Questions:
Student one:
Hello Everyone,
In the military we all learn the most important aspect of any plan is to provide supervision of that plan. Within networking, supervision of the network involves monitoring the performance of the network to identify errors and anomalies, thus ensuring a healthy, functioning network. In the market today, there are many network monitoring tools available for businesses, with Datadog being rated as one of the best by PC Magazine.
Datadog manages and monitors a business’s network and network infrastructure through software-as-a-service (SaaS). Datadog can be installed on numerous platforms such as Mac OS X, Debian, Docker, Windows 10, Puppet and Ubuntu. Installation consists of account creation and then installing and configuring a software agent. Although Cloud services are the primary monitoring environment for Datadog, it can also monitor Linux and Windows virtual machines (VMs) through the support for common services (Ferrill & Rash, 2018). All told, Datadog supports over 200 integrations of one sort or another.
Datadog provides the ability to monitor and alert personnel on several different source categories, with varying degrees of detail. Datadog offers a log management feature which provides a snapshot of all logs all at once, allowing users to jump from one log line to another in one seamless motion. Alerts with Datadog are customizable for one device or a group of devices and activation based on various thresholds. For its analysis capabilities, Datadog doesn’t offer conventional reporting tools. Rather, it provides historical reports which are available in it Notebooks function (Ferrill & Rash, 2018).
However since its focus is on real time monitoring, Datadog allows users to build queries based on different criteria which allow for the export of information for follow-on analysis. With its visualizations, Datadog offers the ability to view time synchronized metrics in an attempt to show correlation between events on different systems. With over 200 built-in integrations, users can monitor code changes, track administrative actions, view performance of physical devices or apps, or facilitate communication that make sense for a business (Ferrill & Rash, 2018).
Advanced users or service providers have the option of using use cases for their application programming interfaces (APIs) using Javascrip Object Notation (JSON). Although there is a disadvantage to Datadog, in that there is a heavy learning curve to use several key features.
Nil
Works Cited
Ferrill, T., & Rash, W. (2018, April 18). Datadog. Retrieved from PCMag.com: https://www.pcmag.com/review/336157/datadog
Student two:
With so many moving parts and components all communicating with one another as well as all the individuals using the systems, a lot can go wrong. One small problem can spiral into a catastrophic problem if not monitored and caught in time. In addition to how complicated a computer network can be, there are constant upgrades, changes, and new technology to consider. So, it’s very important to monitor the network at every level or turn. Monitoring a network must happen from outside the actual network as failures in the network can mean that the network cannot report the failure as the system is compromised (Olson, 2017). That doesn’t mean that alerts can’t occur or that a user can’t pick up on a problem without outside monitoring, but it definitely helps to have it.
I researched the internet for an application that can be used to monitor a network and came across a website that feature a list of the top 10 based on certain features and criteria. Features and criteria that were used to evaluate the monitoring tools on the list were “Uptime/Downtime indicators, along with a robust and thorough alerting systems (via Email/SMS), custom templates and thresholds, Netflow and SNMP Integration, Automatic Network Topology Discovery and Mapping functionality” (Wilson, 2017).
The #1 pick on the list was Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor. The bonus features for this monitoring software is how quickly it can be set-up and how much is available for customization. In addition to that, modules are sold in separate packages base on the needs of the network and its user/users. Essentially, it nearly sets itself up and can be completely customized. Upon further research into this software, I found that they offer a free trial and they claim to base their products and improvements based on customer feedback. The cost for Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor? $1995 one-time fee and includes year maintenance for the first year.
Olson, J. (2017, January 29). The Importance of Network Performance Monitoring. Retrieved August 12, 2019, from http://blog.nmsaas.com/the-importance-of-network-p…
Wilson, M. (2019, March 30). 10 Best Network Monitoring Tools & Software of 2019: FREE – UPDATED! Retrieved August 12, 2019, from https://www.pcwdld.com/best-network-monitoring-too…