace was accelerated during the pandemic when technology adoption by small and midsize businesses (SMBs) got fast-tracked by five years. This left IT professionals in the lurch as the portfolio of devices to be managed increased exponentially. Markets acted quickly and developed bespoke solutions for each device type; for example, you could get a Mac tool for Mac management and a cloud tool for cloud management.

This became a boon and a curse at the same time. On the one hand, IT professionals had a way to manage various devices, but on the other hand, they had to juggle multiple device management tools, work with 10 different vendors and keep a tab on all of these contracts. Thus began the search for a unified tool that could do it all without a hassle.

This blog will briefly explain how IT professionals can effectively manage and control various network devices using a single cutting-edge solution. Dive in.

How To Remotely Control Network Devices

Multifunctional IT professionals require an integrated and unified IT management and security platform that is purpose-built to address their complex needs. VSA is that solution and offers complete IT management via a single-user interface. With a single click, VSA creates a secure communication channel to initiate a remote-control session for managing devices like routers, firewalls, switches and printers, on any network.

Networking devices are well-designed to be managed remotely, as even the old school routers could be configured and managed through a command-line interface (CLI). VSA’s remote control feature allows you to fully control/manage agentless devices without needing to install a VSA agent on them. So long as the vendor offers the option, you can remotely change anything about the current device configuration.

Use Cases for Network Device Remote Control

Network device management via remote access is not just quicker but more efficient, and you can manage security more effectively.

Rebooting

Besides your desktops, laptops and mobile devices, your network devices also need timely rebooting. It could be a bug fix, a performance improvement or a firmware update. VSA allows you to remotely reboot a network device, whereas, in the past, you had to have the device in front of you. The most compelling use case of the remote rebooting feature is the ability to shut down an interface to stop a broadcast storm, which can occur due to misconfigured networking switches.

Firmware or Software Updates

Firmware is a software that comes preinstalled on networking devices like routers and printers. It ensures networking devices follow instructions correctly and perform their functions as expected. Firmware also protects devices from malware and gives administrators a convenient way to manage device settings.

Just as you must update your operating systems (OS) and other software application regularly, firmware must be updated, too. Keep firmware patching up to date and remediate critical vulnerabilities remotely with VSA to maintain security of your IT infrastructure. It is a crucial security practice to keep your networking device from being used as a backdoor for a cyberattack. The firmware update can also introduce new features and fix performance-draining bugs. You can efficiently address the difficulties associated with patching firmware by automating the entire process using Kaseya VSA.

Configuration Updates

Networking devices may require configuration updates from time to time to either fix performance issues or troubleshoot a potentially dangerous problem. Consider the verbose logging feature. Whether you need to turn it on to troubleshoot an issue or activate it for additional logging, you can enable the function remotely using VSA to access information quickly.

Manage Your Network Devices With VSA

If you’re using bespoke software for network device remote control or your endpoint management solution (RMM) can’t manage networking devices remotely, it’s time to upgrade. With VSA, you can access state-of-the-art remote network management features and more from the get-go. Request your free demo today to see how you can manage all your device from one platform.

The post The How and Why of Networking Device Remote Control appeared first on Kaseya.

Network monitoring is a key function for maintaining IT service availability. It enables technicians to quickly detect and respond to an issue with a network device, such as a switch or a router, that could disrupt a service to all downstream devices and users.

A key requirement for quickly finding and fixing the root cause of an IT incident is gaining visibility of the entire IT network. This includes all agent-based devices, such as Windows, Mac and Linux devices, and agentless devices, such as routers, switches and printers, on the network. The discovery process allows the endpoint and network management tool to build a network topology map, as shown in the screenshot below.

Being able to visualize the entire network and see all of the device connectivity can be a huge timesaver for network admins that are troubleshooting an issue. The topology map can show the up/down status of the endpoints and network devices as well as whether there are any active alarms for that device.

IT technicians employ a network management system (NMS) to monitor network devices (e.g. routers and switches) and printers, using the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

SNMP allows the NMS to communicate with the network devices by sending messages that query Objects in the Management Information Base (MIB). The NMS can query the device for operational status, data errors in and out of the device, bandwidth in and out, and more. Network monitoring enables technicians to constantly monitor an IT network for poorly performing or failing devices.

Network monitoring allows IT teams to be proactive in spotting and resolving issues before they turn into major problems that could affect business productivity.

Simplify Network Monitoring With Kaseya VSA

Kaseya VSA provides standard SNMP device monitoring for routers, switches and printers.

Kaseya VSA’s “zero-configuration” standard SNMP monitoring means the only thing you have to do to enable this function is check a box and you’re done.

Kaseya VSA automatically configures standard SNMP monitoring using best-practice-based thresholds. It collects the following data for SNMP devices:

Network Devices (Routers, Switches)

Collect interface metrics for operational status, bandwidth in and out, and errors in and out

Printers

Printer Operational Status, Printer Current Status, Detected Error State, Printer Cover Status (1st door)

For monitored devices, Kaseya VSA can take the following user-selectable actions if an alert occurs:

• Create an Alarm
• Create a Ticket
• Email Recipients

Triaging Networking Issues

When an alert occurs, depending on what actions have been selected, as shown above, the network admin may see an alarm on the Network Topology Map in VSA. Or, they could get an email notification or be assigned a new service ticket that describes the networking issue. If there’s an active alarm on the topology map. the technician can jump to the Alarm Summary page for that device (see screenshot below).

Technicians can also drill down and get more detailed information on the device in the VSA QuickView window.

All of these features allow technicians to quickly detect and resolve networking issues and help them keep IT systems and services up and running.

Benefits of Kaseya VSA’s SNMP Device Monitoring

Kaseya VSA’s SNMP device monitoring enables technicians to monitor and manage all network devices and endpoints from a single pane of glass. Kaseya VSA’s network monitoring enables you to:

• Easily deploy SNMP monitoring with “zero-configuration”
• Quickly detect and respond to network device alerts
• Gain complete visibility of your networks and device status with the topology map
• Easily see if a device has any open alarms
• Resolve IT incidents quickly to maintain system and service availability

Network monitoring is one of the most critical functions for ensuring the smooth operation of your business. To learn more about how you can simplify network monitoring and management and maintain system uptime with Kaseya VSA, download the feature sheet now!

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What Does SNMP Monitoring Involve?

Standard monitoring of SNMP devices involves the configuring of network devices to report various pieces of data. This data gives a detailed view of the health and operational status of these devices. Network monitoring allows devices to generate alerts when events occur outside of set thresholds. This flags networking issues that can lead to IT system and service downtime.

For example, for network devices such as routers and switches, SNMP monitoring can collect information such as interface metrics for operational status, bandwidth in and out, and errors in and out.

For printers, information such as operational status, printer current status, detected error state and printer cover (i.e. door) status can be collected.

Configuring monitoring for network devices can sometimes become tedious and time consuming. It involves applying a standard set of configurations to each and every device. However, network monitoring configuration can be automated with an appropriate network management tool that follows industry best practices for setting thresholds.

What is Network Management Software and What Actions Can It Take?

As the name suggests, network management software monitors, manages and helps optimize a network for maximum uptime and performance.

When network management software registers an alert – created when the operation of a network device exceeds a pre-defined threshold – it can perform certain actions such as:

• Creating an Alarm – A graphical way of notifying the user that an alert has occurred. This takes place in the network management software dashboard and can be viewed by users that are logged in to the software.
• Creating a Ticket – A service ticket is created and logged in the software and assigned to a specific IT technician/helpdesk agent to be resolved.
• Sending an Email – An email is sent to notify the IT team (or some individual) of the incident. It provides alert details so that someone can take action to remediate the issue.

Is a Separate Network Monitoring Tool Required to Manage SNMP Devices?

If you’re using a remote monitoring and management (RMM; aka endpoint management) tool, it may have the capability to monitor SNMP devices. If so, you may not require a separate network monitoring tool. However, depending on the specific needs of your organization and the skillset of your IT team members that manage network devices, you may require a more advanced network management solution.

For many IT teams in small to midsize businesses, an easy-to-use network monitoring feature built into the RMM/endpoint management tool could be the best solution. This approach ensures that everyone on the team can use the network management capabilities and saves you money by eliminating the need for a standalone solution.

And, for network engineers that manage complex IT networks and troubleshoot network issues on a daily basis, a more powerful network monitoring solution is probably preferable.

Kaseya VSA, a powerful endpoint and network management solution, automatically discovers all devices on a network, including Windows, Mac and Linux devices, as well as routers, switches and printers. It also provides a network topology map showing how each device (VSA agent-based and agentless) is interconnected.

This network topology also shows active alarms on devices and allows for easy drill-down on a device to see detailed asset information and fast access to the Alarm Summary page for that device. This enables quicker resolution of IT incidents on that device.

With Kaseya VSA, setting up standard SNMP device monitoring is also quite easy. In fact, Kaseya VSA provides “zero configuration” standard SNMP monitoring, which means the only thing you have to do to enable this function is check a box and you’re done. VSA automatically takes care of the rest for you.

Learn more about standard SNMP device monitoring and network visualization by reading our product brief.

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