AWS Network Monitoring: Spying on Your Network

Are you tired of feeling like you're in the dark when it comes to your network? Do you want to know what your data is up to when you're not looking? Well, put on your spy gear, because we're about to show you how to spy on your network with AWS Network Monitoring!

Forget about traditional monitoring methods that leave you feeling overwhelmed and under-informed. With AWS Network Monitoring using the proper monitoring tools, you can be the James Bond of your own network, keeping a watchful eye on every move it makes. You'll have access to detailed metrics and real-time insights that will give you the power to track down even the sneakiest of network issues.

So, grab your magnifying glass and your favourite spy gadgets, and get ready to uncover the secrets of your network. It's time to take control with AWS Network Monitoring!

AWS, or Amazon Web Services, is a secure cloud services platform that provides everything you need to build and run applications in the cloud.

From computing power to storage solutions, AWS has got you covered. With its pay-as-you-go model, you only pay for what you use, making it a cost-effective option for businesses of all sizes. Plus, AWS offers a wide range of services, including databases, analytics, security, and more, so you can tailor your cloud infrastructure to your specific needs.

So, whether you're a small startup or a large enterprise, AWS has the power to transform your business and take it to the next level.

Network performance is critical to the overall performance of AWS. AWS is a cloud services platform that provides a wide range of services, including computing power, storage, databases, and more. All of these services rely on the underlying network infrastructure to deliver data quickly and efficiently.

1. Decreased Productivity & Delivery: When network performance is slow or inconsistent, it can cause delays and disruptions in the delivery of data and services, leading to decreased productivity and customer dissatisfaction.
2. Decreased Uptime & Availability: This can also result in decreased uptime and availability of AWS services, which can impact the reliability of applications and services that rely on AWS.
3. Increased Scalability Costs: In addition, network performance can impact the cost and scalability of AWS resources. Poor network performance can result in higher costs due to increased resource usage and the need for additional resources to compensate for slow performance. It can also limit the ability to scale resources up or down efficiently, as slow network performance can limit the ability to transfer data quickly between resources.

Overall, network performance is critical to the success of AWS, as it directly impacts the reliability, availability, and cost-effectiveness of AWS services. As a result, monitoring and optimizing network performance is essential to ensuring optimal performance and maximizing the benefits of AWS.

Buckle up, grab your tool belt, and get ready to take your AWS network performance to the next level! Don't let anything hold you back from achieving network excellence - sign up for Obkio's network performance monitoring tool now and let Obkio guide you towards optimized AWS network performance.

• 14-day free trial of all premium features
• Deploy in just 10 minutes
• Monitor performance in all key network locations
• Measure real-time network metrics
• Identify and troubleshoot live network problems

Have you ever felt like your AWS network is hiding secrets from you? Like it's got a mind of its own and you're just along for the ride? Well, fear not! By monitoring your AWS network performance with Cloud Network Monitoring, you can take control and become the master of your own network universe.

Not only will you gain visibility into network traffic and network usage, but you'll also be able to optimize resources, enhance security, and deliver a better user experience.

Monitoring your AWS network can provide a wide range of benefits. Here are some of the most important ones:

1. Improved network visibility: AWS network monitoring can provide you with a comprehensive view of your network, including traffic patterns, bandwidth usage, and latency. This level of network visibility can help you identify performance issues and troubleshoot problems before they become critical.
2. Faster problem resolution: When network issues do arise, continuous AWS network monitoring helps you quickly diagnose and resolve them. By providing real-time alerts and detailed performance data, you can pinpoint the root cause of problems and take action to resolve them more quickly.
3. Enhanced user experience: By monitoring your AWS network performance, you can ensure that your users are experiencing the best possible performance. This can help you maintain user satisfaction and avoid negative feedback.
4. Increased uptime and availability: By monitoring your AWS network performance, you can proactively identify potential problems in your local network and the AWS network and take steps to prevent downtime, keeping your applications and services available to your users.
5. Better visibility and control: AWS Network Monitoring gives you real-time visibility into your network performance, allowing you to analyze data and gain insights that can help you optimize your network infrastructure and improve performance.
6. Optimal resource allocation: With AWS Network Monitoring, you can gain insights into how your network resources are being utilized. This can help you optimize your network configuration and ensure that you're using your resources most efficiently.

Welcome to your top-secret mission of spying on your AWS network! In this guide, we'll reveal how to set up your very own AWS network monitoring solution using Obkio. With just a few clicks, you'll have eyes on your network performance and be able to track any anomalies in real time.

Obkio will be your trusty partner-in-crime, helping you to keep tabs on your AWS services and ensuring that your network is always performing at its best. No more flying blind - with Obkio's network performance insights, you'll be the top spy in the AWS cloud. So, are you ready to begin your undercover mission? Let's get started!

Looking to take the hassle out of monitoring your AWS network performance? Look no further than Obkio Network Performance Monitoring.

We went through the list of tools you can use above, but we wanted to show you how to monitor AWS network performance with the easiest, and most end-to-end NPM tool on the market. Obkio takes the weight off your shoulders, continuously monitoring end-to-end network performance and detecting AWS network issues as soon as they arise.

Obkio's Cloud network monitoring features provide you with peace of mind, knowing that you have your very own AWS network monitor at your fingertips. So take a load off, sit back, and let Obkio be your guide through the ever-changing landscape of the cloud.

With Obkio on your side, you'll be able to navigate the cloud with ease and stay ahead of any potential network issues.

To monitor network performance you need to keep a watchful eye on every part of your network. That includes WAN monitoring, LAN monitoring, or network devices. That’s what a season network spy would do!

That's where the Network Monitoring Agents come in. Obkio's Monitoring Agents are deployed at key network locations to continuously monitor performance between them.

When you're deploying your AWS network monitoring setup, we want to monitor the network performance between the AWS Cloud and the on-premise infrastructure. To do, you'll need to deploy two Monitoring Agents (at the very least):

1. AWS Monitoring Agent: The AWS Monitoring Agent is hosted and maintained by Obkio in the AWS cloud infrastructure. It allows you to proactively monitor network performance between your local network to the AWS network. They provide complete and continuous visibility so you can easily identify the source and cause of AWS network issues impacting your network performance.
2. On-Premise Agent: These Monitoring Agents are deployed in your local network, in key network locations like your head office, branch office, data centers and network devices. They allow you to monitor network performance from your end up to AWS. We recommend the Software (Linux, Windows, Docker) agent that can be installed on your favourite Linux distribution, including Amazon Linux and Amazon Linux 2.

P.S. You can also use the AWS Monitoring Agent to monitor Zoom performance.

Once the Monitoring Agents are installed, you're almost done! Two configurations are required in the App:

1. The agents must be in the same Network. When two agents are in the same Network, they will communicate using private IPs instead of Public IPs.
2. A Network Monitoring Template must be configured to create the network performance monitoring session.

Once the Monitoring Agents are deployed and configured, they will begin exchanging synthetic UDP traffic every 500ms to continuously measure AWS network performance. This is where the real spying starts!

To get a comprehensive view of your AWS network performance, it's important to monitor different parts of your AWS infrastructure. Here are some of the key areas you should monitor with AWS network monitoring:

1. AWS Direct Connect: Monitor your Direct Connect connections to ensure that your network traffic is flowing smoothly between your on-premises infrastructure and AWS.
2. Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): Monitor your VPC network traffic to identify any potential bottlenecks or issues that may impact the performance of your AWS services.
3. Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): Monitor the network performance of your EC2 instances to ensure that they have fast and reliable access to other services within your AWS environment.
4. Elastic Load Balancer (ELB): Monitor the performance of your ELB to ensure that it's properly distributing network traffic and not causing any issues with your AWS services.
5. AWS Global Accelerator: Monitor the performance of your Global Accelerator to ensure that your users have fast and reliable access to your AWS services from anywhere in the world.
6. AWS Site-to-Site VPN: Monitoring your AWS Site-to-Site VPN is also an important aspect of AWS network monitoring. By monitoring your VPN connections, you can ensure that your on-premises network traffic is properly routed to and from your AWS VPC.

By monitoring these key areas with AWS network monitoring tools like Obkio, you can get a complete picture of your AWS network performance and ensure that your services are running smoothly.

Voila! That's all there is to it. Your trusty agents will now be sending packets to each other every 500ms to measure AWS network metrics. This will give you an overview of your network performance and help you identify any issues that might be affecting your AWS service.

To ensure that your AWS network is performing at its best, it's important to keep an eye on some key network metrics:

1. Latency: Latency refers to the time it takes for data to travel from one point in your network to another. High latency can result in slow response times, which can impact the performance of your AWS services.
2. Jitter: Jitter is the variation in latency over time. High jitter can cause network congestion, which can lead to packet loss and decreased network performance.
3. Packet Loss: Packet Loss is the percentage of packets that are lost during transmission. High packet loss can result in retransmissions, which can further degrade network performance.
4. Network Throughput: Network Throughput is the amount of data that can be transmitted over the network in a given period of time. Monitoring throughput can help you identify network bottlenecks and capacity issues.

By monitoring these metrics with Obkio, you can stay ahead of any potential network issues and keep your AWS services running smoothly. So, keep these metrics in mind and let Obkio be your guide to optimal AWS network performance!

Don't forget that monitoring network devices is also crucial for AWS network monitoring. After all, devices such as routers, switches, and firewalls are the backbone of your network and can have a big impact on AWS network performance.

Thankfully, Obkio has got your back with the Network Device Monitoring feature! Using Ultra-Fast Polling (every 30 seconds), Obkio can keep a close eye on your network devices and provide you with results that are far more accurate than the traditional software polling, which only occurs every 5 minutes. With this feature, you can rest easy knowing that your network devices are being monitored around the clock and any issues will be detected in a flash.

To ensure optimal AWS network performance, it's important to monitor various network devices such as

• Routers
• Switches
• Firewalls
• Load balancers
• DNS servers

These devices play a critical role in network connectivity and can impact the performance of your AWS services. So, let Obkio's Network Device Monitoring feature be your trusty lookout, keeping your AWS network performance on course!

You can monitor AWS Site-to-Site VPN with Obkio's network performance monitoring tool! To do so, just deploy a Network Monitoring Agent on both ends of the VPN connection. The Monitoring Agent will continuously monitor the key metrics of the VPN connection, including:

1. VPN Tunnel State: Monitor the state of your VPN tunnels to ensure that they're properly established and maintained. This can help you quickly identify any connection issues that may be impacting your VPN performance.
2. VPN Throughput: Monitor the throughput of your VPN connections to ensure that they're providing fast and reliable network connectivity between your on-premises infrastructure and AWS.
3. Packet Loss: Monitor the packet loss rate of your VPN connections to identify any potential network congestion or quality issues that may be impacting your VPN performance.
4. Latency: Monitor the latency of your VPN connections to ensure that they're providing fast and responsive network connectivity.
5. VPN Error Codes: Monitor VPN error codes to identify any issues that may be impacting your VPN performance.

With tools like Obkio Network Performance Monitoring, you can monitor these key metrics and receive alerts when any issues are detected. This can help you quickly troubleshoot and resolve any issues before they impact your VPN performance and your AWS services.

Alright, fellow spies! You've successfully set up your AWS network monitoring with Obkio, and now it's time to gather some intel. With Obkio's continuous monitoring, you'll be able to detect any AWS network outages within 5 seconds and performance issues within 1 minute. That's faster than a secret agent dodging bullets!

And if you ever need to go back in time and see how your network was performing in the past, Obkio has got your back with its time-travelling powers. You'll be able to see the exact network performance for every minute of the previous week. It's like having a spy camera that records everything!

• Obkio's Traceroutes are also executed periodically in both directions to identify hop-by-hop issues and to keep track of the historical latency between hops.
• Schedule Speedtests between the agents to monitor network speed and test the available throughput on the connection between the on-premise infrastructure and the AWS Cloud.

With all these features, it'll be much easier to identify and troubleshoot network issues affecting AWS. But what are some of the most common network problems affecting AWS network performance? Let's go through them.

1. Network congestion: Network congestion occurs when there is a high volume of traffic on the network, leading to slow performance and delays in data transfer.
2. Packet loss: Packet loss happens when packets of data fail to reach their intended destination, resulting in missing data and slower network performance.
3. Network latency: Latency is the delay or lag time between data being sent and received, which can cause sluggish performance and impact user experience.
4. DNS issues: Domain Name System (DNS) issues can occur when the DNS server fails to translate a domain name to its corresponding IP address, resulting in inaccessible websites and services.
5. Security breaches: Unauthorized access to the network or data breaches can compromise network performance and availability, leading to downtime and loss of data.
6. VPN connection failures: VPN connections can fail due to a variety of reasons, such as incorrect authentication credentials, network connectivity issues, or misconfigured VPN settings.
7. Firewall misconfigurations: Firewall rules that are misconfigured can block traffic or allow unauthorized access, leading to network performance issues and security breaches.
8. AWS service availability issues: AWS services can experience disruptions due to hardware failures, software bugs, or maintenance updates, leading to degraded network performance or complete service outages.
9. AWS EC2 instance performance issues: Performance issues can arise with EC2 instances due to a lack of resources, high network traffic, or misconfigured settings, leading to slow performance and user dissatisfaction.
10. Lack of visibility: Lack of visibility into network performance can make it difficult to identify and resolve network issues, leading to prolonged downtime and a negative impact on business operations.

By monitoring these common AWS network issues with tools like Obkio Network Performance Monitoring, you can detect and resolve them quickly, ensuring optimal network performance and user experience.

So sit back, relax, and let Obkio be your trusty spy partner as you navigate through the murky world of AWS network monitoring. You'll be able to detect any issues and take action before they become a threat to your mission.

Network performance plays a critical role in the overall performance and availability of AWS services. Poor network performance can lead to slow application response times, increased latency, packet loss, and network outages, all of which can negatively impact user experience and business operations.

If your local network performance is affecting AWS, Obkio will help you uncover that!

For example, if network latency is high, it can cause delays in data transmission between AWS services, resulting in slow application response times. If packet loss is high, it can cause data to be retransmitted, leading to increased network traffic and degraded network performance. If network outages occur, they can disrupt business operations and lead to lost revenue and customer trust.

Additionally, AWS relies heavily on network connectivity for its services, such as EC2 instances, S3 storage, and RDS databases, to communicate with each other and with external networks. As a result, any issues with network performance can impact the overall availability and performance of these services.

By monitoring network performance with Obkio, you can proactively identify and resolve network issues, you can ensure optimal performance and availability of your AWS environment, enabling your business to operate efficiently and meet customer demands.

Obkio's alerting and reporting features are designed to make it easy to stay on top of your AWS network performance and quickly address any issues that arise. Here's a closer look at what these features offer:

1. AWS Network Issue Alerts: Obkio's alerting system allows you to create custom alerts based on specific network performance metrics. You can set up alerts for things like high packet loss, high latency, or low bandwidth, and receive notifications via email or Slack when these thresholds are breached. This allows you to take immediate action to troubleshoot and resolve network issues, minimizing downtime and ensuring optimal network performance.
2. AWS Network Performance Reports: Obkio's reporting feature allows you to generate customized reports on your AWS network performance. You can choose the specific metrics you want to include in your report, as well as the time frame for the data. This makes it easy to get a detailed view of your network performance over time and identify trends or patterns that may be affecting performance.

By using Obkio's alerting and reporting features in conjunction with its network monitoring capabilities, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of your AWS network performance and quickly address any issues that arise. This helps to ensure that your network is operating at peak efficiency, maximizing the value of your AWS investment.

In the dynamic world of cloud computing, network issues can come from anywhere - affecting your network's functionality and efficiency. In this section, we'll explore some common issues your business may encounter when operating on Amazon Web Services (AWS) and highlights the crucial role that AWS network monitoring plays in uncovering and resolving these challenges.

By leveraging the tips and tricks we highlighted throughput this article, you can proactively address these AWS network issues, enhance your network's resilience, and deliver a seamless experience to your users. Let's dive into the common AWS network issues that monitoring can help you uncover and mitigate.

1. AWS Network Connectivity Issues:

• Instance Cannot Be Reached: Instances may become unreachable due to incorrect security group rules, Network ACLs, or firewall configurations.
• VPC Peering/VPN Issues: Problems with Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) peering connections or VPNs can lead to connectivity issues between different VPCs or on-premises networks.

2. AWS DNS Resolution Problems:

• Domain Name System (DNS) Misconfigurations: Incorrect DNS settings can cause problems with hostname resolution and lead to connectivity issues.

3. AWS Subnet and Route Table Misconfigurations:

• Subnet Size Issues: Subnets with insufficient IP addresses can lead to capacity problems.
• Incorrect Route Tables: Misconfigured route tables can cause traffic to be directed incorrectly, leading to connectivity issues.

4. Security Group and Network ACL Errors:

• Inadequate Security Group Rules: Overly restrictive security group rules can block legitimate traffic, while overly permissive rules can pose security risks.
• Network ACL Misconfigurations: Network ACLs can inadvertently block desired traffic if not configured correctly.

5. Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) Issues:

• Unhealthy Instances: ELBs may route traffic to unhealthy instances if health checks are misconfigured or instances are not registered properly.

6. NAT Gateway/Elastic IP Problems:

• NAT Gateway Bottlenecks: Insufficient bandwidth or incorrect NAT gateway configurations can lead to network performance issues.
• Elastic IP Limitations: Running out of available Elastic IP addresses can disrupt network operations.

7. AWS Latency and Performance Issues:

• Data Transfer Bottlenecks: Inefficient data transfer between different AWS regions or Availability Zones can lead to latency and performance problems.

8. DDoS Attacks:

• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks: AWS provides tools like AWS Shield to protect against DDoS attacks, but misconfigurations or inadequate protection can result in service disruptions.

9. Route 53 DNS Problems:

• Route 53 Misconfigurations: Issues with Amazon Route 53 configurations can affect DNS resolution, leading to service unavailability.

10. Internet Gateway Issues:

• Internet Gateway Misconfigurations: Incorrect or missing configurations of Internet Gateways can affect the ability of instances to access the internet.

11. VPC Flow Logs and Monitoring:

• Lack of Monitoring: Not having proper monitoring in place can make it challenging to identify and diagnose network issues promptly.

12. Cross-Account or Cross-Region Issues:

• Cross-Account Permissions: If permissions are not configured correctly for cross-account access, resources may become inaccessible.
• Inter-Region Traffic: Transferring data between AWS regions can introduce latency and potential issues.

Now that we know what AWS network issues can plague your network, how can you troubleshoot? By seamlessly integrating Obkio's monitoring capabilities into your AWS environment, you can gain insights into network performance, detect anomalies, and collaborate effectively to keep your network running smoothly.

Let's delve into some tips and tricks to enhance your AWS network monitoring and troubleshooting efforts.

Certainly! Here's an integrated list of tips for troubleshooting AWS network issues that combines both the general tips and the use of Obkio's network monitoring tool:

1. Check Basic Connectivity:

• Ensure that the affected instances are running and reachable.
• Confirm that security group rules and Network ACLs are correctly configured to allow necessary traffic.

2. Review CloudWatch Metrics and Obkio Monitoring:

• Use AWS CloudWatch to monitor key metrics like CPU utilization, network traffic, and instance status.
• Integrate Obkio's network monitoring tool to actively measure network performance metrics, such as latency, packet loss, and bandwidth utilization.

3. Inspect VPC Configuration:

• Review Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) settings, including subnet configurations, route tables, and VPC peering connections.
• Utilize Obkio to monitor VPC health and identify anomalies in network performance.

4. Check Security Group Rules and Network ACLs:

• Examine the security group rules associated with instances and verify that they permit the required traffic.
• Use Obkio's tool to monitor traffic patterns and detect any sudden changes in network behaviour.

5. Evaluate Route 53 and DNS:

• Review Amazon Route 53 configurations for your domains, DNS records, and health checks.
• Employ Obkio's network monitoring to detect DNS-related issues and measure DNS response times.

6. Inspect Load Balancers:

• If using Elastic Load Balancers (ELBs), confirm that instances are registered correctly, and health checks are passing.
• Monitor the ELB's performance and error metrics in CloudWatch and Obkio.

7. Examine NAT Gateway/Elastic IP:

• Ensure that NAT gateways are properly configured and have sufficient bandwidth.
• Utilize Obkio to monitor NAT gateway performance and detect potential bottlenecks.

8. Use VPC Flow Logs and Obkio Data:

• Enable VPC Flow Logs to capture network traffic data for analysis.
• Analyze flow logs alongside data from Obkio's network monitoring tool to gain a comprehensive view of network activity.

9. Check AWS Trusted Advisor:

• WS Trusted Advisor provides checks for network-related issues and best practices. Use it to identify potential problems.

10. Monitor for DDoS Attacks:

• Utilize AWS Shield and AWS WAF to protect against DDoS attacks.
• Set up AWS GuardDuty to monitor for malicious activity.
• Integrate Obkio's tool to detect unusual spikes or patterns in network traffic that may indicate an attack.

11. Examine Cross-Account and Cross-Region Configurations:

• Review IAM (Identity and Access Management) permissions and resource policies for cross-account and cross-region access.
• Ensure proper VPC peering or VPN configurations for inter-VPC or inter-region traffic.

12. Collect Logs and Utilize CloudWatch Logs:

• Enable logging for AWS resources and services.
• Analyze CloudWatch Logs for error messages, warnings, or any unusual activity.
• Combine log analysis with network performance data from Obkio for a holistic troubleshooting approach.

13. Engage AWS Support:

• If you're unable to resolve the issue independently, consider opening a support case with AWS for expert assistance.

14. Utilize Obkio for Collaborative Troubleshooting:

• Share real-time and historical performance data with your team members to collaborate on troubleshooting efforts.

15. Documentation and Knowledge Sharing:

• Keep detailed documentation of your network configurations and changes.
• Encourage knowledge sharing among your team to leverage collective expertise.

16. Test Changes Safely:

• When making configuration changes, use AWS's staging or development environments to test changes before applying them to production.

17. Continuous Improvement with Obkio:

• Regularly review the data and insights provided by Obkio's tool to identify opportunities for optimizing your AWS network infrastructure.

By combining general AWS network troubleshooting best practices with the capabilities of Obkio's network monitoring tool, you can take a comprehensive and proactive approach to network issue detection and resolution within your AWS environment. This approach helps ensure the reliability, performance, and security of your AWS network.

Congratulations, with this AWS network monitoring setup, you're now a full-fledged network spy with all the tools you need to track down and eliminate pesky network issues. Keep a watchful eye on your AWS network, and you'll be able to optimize its performance like a pro!

Using the information from Obkio’s app, you’ll be able to identify where AWS network issues are coming from: Your local network, or the AWS network.

If the network issues are coming from your local network, it’s up to you to troubleshoot.

The next steps you take will depend on the network issues you identify using Obkio.

Here are some ways to optimize AWS network performance:

• Choose the right AWS region for your workload and users to minimize latency.
• Use Amazon CloudFront to improve content delivery speed and reduce latency for end-users.
• Utilize AWS Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) to balance traffic across multiple instances, ensuring that the load is evenly distributed and performance is optimized.
• Implement AWS Direct Connect to create a dedicated network connection between your data center and AWS, reducing latency and increasing reliability.
• Use AWS Virtual Private Network (VPN) to connect your on-premises infrastructure to your AWS VPC, providing secure and private communication.
• Optimize your AWS network architecture by designing a well-structured and efficient VPC layout.
• Implement network security best practices, such as configuring network access control lists (ACLs) and security groups to control inbound and outbound traffic.
• Monitor network performance continuously using Obkio's network monitoring tool to identify issues and take corrective action promptly.

And there you have it, folks! With Obkio as your trusty spyglass, you can keep a watchful eye on your AWS network performance and detect issues before they become major headaches. Whether you're navigating choppy seas of high network packet loss or sailing into uncharted waters of bandwidth limitations, Obkio has you covered.

So, set sail with confidence and let Obkio be your guide through the ever-changing waters of the AWS cloud. With continuous AWS network monitoring and alerts, you'll always be ready to make course corrections and keep your network in shipshape.