What Is Network Monitoring?

How Does Network Monitoring Work?

Network monitoring complements network management and works by collecting data from the various systems that make up an organization’s computer network. For example, an organization may collect data from routers, firewalls, load balancers, and endpoints within its environment.

This can be accomplished using the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), which most devices support and that can be used to collect a variety of different data. Some of the information that an organization may collect as part of a network monitoring program includes bandwidth usage, CPU utilization, interface errors/discards, IP time delays and hop counts, throughput, and uptime.

All of these pieces of information provide hints about the health of the network. For example, CPU utilization and uptime hint at how well an endpoint is doing its job, while interface errors and discards can point to issues in the system. By collecting and analyzing this information, a networking team can identify and correct issues before they have a significant impact on the business.

Use Cases for Network Monitoring

Network monitoring processes can provide benefits to the organization wherever the company has network infrastructure. Some example areas where network monitoring tools and techniques can be applied include the following:

• Data Centers: Organizations can deploy network monitoring tools and capabilities within their data centers. This enables the detection of various events — such as power outages or network capacity issues — that could threaten the data center’s ability to provide services.
• Cloud: Many companies are adopting a multi-cloud infrastructure where data is flowing between multiple cloud environments and the corporate data center. Network monitoring can help to optimize cloud network topology to improve performance and reduce cloud network costs.
• Containers: Containerization has its benefits, but it can reduce visibility into an organization’s applications. Monitoring container network traffic can help to ensure that data is properly flowing between the various parts of a containerized application.

Network Monitoring in Check Point NGFW

Check Point next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) provide a variety of tools designed to support network monitoring programs and enhance an organization’s visibility into its network performance and security.

• For customers who prefer a turn-key solution, Check Point includes several tools for monitoring the network including CLI and GUI-based. Check Point’s SmartView Monitor included in the SmartConsole management graphical user interface (GUI) provides insight into network and security performance. Companies can use SmartView Monitor and the data that it provides to perform network traffic analysis (NTA) and identify and correct potential issues based on identifying anomalies from learned patterns of system resource utilization.
• For customers with larger estates, Check Point integrates with SNMP monitoring tools. Find out more in the Check Point SNMP Best Practices guide.
• Also check out our Pro Services Support option to automate network and security infrastructure monitoring.
• Finally, customers with many remote branch offices can optimize and monitor their Wide Area Networks (WAN) with integrated SD-WAN in Quantum firewalls.

Check Point Horizon Network Detection and Response (NDR) expands an organization’s network security visibility with tools designed to support both proactive threat hunting and threat detection and response efforts. Horizon NDR leverages threat intelligence provided by ThreatCloud AI and a range of visualizations to provide security analysts with a better understanding of what is happening on their network.

With a Check Point NGFW, companies achieve the security visibility and protection that they need. Find out more about what to look for in an NGFW with this buyer’s guide. Then, see the capabilities of a Check Point NGFW for yourself with a free demo.