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Networking Intermediate

What is Network Monitoring?

The practice of continuously observing network infrastructure to detect failures, performance degradation, and security threats.

Network monitoring tracks bandwidth utilization, packet loss, latency, device health, and security events across network infrastructure. Tools include Nagios, Zabbix, PRTG, and LibreNMS for infrastructure monitoring; Wireshark and tcpdump for packet analysis; NetFlow/sFlow for traffic analysis; and SNMP for device metrics. Modern monitoring systems use agents or agentless collection, define thresholds for alerts, generate performance reports, and support auto-remediation. Effective monitoring covers availability (is it up?), performance (is it fast?), and security (is it safe?) across all network layers.

Related Terms

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)
A protocol that maps IP addresses to physical MAC addresses on a local network segment.
OSI Model
The seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection model that standardizes network communication functions from physical transmission to application protocols.
Load Balancer
A device or software that distributes network traffic across multiple servers to ensure reliability and performance.
SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol)
A protocol for monitoring and managing network devices like routers, switches, servers, and printers remotely.
DNS Propagation
The time it takes for DNS record changes to spread across all DNS servers worldwide, typically taking up to 48 hours.
Overlay Network
A virtual network built on top of an existing physical network, enabling features like container networking and VPNs.
View All Networking Terms โ†’