Network monitoring software tracks the overall performance of a computer network. These solutions detect problems in a network by comparing live performance against an expected performance baseline. They also measure response time, availability, consistency, reliability, and the overall traffic of a network, based on real-time and historical performance data.
IT teams can benefit greatly from either proprietary or free network monitoring software. If a network crashes or varies from the baseline, the network or IT administrator is alerted. These tools provide data visualizations for administrators, thereby increasing understanding of the performance metrics. Network monitoring software includes similar functionality as application performance monitoring software solutions, but for an entire network as opposed to a specific application.
To qualify for inclusion in the Network Monitoring category, a product must:
Constantly monitor the performance of an entire computer network
Create a baseline for network performance metrics
Alert administrators if the network crashes or varies from the baseline
Suggest solutions to performance issues when they arise
Provide visualizations for network performance data