Home Network Monitoring with PRTG

Network monitoring refers to the monitoring of an entire network environment. Its goal is to allow sysadmins to work in a better, quicker, and more efficient manner. Network monitoring focuses on parameters such as bandwidth consumption and the availability of network devices.

Some of the monitored devices include the local and internet-based systems in an IT environment, such as databases, applications, clouds, servers, and network infrastructures. Network monitoring allows admins to ensure their networks run smoothly, effectively, and free of errors.

The mere implementation of a network monitor is not enough. The key to effective network monitoring in real time is to ensure that your tool has been configured to monitor your network's “vital signs”: availability, speed, and usage.

• Network availability: Monitoring this allows both internal and external parties to access the services, including websites, and you can determine whether the mail servers and leased lines are working.
• Network speed: Using bandwidth monitoring prevents your websites and network services from losing visitors or frustrate users due to slow-loading pages, files, or images.
• Network usage: Monitoring usage enables you to accurately assess CPU load and learn what sort of work the servers are doing at different times of the day.
• General network status: Check the status of your entire network with just a glance to free up time for other tasks. If a malfunction occurs or the status of a device changes, you'll be notified immediately and can take action at once.
• Network devices: Large networks contain devices from a variety of manufacturers: switches, servers, workstations, and routers. Most monitoring tools only monitor the devices of specific manufacturers or require expensive add-ons. However, PRTG covers nearly every manufacturer.
• Network traffic: PRTG shows you which applications, connections, and data types are putting the greatest strain on your network. In the event of disruptions or overloads, PRTG triggers the alarm at once.

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor offers a free 30-day trial that includes all monitoring, alerting, and reporting features as well as historical data analysis. There’s also a freeware edition of PRTG that is free of charge for up to 100 PRTG sensors (or monitored aspects). If your trial period expires or you need more than 100 sensors, you have to purchase a commercial license.

PRTG supports all common protocols and technologies, such as SNMP, WMI and Windows performance counters, SSH, HTTP and HTTPS, ping, FTP, SSL, packet sniffing, NetFlow, REST, and more.

In PRTG, “sensors” are the basic monitoring elements. One sensor usually monitors one measured value in your network, for example the traffic of a switch port, the CPU load of a server, or the free space on a disk drive. On average, you need about 5-10 sensors per device or one sensor per switch port.