Why you need network monitoring software

Network monitoring is a vital part of any serious RMM tool. It provides you with the ability to monitor applications and devices in real time and alert you if devices are down or failing, keeping you up to date with all potential issues across your client base.

What happens without network monitoring software?

When your network operates without dedicated monitoring software, it’s like trying to navigate a complex city in the dark, relying on your mind and only being able to react to issues once they’ve already caused damage. This lack of visibility leaves your entire IT infrastructure vulnerable, turning minor problems into major crises and exposing your business to a cascade of preventable risks that can impact productivity, security, and ultimately, your bottom line.

The top risks include:

• Unplanned downtime and revenue loss: According to ITIC, the average hourly cost of IT downtime is over $300,000 for 90% of firms, an astronomical number that only grows with each passing hour.
• Lack of visibility in distributed or hybrid networks: Modern organizations operate across cloud, on-premises, and remote endpoints. In 2023, Hinduja Global Solutions saved $3 million annually by using ManageEngine OpManager to unify monitoring across 50+ global sites, improving SLA compliance and reducing troubleshooting time.
• Alert fatigue and false positives: Overloaded monitoring systems often generate irrelevant alerts. In fact, it anywhere from 52% to 99% of alerts in legacy systems (depending on the sector) turn out to be false positives, leading to wasted technician hours and delayed responses to real threats.
• Security blind spots in encrypted traffic: With over 90% of internet traffic now encrypted, traditional tools struggle to detect threats hidden in SSL/TLS streams, potentially leading to undetected malware and ransomware, data breaches and exfiltration, increased risk of lateral movement, and advanced persistent threats (APTs).
• Scalability and performance degradation: As networks grow, legacy tools often fail to scale, leading to significant performance lags in your monitoring stack.

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More specifically, this manifests differently for different organization types:

• Small businesses: SMBs often lack dedicated IT staff, making them vulnerable to silent failures. A single router failure that goes undetected over night could lead to hours of lost sales and damaged customer trust.
• Enterprise environments: Enterprises face complexity at scale. Often, the challenge isn’t detection, but orchestration and root cause analysis that might translate to to SLA violations and compliance risks.
• MSP-managed networks: MSPs must balance visibility across multiple clients with the primary challenge being to scale without noise. Without centralized dashboards, they risk costly SLA breaches and alert confusion.

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What is network monitoring software and why does it help?

Network monitoring software is a tool that gives IT teams real-time visibility into the health, performance, and availability of their digital infrastructure. It continuously scans devices using the following protocols to detect anomalies, bottlenecks, or outages:

• SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol): This protocol is used for collecting and organizing information about managed devices on IP networks, allowing network administrators to monitor device status, performance, and configurations from a central location. It enables devices like routers and servers to send data to a network management system.
• NetFlow: Developed by Cisco, NetFlow is a protocol that collects IP traffic information and monitors network flow, providing detailed insights into who is using the network, what applications they are using, and how much bandwidth is being consumed. It helps companies understand network traffic patterns and identify security threats.
• ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol): This is a supporting protocol in the Internet Protocol Suite used by network devices (including routers) to send error messages and operational information. It’s commonly used for diagnostic purposes, such as with the <ping> command to test connectivity and <traceroute> to map the path of data packets.

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Modern tools like Atera’s AI Copilot go further by integrating AI into IT to automate alerts, visualize network topologies, and generate remediation scripts using natural language processing (NLP) queries like “Write a script to list all active network connections on ‘Workstation-HR-05’” and “Generate a script to close all non-essential applications on ‘Terminal-Server-02’ if memory usage is critically high.“

This proactive approach helps IT teams prevent downtime, meet SLAs, and maintain business continuity, providing you and other MSPs & IT professionals with the following benefits:

• Delivering proactive service instead of reactive support: Atera enabled Phoenix Management Solutions to transition from reactive to proactive IT support by providing a unified solution that automated crucial tasks like patch management and cybersecurity installations, leading to a 200-300% reduction in IT issues and significant time savings.
• Meeting SLAs with automated alerting and fast response: Atera’s all-in-one RMM and PSA platform was instrumental in helping Delap Cyber meet and exceed their SLA. By streamlining their ticketing system, automating patch management, and providing real-time network visibility, Atera significantly improved their response time, allowing them to resolve IT issues in just 10 to 15 minutes; a drastic improvement over their previous one-business-day SLA.
• Strengthening client satisfaction and retention: Lekker Foods significantly strengthened client satisfaction and retention by bringing IT management in-house with Atera. By enabling their IT Manager to proactively enhance security and manage operations, they reduced support tickets by 35% and ensured consistent service delivery.
• Demonstrating value through quarterly business reviews (QBRs) and reporting: Aspen Solutions leveraged Atera to demonstrate enhanced value to their clients, which contributes to stronger QBRs and reporting. By gaining greater visibility into customer cases and ticket pipelines, Atera helped them transition from a reactive to a proactive IT team that could provide regular, data-driven updates to clients and predict future needs. This streamlined approach and improved transparency, acting as a “force multiplier,” strengthened customer relationships and opened opportunities for cross-team collaboration.
• Supporting scalability across multiple clients: Atera provided CHT Info with a centralized, all-in-one solution that was critical for supporting their scalability across multiple clients. By efficiently managing tickets, contracts, and SLAs, and offering per-device billing, Atera significantly boosted productivity by automating IT tasks, such as reducing deployment time for new desktops and device updates by 50%. These capabilities allowed CHT Info to manage IT support for over 500 endpoints and achieve a substantial 200% growth in two years.

What type of devices does it monitor?

As a general rule for MSPs, IT departments, and IT consultants the more devices you monitor, the better for everybody. In Atera, network monitoring software allows you to monitor laptops, Mac devices, Windows devices, printers, servers, routers, Linux machines, ports, and websites.

More specifically:

• Routers: Tracks CPU load, packet loss, interface errors, bandwidth usage, etc.
• Switches: Tracks port status, MAC tables, broadcast storms, etc.
• Servers: Tracks CPU/memory usage, uptime, disk I/O, service health, etc.
• Endpoints: Tracks patch status, antivirus health, software compliance, etc.
• Firewalls: Tracks throughput, packet drops, rule violations, traffic anomalies, etc.
• Wireless access points: Tracks signal strength, client load, interference levels, etc.

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How does Atera help with monitoring devices?

Atera provides a powerful network monitoring solution through its agent-based system. After installing Atera’s monitoring agents on each device, you gain access to detailed data on hardware, performance metrics, and software inventory. This setup allows you to monitor key parameters such as CPU load, memory usage, and network bandwidth.

Atera transforms IT operations by unifying enterprise RMM, PSA, patching, and AI into a single, scalable platform. Its AI Copilot and Robin proactively detect and resolve issues, reducing technician workload by up to 40%. Customizable Threshold Profiles can be configured to generate real-time alerts if any metrics exceed set limits, enabling proactive issue resolution.

Additional features like real-time alerts, automated scripting, and network discovery empower IT teams to shift from reactive troubleshooting to proactive service delivery. Whether managing internal infrastructure or multiple client networks, Atera’s unified dashboards and per-technician pricing enable lean teams to scale operations without sacrificing visibility or control.

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How does it work?

Once the Agent is installed on a device, you attach a Threshold Profile. The Agent monitors hardware (hard disk usage, motherboard temperatures, motherboard fans, etc.), performance (CPU load, memory usage, network bandwidth, etc.), exchange, services, or processes on the device. You can configure a threshold for each of these, which, if exceeded, causes the system to create an alert.

But this is not only confined to hardware and performance issues. You can also choose any service or process that exists on the customer’s machine and create a corresponding alert if it’s down or doesn’t exist. And thanks to Atera’s self-healing properties, you can also add an automated script to run after a threshold is reached or a service has stopped, without manual intervention.

For example, let’s say you have defined the printer service to be monitored on its availability. Our AI Copilot can create a script from a simple natural language query that restarts the service if it stops and attaches it to the Threshold Profile. This means that you are solving problems effortlessly and automatically without your customer (or you) even being aware that a problem exists!

How does network monitoring work for SNMP devices?

For SNMP devices, you can choose to add OID values for each device using an SNMP monitoring tool, with the option to send Alerts once these values (or thresholds) are exceeded. You can also enter monitored OIDs into the SNMP monitoring tool, which provides real-time data for specific OIDs and sends alerts when the conditions here are matched.

How does network monitoring work for ports and websites?

In order to monitor ports and websites, you can manually enter this information directly into the Atera Portal and have the network monitoring information at your fingertips. For websites (HTTP/S), Atera polls the site details every five minutes and if there is zero response, an alert is generated.

Where can I see the monitored information?

Each device has its own screen in the Atera portal where you have visual access to hardware and software information. The dashboard provides general information on current alerts with the option to drill down to each one. In addition, Atera has its own Alerts Screen where you can see all current alerts in the system.

There are three different levels of alerts:

1. Information
2. Warning
3. Critical

You can configure different types of alerts to be sent by email to any address so that you can be up to date on all critical situations even when you are out of the office, and you can even configure different sounds for each alert if you want to add a bit of spice to your working day!

Take control of your IT landscape with network monitoring

Network monitoring is no longer a mere technical task but a critical strategic imperative. By providing real-time visibility, enabling proactive issue resolution, and safeguarding against hidden threats, it transforms your network and clients from potential vulnerabilities into a powerful engine of productivity and security.

For IT professionals and MSPs seeking to elevate their network’s performance and resilience, platforms like Atera offer a comprehensive solution. Atera’s all-in-one approach empowers teams to efficiently monitor, automate, and manage vast network infrastructures, ensuring seamless operations and fostering unwavering client trust.

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