Automation of network monitoring is important, but don't forget about keeping people in the loop, cautions the federal government.

A three-tiered approach to continuous network monitoring at the organization level, mission level and system level is the recommendation from the American Council of Technology and Industry's Advisory Council. Recent published guidance from the Advisory Council covers security strategy, performance metrics, risk tolerance and the frequency and types of monitoring controls for organization-wide coverage. Marianne Swanson, senior advisor for information system security at the National Institute of Standards and Technology cautions that, although automation is important, “continuous monitoring shouldn’t be all about automated controls,” arguing that some resources must still go toward management, personnel and physical security.

A suggested combination of both: Automated monitoring makes it easier to force resets back to a baseline; then people take over, and by analyzing repeated deltas from the baseline activity can spot and track trends and real anomalies as they become significantly apparent.

Best-in-Class Network Monitoring features:

• Monitors chat, email, and instant messaging downloads, webpages and keystrokes.
• Provides a password-protected stealth mode that does not appear in a Windows system tray, or Windows Program, or on a Windows task list.
• Tracks all downloads, including Peer-to-Peer and file transfers.

Top Considerations before Buying Network Monitoring:

Monitoring and tracking are fine, but reporting is essential. In order to maintain awareness and close control over the monitoring, thorough scheduled activity reports are critical, especially for reporting on email traffic, both sent and received, chat and Instant Messages, keywords and phrases, user Logon and Logoff, keystrokes typed, and programs launched.

Key Providers:

1. Codima Inc. provides software tools for IT asset management, VoIP management, and network performance monitoring and inventory solutions to discover, map, monitor, troubleshoot, and visualize IT networks. Formerly known as KKS Venture Management, Inc. and changed its name to Codima Inc. in June 2008. Codima Inc. was founded in 2003. Codima’s Toolbox, 6.9 is a monitoring tool that offers highly visual reports and traffic-priority analysis that diagnose network performance, data and VoIP networks. From one single point of access Toolbox automatically tracks protocols and nodes, to determine traffic priority. For example, protocols and nodes with incorrect priority that can damage VoIP traffic flows can be identified and reassigned, potentially improving call quality. The software's Device Editor enables users to manually edit device types and add comments to network maps created in Microsoft Office Visio. The Codima Toolbox uses the network maps to translate raw IP addresses into system names, directly displaying the identity of any IT asset visually.

2. Nsauditor from Nsasys comes with multiple modules for different types of safety monitoring and scanning; the Network Monitoring, for example, monitors all network applications, detailing information such as the file name, protocol it's using, local and remote address it accesses, local and remote ports it accesses, the hostname it's contacting, and the network service it uses. PC User reports that Nsauditor is best only for those businesses and individuals “with a solid networking background and are looking for an all-in-one tool for monitoring network safety.” Otherwise the program will prove to be too highly sophisticated for practical use.

3. Zyrion's Traverse business service management (BSM) product has two key components: 1.  Business Service Containers allow users to generate network views that correspond to their specific roles, enabling them also to gather real-time status information on specific services, and receive service failure alerts; and 2. A Service-Level Manager that helps companies manage such services as SLAs (Service Level Agreements) (SLAs) by monitoring compliance in real time and displaying information on the a dashboard. Zyrion's main business emphasis, according to company founder, Vikas Aggarwal, is "to deliver a mid-market BSM solution which offers both network and application monitoring and relates it to the impact on IT services." Such BSM positioning differentiates itself by not only monitoring the network but also providing detail on how it impacts business, thus providing IT information that is relevant to managing the day-to-day operations of the business

4. iTrinegy's answer to network and application performance monitoring and analysis is featured in iTrinegy's latest monitoring product, AppQoS Live! It allows any 64-bit laptop, desktop or server to temporarily convert to a network analysis appliance. The software is supplied on a bootable CD; nothing is permanently installed on the host system. Recently tested at the independent labs of Network Computing Magazine, the results recommended AppQoS Live! as "an ideal network troubleshooting tool for support staff or consultants who can't justify the expense of a dedicated system or laptop. It can run on virtually any hardware platform, takes minutes to load, and provides an incredible amount of information about network traffic and user activity."

Network Monitoring
Definition: Network Monitoring is a term to describe the use of a system that continuously monitors a computer network for slow or failing components. The Network Monitoring software or solution will then notify the network administrator in the case of outages via email, SMS or other alarms. Network Monitoring is a subset of the functions involved in network management.