Network traffic analyzer

A Quick Insight on the concept of Network Traffic Analyzer and related aspects

The collection, storage, and analysis of network traffic are called network traffic analysis. If you want the most accurate information possible, traffic data is collected in real time or very close to it. In the event of an emergency, you’ll be prepared to act quickly. This data can be archived for future use in historical research.

Role of Network traffic analyzers

Network telemetry and/or flow records are constantly analyzed by NTA solutions. Machine learning and behavioral analytics are used to establish a baseline for the organization’s usual network activity. In the event of suspicious network activity or unusual patterns of traffic, these tools notify your security staff. Additionally, NTA solutions analyze network traffic or flow records to monitor east-west communications across the enterprise boundary.

What’s the point of implementing NTA?

All of your network’s components, whether managed or unmanaged, can be analyzed using NTA solutions. Using telemetry collected from a variety of network devices, including switches, routers, and firewalls, NTA solutions are able to identify what constitutes “typical” behavior for these devices and how and by whom your network is being used. Every aspect of the network is accessible, from the headquarters to the data centers, to the roaming employees and the smart devices. Network traffic analyzers can provide much-needed insight and context into your network, whether you are on-premises, in the cloud, or a combination of both.

In what ways does NTA make you feel more secure?

When a Network traffic analyzer learns what your network’s regular behavior is, it may notify your company when something out of the ordinary occurs. If your security team is alerted early on to the suspicious activity, NTA solutions can provide the extended visibility you need to prevent a security problem from occurring.

What Is the Importance of Network Traffic Analysis?

An important element of network monitoring is analyzing network traffic. You can’t run a network without knowing what’s going on across it and how it’s being used.

Availability and uptime

If you don’t have access to a network, it’s pointless. Network traffic analysis is essential to determining the uptime and availability of your network. The uptime is zero if the network interfaces are down and user traffic is unable to flow through. Because some application services are unavailable due to a subnet that cannot be reached, their availability is 0. Network traffic monitoring can help you quickly discover these issues so that you can begin debugging immediately and minimize the impact on the user experience.

Visibility

Knowing what’s out there is also important. Problems can be solved only if the various network components can be viewed. Before you can begin troubleshooting, you need to know which devices belong to which network sites and regions. These devices and their locations can be discovered through the use of network traffic analysis. To prevent network silos and avoid blind spots, you can use it to create network topology diagrams.

Performance

The health of your network is critical. It doesn’t matter how much uptime a system has if traffic is moving slowly. For users, it’s as though it’s not even running. SKA performance suffers greatly when the network goes down. With the use of network traffic analysis, you can discover the network connections in need of capacity planning upgrades, and then proceed to upgrade those connections. It can be used to identify performance snags. As a side benefit, it can point out inactive network assets, allowing you to save money on IT maintenance. Making IT less of a cost center is a good thing.

Security

There seems to be a new ransomware attack every day. Network traffic analysis provides you with a fighting chance for IT managers and engineers. Anomalies can be spotted via real-time network traffic collecting. Even if your firewalls are up and running, they’re not impenetrable. To get beyond firewall rules, hackers can disguise their traffic. You have a considerably better chance of recognizing a security issue if you keep an eye on your firewalls and all network activity, both inside and outside your network. It’s possible that an unsecured port was enabled due to a clumsy entry. You’ll be able to catch this kind of problem earlier if you collect all of the network traffic.

Best Practices for Network Traffic Analysis

The amount of data required to perform a thorough analysis of your network traffic might be overwhelming, but by following a few best practices, you can make things a little easier.

Be aware of the accepted norms

You should know how your network works and performs on a regular basis. If you’re moving between two offices, how long does it usually take for a response? What is a typical representation of a network’s capacity? If you give the tools enough time to gather enough data, you will be able to rapidly see any anomalies that are not typical.

Always keep an eye out for new methods to improve.

Change is the only constant in a network as dynamic as a computer system. As far as on-premises infrastructure is concerned, SNMP was sufficient in the early days. Hybrid cloud infrastructure today requires more than just SNMP, packet data, and flow monitoring. It’s always a good idea to think about what’s going to work best for you. New methodologies and tools for analyzing network traffic are also part of this. Rethinking your processes and technologies if they aren’t providing the user experience you need is necessary.

Ensure Your Knowledge Is Up to Date

What we have shown is that you can gain insight into your network by employing traffic analysis techniques. That’s why understanding is so important.

Final Words

Regardless of the method you use, the most important thing, in relation to network traffic analyzer, is to gather and monitor data in real time or near real time. If a security breach is to blame, you’ll need to know what’s going on right now. As a result, you must be able to go back in time to see how your past performance will affect your future performance, as well.