A Deep Dive into SolarWinds NPM
BY MARYAM AHTASHAM
In today's digital ecosystem, ensuring peak network performance is indispensable for businesses vying to retain their competitive edge. Amidst a myriad of available tools, SolarWinds Network Performance Monitoring stands out as a formidable solution, providing organizations with the capability to effortlessly monitor, analyze, and enhance their network infrastructure. In this blog post, we explore the extensive functionalities and advantages of SolarWinds NPM, illuminating the transformative impact it brings to the landscape of network management.
A Comprehensive Overview
Network Performance Monitoring is a comprehensive platform designed to provide real-time insights into network performance metrics, allowing IT professionals to proactively identify and address potential issues before they escalate. With its user-friendly interface and extensive feature set, SolarWinds equips organizations with the tools needed to ensure network reliability, scalability, and security.
Key Features and Capabilities
Let's take a look at the features.
Monitor Azure vNet Gateway Visibility
Network Performance Monitor provides organizations with the crucial capability to meticulously oversee the visibility of Azure virtual network (vNet) gateways. This feature empowers users to troubleshoot VPN issues by obtaining a clear and comprehensive picture of both ends of their Virtual Private Networks (VPNs). Through this enhanced visibility, users can proactively identify and address connectivity issues, leading to improved network performance and reliability.
Scalability
It boasts remarkable scalability, allowing users to effortlessly scale their monitoring infrastructure to accommodate up to one million elements per instance. This scalability is contingent upon the acquisition of appropriate licenses, ensuring that organizations can seamlessly expand their network monitoring capabilities as their infrastructure grows. This feature underscores the adaptability of SolarWinds NPM to meet the evolving needs of diverse and expanding network environments.
SD-WAN Monitoring
The inclusion of SD-WAN monitoring capabilities within NPM equips users with advanced tools to manage and optimize their Software-Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WANs). This feature encompasses SD-WAN Orchestrator dashboards and edge device monitoring, enabling users to gain insights into the performance and health of their SD-WAN infrastructure. Regular updates, as outlined in the release notes, ensure compatibility with the latest supported devices, ensuring that organizations stay ahead in their SD-WAN monitoring efforts.
Fault, Performance, and Availability Monitoring
It delivers a robust solution for the rapid detection, diagnosis, and resolution of network performance issues. This comprehensive feature set enables organizations to avoid downtime through proactive fault identification and resolution. By leveraging network optimization software, users can maintain the highest levels of network availability and performance, safeguarding critical business operations.
NetPath Analysis
NetPath provides users with a detailed, hop-by-hop analysis along critical paths within the network infrastructure. This includes a comprehensive view of performance metrics, traffic patterns, and configuration details for devices and applications across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. This feature enhances troubleshooting capabilities, facilitating quicker identification and resolution of performance bottlenecks or issues along critical paths.
PerfStack Network Data Correlation
PerfStack enhances the identification of root causes by offering a unique capability to drag and drop network performance metrics onto a common timeline. This immediate visual correlation across all network data facilitates accelerated troubleshooting and diagnosis. The cross-stack network data correlation feature streamlines the process of pinpointing issues by correlating data from various network sources on a unified timeline.
Customizable Topology and Intelligent Alerts
SolarWinds NPM allows users to tailor intelligent alerts based on multiple condition checks, correlated events, network topology, and device dependencies. This customization ensures that alerts are finely tuned to the unique characteristics of the network environment, reducing false positives and providing actionable insights. The awareness of topology and dependencies enhances the accuracy and relevance of alerts, allowing organizations to respond promptly to critical issues.
Dynamic Network Discovery and Mapping
The automated network discovery and mapping feature of SolarWinds NPM enable organizations to effortlessly identify and map devices, performance metrics, link utilization, and wireless coverage. This dynamic mapping capability ensures that network administrators have an up-to-date and accurate representation of the network infrastructure. This visualization simplifies the management of complex network environments, aiding in effective decision-making and troubleshooting.
Automated Capacity Forecasting, Alerting, and Reporting
It offers automated capacity forecasting, alerting, and reporting features. These capabilities enable users to predict resource exhaustion dates by employing customizable thresholds based on peak and average usage. This proactive approach ensures that organizations can anticipate and address capacity issues before they impact performance, preventing potential disruptions to network operations.
Logical and Physical Network Monitoring in One Tool
SolarWinds NPM excels in providing a unified solution for monitoring both logical and physical components of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) environments. This includes support for Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controllers (APICs), tenants, application profiles, endpoint groups, and physical entities with Cisco ACI support. This comprehensive monitoring approach allows organizations to gain insights into the complete network ecosystem, facilitating effective management and optimization.
Intelligent Maps
SolarWinds NPM features intelligent maps that offer intuitive aggregation and visualization of data. These maps serve as a powerful tool for swiftly identifying and understanding the root causes of network issues, even in complex environments.
The visual representation enhances the user's ability to comprehend network structures and relationships, promoting faster and more efficient troubleshooting.
Comprehensive Monitoring for Advanced Network Devices
SolarWinds NPM provides comprehensive monitoring capabilities for advanced network devices such as F5 BIG-IP load balancers, Cisco ASA and Palo Alto Networks firewalls, and Cisco Nexus® switches. The Network Insight features deliver visual insights into the health and performance of these critical devices, ensuring that organizations can effectively manage and optimize their network infrastructure.
End-user Quality of Experience
NPM empowers users to assess end-user quality of experience by facilitating packet capture and analysis. This feature aids in determining whether changes in end-user experience are attributed to the application or the network. By providing granular insights into packet-level data, organizations can proactively address issues impacting end-user satisfaction and overall network performance.
Dynamic Statistical Network Performance Baselines
NPM dynamically calculates network performance baselines from historical data. This feature allows the system to adapt to evolving network conditions, automatically establishing thresholds for normal performance. By leveraging dynamic statistical baselines, organizations can swiftly identify deviations from the norm, facilitating proactive issue resolution and optimization of network performance.
Hardware Health Monitoring
The hardware health monitoring capabilities of SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor enable users to vigilantly monitor, alert, and report on key device metrics. This includes critical parameters such as temperature, fan speed, and power supply status. By staying informed about the health of network hardware, organizations can proactively address potential issues, ensuring the overall stability and reliability of the network infrastructure.
Customizable Performance and Availability Reports
NPM empowers users to schedule and generate custom network performance reports using a rich library of over 100 out-of-the-box templates. This feature allows organizations to tailor reports to their specific needs, providing insights into performance and availability metrics. The customizable reporting capability ensures that network administrators can communicate key information effectively to stakeholders, facilitating informed decision-making.
What are the Benefits?
Improved Network Performance: By proactively monitoring and optimizing network performance, organizations can enhance productivity, minimize downtime, and deliver a superior end-user experience.
Enhanced Security: SolarWinds Network Performance Monitoring helps organizations identify and mitigate security threats, ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive data.
Cost-Effectiveness: With SolarWinds, organizations can streamline network management processes, reduce operational overheads, and achieve a higher return on investment (ROI) in the long run.
Simplified Troubleshooting: With its intuitive interface and powerful diagnostic tools, SolarWinds simplifies the troubleshooting process, enabling IT teams to resolve issues swiftly and efficiently.
"SolarWinds greatly helps us ensure that potential network issues are resolved before they affect service delivery, which goes a long way to justifying the investment."
Phil Rogers
Head of Networks, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Conclusion
NPM emerges as an indispensable tool for organizations seeking to optimize network performance, enhance security, and streamline operations. By providing real-time insights, actionable intelligence, and unparalleled scalability, SolarWinds empowers IT professionals to tackle the complexities of modern network management with confidence. Embrace the power of Network Performance Monitoring and unlock new levels of efficiency and reliability in your network infrastructure.
