Network Availability Monitoring: Understanding the Differences Between Client Expectations vs. SLAs

Network downtime can have a significant impact on business operations, leading to lost revenue and diminished customer trust. As a result, network availability monitoring has become increasingly crucial for businesses of all sizes.

However, when it comes to monitoring network availability, it is essential to understand the differences between client expectations and service level agreements (SLAs). Clients often have high expectations when it comes to network uptime, and meeting those expectations can be challenging without proper network monitoring. On the other hand, SLAs set out specific metrics for network availability that must be met to maintain contractual obligations.

In this blog post, we’ll be discussing what network availability is, how to use network availability monitoring to identify network performance issues vs. network availability issues, and how to understand the difference between clients' expectations for network performance vs. reality.

Network availability is a key metric used in network performance monitoring to measure the percentage of time that a network is available for use. It is calculated by dividing the total amount of time that a network is available by the total amount of time in a given period and usually expressed as a percentage, with a goal of achieving 100% availability. However, in reality, no network can guarantee 100% availability.

Network availability is a sensitive and crucial network metric because it is often used for Service Level-Agreement (SLA) guarantees in legal contracts between service providers and their clients.

Network availability is a crucial metric used to assess the performance and reliability of a network, and there are various methods and formulas used to measure network availability. Depending on the Network Monitoring tool of your choice, the technique may change, but one common approach is to calculate Network Availability is:

Network availability percentage, often referred to as network uptime, is a measure of how reliably a network or system is operational over a specific period of time. It is usually expressed as a percentage and is an important metric for assessing the reliability and performance of network infrastructure. To calculate network availability percentage, you'll need to know the following two values:

1. Total Available Time (TAT): This is the total amount of time that the network or system should have been operational during the specified period. It is usually measured in hours or minutes.
2. Downtime (DT): Downtime is the total amount of time during which the network or system was not operational or experienced issues. It is also measured in hours or minutes.

The formula to calculate network availability percentage is as follows:

Network Availability Percentage (%) = [(TAT - DT) / TAT] × 100

Here's how to calculate network availability percentage step by step:

1. Determine the Total Available Time (TAT): You need to define the time period for which you want to calculate the network availability. For example, if you want to calculate the availability for a month, the TAT for that month would be the total number of hours or minutes in that month.
2. Measure the Downtime (DT): Record the total amount of time during which the network or system was not operational or experienced issues. This can be measured using monitoring tools, logs, or other means.
3. Plug the values into the formula: Insert the values of TAT and DT into the formula mentioned above.
4. Calculate the Network Availability Percentage: Use the formula to calculate the network availability percentage.
5. Express the result as a percentage: The result will be a decimal number, so multiply it by 100 to express it as a percentage.

Example: Let's say you want to calculate the network availability percentage for a web server over the course of a month.

• Total Available Time (TAT) for the month = 30 days * 24 hours/day = 720 hours
• Downtime (DT) during the month = 5 hours

Now, use the formula:

• Network Availability Percentage (%) = [(720 - 5) / 720] × 100
• Network Availability Percentage (%) = (715 / 720) × 100
• Network Availability Percentage (%) ≈ 99.31%

So, in this example, the network availability percentage for the web server over the month is approximately 99.31%. This means the server was operational and available for 99.31% of the time during that month.

Network availability is the magical force that ensures seamless customer experiences, empowers productive teams, and safeguards vital data - and there are so many reasons why high network availability rates are important for businesses. Let's take a look at some of them.

• Business Continuity: Network availability is essential for ensuring uninterrupted business operations. In industries like e-commerce, finance, healthcare, and communications, any downtime or disruptions in the network can lead to significant financial losses and damage to the organization's reputation. Reliable network availability ensures business continuity, allowing companies to provide continuous services to their customers and clients.
• Productivity and Efficiency: In modern workplaces, employees heavily rely on network services for their daily tasks, including communication, collaboration, accessing data, and using various software applications. A highly available network leads to increased productivity and efficiency as employees can work without interruptions, leading to better overall performance and faster completion of tasks.
• Customer Satisfaction: For businesses that provide online services or have an online presence, network availability directly impacts customer satisfaction. Customers expect websites, apps, and services to be accessible at all times. A lack of network availability can frustrate users, leading to dissatisfaction and potential loss of customers to competitors with more reliable services.
• Revenue Generation: In sectors like e-commerce, online gaming, and digital services, network availability is directly linked to revenue generation. Any downtime during peak usage periods can result in lost sales opportunities. A reliable network ensures that customers can make purchases or use services whenever they want, maximizing revenue potential.
• Data Accessibility: In data-driven environments, network availability is crucial for accessing critical information stored in databases, cloud platforms, or remote servers. Organizations that deal with sensitive or time-sensitive data, such as financial institutions or healthcare providers, rely on network availability to ensure data access when needed for decision-making and customer service.
• Reputation and Trust: A stable and available network builds trust and confidence among users and customers. On the other hand, frequent network outages or poor availability can tarnish a company's reputation, leading to a loss of trust among existing and potential clients.
• Security and Resilience: A reliable network is better equipped to handle security threats and attacks. Network availability monitoring allows administrators to identify anomalies and potential security breaches promptly. Additionally, having redundant network infrastructure and backup systems enhances the network's resilience to mitigate the impact of disruptions.
• Compliance and Regulations: Many industries and organizations are subject to regulatory requirements that mandate a certain level of network availability to protect customer data and ensure service reliability. Failing to meet these requirements can result in legal consequences and financial penalties.
• Global Connectivity: In today's interconnected world, businesses often operate on a global scale, with customers, partners, and employees spread across different geographic locations. Network availability becomes even more critical to maintain seamless connectivity across borders and time zones.

Overall, network availability is a fundamental factor that underpins the success and sustainability of businesses and organizations. Investing in robust network infrastructure and monitoring solutions is essential to ensure that networks remain available, reliable, and responsive to meet the demands of an ever-evolving digital landscape.

But how can you actually measure and monitor network availability? Enter, Network Availability Monitoring.

Network availability monitoring is the process of monitoring your network to ensure that it is available and performing as expected. It involves monitoring the network's devices, applications, and services to detect any issues that may cause downtime or impact its performance. This includes monitoring the network's infrastructure, such as routers, switches, firewalls, and servers, as well as the applications and services that run on them.

Network availability monitoring tools can track various metrics, such as network traffic, bandwidth utilization, network utilization, latency, packet loss, and network response time. They can also generate alerts when there are issues or anomalies detected, and provide insights into the root cause of the problem.

By monitoring the network's availability, IT teams can proactively identify and resolve issues before they escalate into major problems that can impact the organization's operations. Network availability monitoring is essential for ensuring business continuity, maintaining customer satisfaction, and meeting service level agreements.

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Network availability monitoring is an essential tool for ensuring the reliable and efficient operation of computer networks. It can help organizations improve uptime, performance, security, and cost-effectiveness, all of which can contribute to increased productivity and customer satisfaction.

There are several benefits to implementing network availability monitoring, including:

1. Increased uptime: Network availability monitoring can help IT teams identify and resolve issues before they cause downtime. This can help increase the availability of critical systems and services, ensuring that they are always up and running when needed.
2. Improved performance: By monitoring key network metrics, IT teams can identify performance bottlenecks and optimize the network for better performance. This can help improve the user experience and increase productivity.
3. SLA Monitoring: Many organizations have service or Internet SLAs in place that define the expected level of service and uptime for critical systems and services. Network availability monitoring can help ensure that these SLAs are met by providing real-time monitoring and alerting when SLA thresholds are not met. This allows IT teams to quickly identify and resolve any issues that may impact SLA compliance, ensuring that the organization meets its service level commitments to customers and stakeholders.
4. Faster problem resolution: When issues do occur, network availability monitoring tools can provide IT teams with detailed information about the problem, including the root cause and potential solutions. This can help speed up the troubleshooting and resolution process.
5. Better security: Network availability monitoring tools can also help identify security threats, such as unauthorized access attempts, malware infections, and network breaches. This can help IT teams respond quickly and mitigate potential security risks.
6. Cost savings: By proactively identifying and resolving issues, network availability monitoring can help reduce the cost of downtime, minimize the need for emergency repairs, and optimize resource utilization. This can lead to significant cost savings over time.

With all of these factors in mind, it's clear that clients need to take responsibility for monitoring and measuring their network performance to identify network availability issues and ensure that they’re getting the network performance they were promised in their SLA.

To do so, you can of course monitor your SLA, but you can also monitor network availability.

Fortunately, there are solutions available that can help with network availability monitoring. One such solution is Obkio's Network Performance Monitoring tool, which offers detailed reports on network performance to help clients make informed decisions and take corrective measures as needed.

Obkio’s solution also offers a variety of methods used for network availability monitoring, such as:

1. Agent-Based Monitoring: Agent-based network monitoring involves installing Obkio Monitoring Agents at each key network location and network device. The agents collect data about network performance (including key network metrics, devices, Internet and more) and report it to a central monitoring server.
2. Synthetic Monitoring: Which involves simulating user interactions with a network application or service and monitoring the synthetic traffic for availability and performance. Obkio’s solution sends synthetic UDP traffic for continuous network availability monitoring.
3. SNMP Monitoring: Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a protocol used to manage and monitor network devices. Obkio’s SNMP monitoring feature uses SNMP to retrieve data about network devices, such as uptime, CPU usage, and memory usage.

Once you’ve deployed Obkio and begun monitoring network availability and performance, it’s important to understand Network Availability rates (%) and their impact on business hours.

The network availability rate is commonly expressed as a percentage, which can also be misleading. For example:

• If a service provider claims that the network was available 97% of the time in a given month, it might seem like a pretty good rating.
• However, to put it in perspective, 3% of a month's worth of minutes is equivalent to 1,314 minutes, or approximately 21 hours and 54 minutes.

If availability issues occur continuously or in several events during business hours in the same week, it could cause significant disruption and have a dramatic impact on business operations. Therefore, it's essential to keep in mind that every percentage point in the availability rate represents almost a full day of business hours.

The calculation method may have been adequate 20 years ago, but our performance needs and requirements have evolved significantly since then. On the other hand, negotiating the availability monitoring clause with a service provider is almost impossible, and if they agree to it, expect very high costs to be included.

Apart from monitoring network availability rates, Obkio allows you to monitor other critical network metrics that impact network performance and network availability.

Measuring the network availability metrics allow you to evaluate the availability and performance of computer networks. These metrics can help IT teams identify issues, track performance, and optimize network infrastructure. Here are some common network availability metrics:

1. Network Uptime: Uptime refers to the percentage of time that the network is available for use. Uptime is typically measured over a given period, such as a month or a year, and can be expressed as a percentage (e.g. 99.9% uptime).
2. Network Response Time: Network Response Time refers to the amount of time it takes for a request to be processed and a response to be sent back to the requester. Response time is typically measured in milliseconds and can be used to evaluate the performance of network devices, applications, and services.
3. Packet Loss: The Packet Loss metric is the percentage of data packets that are lost or dropped during transmission. Packet loss can indicate network congestion or other issues that may impact network performance.
4. Latency: The Latency metric is the time it takes for data to travel from one point to another on the network. Latency is typically measured in milliseconds and can be used to evaluate the performance of network devices, applications, and services.
5. Bandwidth Utilization: Th metric refers to the amount of network bandwidth being used at a given time. Bandwidth utilization can help IT teams identify potential bottlenecks and optimize network infrastructure to improve performance.
6. Error Rate: Network Error Rate is the percentage of data packets that are corrupted or contain errors. Error rate can indicate issues with network hardware or software.

By monitoring these network availability metrics, IT teams can gain insights into network performance and availability, identify potential issues before they cause downtime or impact performance, and optimize network infrastructure to ensure that critical systems and services are always available and performing as expected.

With all this data you’ve collected from Obkio’s app, you can then analyze network availability rates during Network Performance Reports. Obkio's app collects data on various network metrics such as latency, packet loss, and throughput, among others. Using this data, you can then generate Network Performance Reports, which provide an overview of network performance over a given period.

In addition to general network performance, Obkio also allows you to analyze network availability rates using its reports. Network availability refers to the percentage of time that the network is available and accessible to users. By monitoring this metric over time, you can get a sense of how reliable and consistent your network is.

You can analyze and schedule reports showing Issue Severities - with the Severity Level: Critical. When Network Availability is low and the monitoring session has gone down, the severity level is Critical.

Obkio's reports also allow you to schedule automatic reports and filter them by severity level. For example, you can set up a report to show only critical issues, which are issues that have the potential to cause significant disruptions to network availability. When network availability is low and the monitoring session has gone down, the severity level is often set to critical, as this indicates a serious problem that needs to be addressed promptly.

By using Obkio's reports to analyze network availability rates and identify critical issues, you can take proactive steps to improve network reliability and ensure that your network is always up and running when you need it.

Using a network performance monitoring tool like Obkio, you'll be able to get a complete view of your network performance - not just on network availability. We'll talk more about monitoring network perfomance later on. But what's important to note is that network availability and network performance are closely related, and poor network availability can have a significant impact on network performance.

That's why, it's also key to understand and monitor the impact of network availability on network performance. Here are a few ways that network availability can impact network performance:

1. Downtime: If the network is down, users are unable to access critical systems and applications, leading to decreased productivity and potentially lost revenue. Even brief periods of downtime can cause significant disruption to business operations.
2. Slow response times: If network devices or applications are not available, users may experience slow response times, which can impact productivity and user experience. This can be particularly problematic for real-time applications like video conferencing or voice over IP (VoIP).
3. Packet loss and latency: If the network is congested or has other issues, it may experience high packet loss or latency. This can cause delays and disruptions to network traffic, leading to slower performance and potentially impacting user experience.
4. Security risks: If the network is unavailable or experiencing performance issues, it may be more vulnerable to security threats. This can include denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, data breaches, and other security risks that can impact network performance and availability.

In short, poor network availability can impact network performance in a number of ways, leading to decreased productivity, slower response times, and potentially lost revenue. By prioritizing network availability and implementing strategies to optimize network infrastructure and reduce downtime, organizations can ensure that critical systems and applications are always available and performing as expected.

When it comes to network availability, the goal is always to strive for the highest possible uptime and minimize downtime as much as possible. In this section, we'll explore what constitutes good and bad network availability rates, as well as how to measure and calculate availability. Let's dive in!

• Good Network Availability: Good network availability rates are typically considered to be 99.9% (or "three nines") and above. This means that the network is available and operational for at least 99.9% of the time.
• Bad Network Availability: On the other hand, a network availability rate of less than 99.9% can be considered a bad or poor rate, as it means that the network is experiencing significant downtime and potentially causing disruptions or losses for users.

However, it's important to note that the acceptable network availability rate can vary depending on the specific industry or application. For example, some industries may require higher availability rates due to critical data or system dependencies, while others may be able to tolerate more downtime without significant impact.

To calculate network availability, you need to divide the total amount of time the network was available by the total time in the measurement period, and then multiply the result by 100 to get a percentage.

Here's the formula:

Network Availability = (Total Available Time / Total Time) x 100

For example, let's say you want to calculate the network availability for a given month, and the total time in that month is 720 hours. If the network was available for 700 hours during that time period, you would calculate the network availability as follows:

• Network Availability = (700 / 720) x 100 = 97.22%
• So the network availability for that month is 97.22%.

It's important to note that calculating network availability can be more complex in larger, more complex networks with multiple components, and may require specialized tools or software to accurately measure availability.

Network availability is often misunderstood by IT clients, and the ambiguity surrounding the topic is intentional on the part of Service Providers. Keep in mind that SLA contracts are written for service providers by their layers and actuaries and there are financial penalties for the service providers that can be imposed if service levels are not met. So, it would be conceivable to think that the rules are biased in favor of the service providers wink wink.

Therefore, service providers have always calculated network availability rate by only considering whether the network is available (up) or down.

But, we know that there are many problems that can affect network and service performance without necessarily interrupting service. These soft network issues occur somewhere in the middle: the network is not down, but not performing well.

Think of network performance as the speed of a cheetah running across the savannah. It's all about how fast the data can travel from one point to another on the network.

Now, think of network availability as a reliable car that never breaks down. It's all about ensuring that the network is up and running, and users can access the resources they need whenever they need them.

Both network performance and network availability are important aspects of network monitoring, but they focus on different things. So, to have a fast and reliable network, you need to pay attention to both cheetah-like performance and dependable availability.

Network performance*refers to the speed, throughput, and quality of data transmission across a network. It is measured by factors such as latency, packet loss, and bandwidth utilization. Network performance monitoring is focused on optimizing the efficiency and effectiveness of the network and its ability to transmit data.

On the other hand, network availability refers to the ability of a network to provide access to network resources and services without interruption or downtime. It is measured by the amount of time that a network is operational and accessible to users. Network availability monitoring is focused on ensuring that the network is up and running, and that users can access the resources and services they need.

In short, network performance is concerned with how well the network is transmitting data, while network availability is concerned with whether the network is up and accessible. Both are important aspects of network monitoring, as they ensure that the network is functioning properly and meeting the needs of its users.

This opens the door to another complex subject: what is the difference between a network availability issue and a network performance issue?

• Availability Issues: Network availability issues are characterized by a complete loss of connectivity. These types of failures can be caused by a variety of factors, including physical damage to network infrastructure, fiber cuts, and power outages. While availability issues are bad news for network reliability, they are the easiest to pinpoint and troubleshoot.
• Performance Issues: Network performance issues are more challenging to identify and troubleshoot than availability issues. These failures can be either steady or intermittent, with the latter being the most challenging to identify and troubleshoot. Performance issues can occur anywhere, and they may go undetected for years.

When you’re monitoring and troubleshooting network performance, it’s important to detect and solve both availability issues and performance issues, because they can both impact your network performance, network availability, and end-user experience.

Besides the gap between actual network performance and promised network performance and availability, there is also a gap between a client's understanding and service providers' rules.

In general, the contractual application of service level agreements is not proactively enforced by service providers. This means that it is up to the client to:

1. Monitor the service level agreements
2. Open support tickets in case of network performance or availability issues
3. And prove non-compliance with the service level agreements.

It is usually only in these situations that clients understand that the gap between their understanding and what service providers will defend in their contracts is significant. A client might think that their SLA is affected from the moment the quality or performance of the service is altered, whereas the service provider only calculates the time the service was interrupted.

The difference between the two perceptions is immense because the number of events that can degrade the quality or performance of a service is much higher than complete service interruptions.

How To: SLA Monitoring & Reporting: Are You Getting What You Paid For?

Learn about SLA monitoring & reporting using Network Monitoring to measure network, service performance, user experience & understand if SLAs are being met.

Learn more

Keeping your network up and running smoothly is a bit like keeping a group of hyperactive toddlers in line. You need to keep a watchful eye on them at all times and be ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Luckily, there are some clever techniques you can use to monitor your network's availability and ensure that everything stays on track. From ping monitoring to packet analysis, we've got you covered.

There are several techniques for monitoring network availability, including:

Synthetic monitoring, also known as active monitoring or proactive monitoring, is a technique that involves simulating user traffic on a network to test its availability and performance. In other words, it involves creating synthetic transactions or requests that mimic the actions of real users and testing how the network responds to those transactions.

Obkio's NPM tool is a Synthetic Network Monitoring tool - so the steps we showed you above as using this exact technique!

Synthetic monitoring is a valuable technique for network availability monitoring because it allows you to test the network from the perspective of the user. By simulating user traffic, you can identify issues that may not be detected by other monitoring techniques, such as network congestion or slow response times. Here are some of the benefits of using synthetic monitoring for network availability monitoring:

• Proactive detection of issues: Synthetic monitoring allows you to detect issues before they affect real users. By testing the network from the perspective of the user, you can identify issues such as slow response times, broken links, or other problems that may impact user experience.
• Customization: Synthetic monitoring can be customized to suit your needs. You can simulate different types of user traffic, such as web page requests, login attempts, or file downloads. You can also customize the frequency and duration of the tests.
• Realistic testing: Synthetic monitoring can simulate realistic user traffic, including traffic from different geographic locations or devices. This allows you to test the network under different conditions and identify issues that may only occur under certain circumstances.
• Integration: Synthetic monitoring can be integrated with other monitoring tools to provide a more comprehensive view of network availability. For example, you can use synthetic monitoring in combination with ping monitoring or SNMP monitoring to monitor the availability and performance of network devices.
• Trend analysis: Synthetic monitoring allows you to track performance trends over time. By monitoring the network on a regular basis, you can identify patterns or trends in network performance and proactively address any issues that arise.

Overall, synthetic monitoring is a valuable technique for network availability monitoring. By simulating user traffic, you can detect issues before they affect real users and ensure that your network stays up and running smoothly.

Ping is a simple and widely used network diagnostic tool that sends a packet of data to a device and waits for a response. The device then sends a response back to the sender, indicating that it is available and responsive. If no response is received, the device is considered unavailable or down.

Ping monitoring is a popular method for monitoring network availability because it is easy to use and provides quick feedback on the status of a device. Here are some of the benefits of using ping monitoring for network availability monitoring:

• Simplicity: Ping monitoring is a straightforward technique that doesn't require any complex setup or configuration. You can use the built-in ping command on most operating systems, or a variety of third-party ping monitoring tools.
• Speed: Ping monitoring provides real-time feedback on the availability of a device. If a device is down, you'll know almost instantly, allowing you to take action to resolve the issue.
• Versatility: Ping monitoring can be used to monitor any device that is connected to your network, including servers, routers, switches, and workstations. You can also use ping monitoring to test connectivity between devices on your network.
• Customization: You can customize ping monitoring to suit your needs by adjusting the interval between pings, the number of pings sent, and the size of the packets sent.
• Integration: Ping monitoring can be integrated with other monitoring tools to provide a more comprehensive view of network availability. For example, you can use ping monitoring in combination with SNMP monitoring to monitor the availability of network devices and their performance metrics.

Overall, ping monitoring is a simple yet powerful technique for monitoring network availability. By using ping monitoring in combination with other monitoring techniques, you can ensure that your network stays up and running smoothly.

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) monitoring is a technique for monitoring network availability that involves querying network devices for their performance and status data using SNMP. SNMP is a protocol that is used to manage and monitor network devices such as routers, switches, and servers.

SNMP monitoring is a powerful technique for network availability monitoring because it allows you to gather a wealth of performance data from network devices, including CPU usage, memory usage, network bandwidth, and more. Here are some of the benefits of using SNMP monitoring for network availability monitoring:

• Real-time data: SNMP monitoring provides real-time data on the status and performance of network devices. This allows you to identify issues as soon as they arise and take corrective action to resolve them quickly.
• Comprehensive data: SNMP monitoring can provide a wealth of data on network device performance, including metrics such as CPU usage, memory usage, and network bandwidth. This data can be used to identify performance bottlenecks or other issues that may impact network availability.
• Customization: SNMP monitoring can be customized to suit your needs. You can configure SNMP queries to gather specific data from network devices, and you can adjust the frequency and duration of the queries.
• Integration: SNMP monitoring can be integrated with other monitoring tools to provide a more comprehensive view of network availability. For example, you can use SNMP monitoring in combination with ping monitoring or synthetic monitoring to monitor the availability and performance of network devices.
• Historical data: SNMP monitoring can provide historical data on network device performance, allowing you to track performance trends over time and identify patterns or issues that may only occur under certain conditions.

Overall, SNMP monitoring is a powerful technique for network availability monitoring. By gathering comprehensive performance data from network devices, you can proactively identify and address issues that may impact network availability and ensure that your network stays up and running smoothly.

Port monitoring is a technique for monitoring network availability that involves monitoring network ports to ensure that they are open and available for use. In computer networking, a port is a communication endpoint that is used by network protocols to identify a specific process or application on a network device.

Port monitoring is a valuable technique for network availability monitoring because it allows you to identify issues that may impact network availability at the application layer. Here are some of the benefits of using port monitoring for network availability monitoring:

• Application-level monitoring: Port monitoring allows you to monitor network availability at the application layer, which is where many issues that impact network availability occur. By monitoring ports, you can identify issues such as failed connections, dropped packets, or other problems that may impact application performance.
• Customization: Port monitoring can be customized to suit your needs. You can monitor specific ports that are critical to the performance of your applications, and you can adjust the frequency and duration of the monitoring.
• Real-time alerts: Port monitoring can provide real-time network monitoring alerts when issues are detected. This allows you to respond quickly and resolve issues before they impact network availability.
• Integration: Port monitoring can be integrated with other monitoring tools to provide a more comprehensive view of network availability. For example, you can use port monitoring in combination with ping monitoring, synthetic monitoring, or SNMP monitoring to monitor the availability and performance of network devices and applications.
• Historical data: Port monitoring can provide historical data on port availability and performance, allowing you to track performance trends over time and identify patterns or issues that may only occur under certain conditions.

Overall, port monitoring is a valuable technique for network availability monitoring. By monitoring network ports at the application layer, you can proactively identify and address issues that may impact network availability and ensure that your applications and network devices are functioning properly.

Packet analysis is a technique for monitoring network availability that involves capturing and analyzing network traffic to identify issues that may impact network performance and availability. In packet analysis, network packets are captured and analyzed to determine their contents and characteristics, such as source and destination addresses, packet size, protocol type, and more.

Here are some of the benefits of using packet analysis for network availability monitoring:

• Granular data: Packet analysis provides granular data on network traffic, including detailed information on packet contents and characteristics. This allows you to identify issues that may be difficult to detect using other monitoring techniques.
• Application-level monitoring: Packet analysis allows you to monitor network availability at the application layer, where many issues that impact network availability occur. By analyzing network packets, you can identify issues such as failed connections, dropped packets, or other problems that may impact application performance.
• Real-time analysis: Packet analysis can be performed in real-time, allowing you to identify issues as they occur and take corrective action quickly.
• Historical data: Packet analysis can provide historical data on network traffic, allowing you to track performance trends over time and identify patterns or issues that may only occur under certain conditions.
• Integration: Packet analysis can be integrated with other monitoring tools to provide a more comprehensive view of network availability. For example, you can use packet analysis in combination with ping monitoring, synthetic monitoring, or SNMP monitoring to monitor the availability and performance of network devices and applications.

Overall, packet analysis is a valuable technique for network availability monitoring. By capturing and analyzing network traffic, you can proactively identify and address issues that may impact network availability and ensure that your applications and network devices are functioning properly. However, it is important to note that packet analysis can be resource-intensive and requires specialized skills and tools, so it may not be feasible for all organizations.

Flow analysis is a technique for monitoring network availability that involves capturing and analyzing network flow data to identify issues that may impact network performance and availability. In flow analysis, network flows are analyzed to determine their characteristics, such as source and destination IP addresses, protocol type, port numbers, and more.

Flow analysis is a valuable technique for network availability monitoring because it provides a high-level view of network traffic and allows you to identify issues that may impact network performance and availability. Here are some of the benefits of using flow analysis for network availability monitoring:

• Network-level monitoring: Flow analysis allows you to monitor network availability at the network level, which provides a high-level view of network traffic and allows you to identify issues that may impact network performance and availability.
• Real-time analysis: Flow analysis can be performed in real-time, allowing you to identify issues as they occur and take corrective action quickly.
• Historical data: Flow analysis can provide historical data on network traffic, allowing you to track performance trends over time and identify patterns or issues that may only occur under certain conditions.
• Customization: Flow analysis can be customized to suit your needs. You can monitor specific network flows that are critical to the performance of your applications, and you can adjust the frequency and duration of the monitoring.
• Integration: Flow analysis can be integrated with other monitoring tools to provide a more comprehensive view of network availability. For example, you can use flow analysis in combination with ping monitoring, synthetic monitoring, or SNMP monitoring to monitor the availability and performance of network devices and applications.

Overall, flow analysis is a valuable technique for network availability monitoring. By analyzing network flows, you can proactively identify and address issues that may impact network availability and ensure that your applications and network devices are functioning properly. However, it is important to note that flow analysis requires specialized tools and skills, and may not be feasible for all organizations.

Endpoint monitoring is a technique for monitoring network availability that involves monitoring the performance and availability of network endpoints, such as servers, workstations, and other devices. In endpoint monitoring, a variety of performance metrics are monitored on each endpoint to ensure that it is functioning properly and can communicate with other devices on the network.

Endpoint monitoring is a valuable technique for network availability monitoring because it provides a comprehensive view of network performance and allows you to identify issues that may impact network availability. Here are some of the benefits of using endpoint monitoring for network availability monitoring:

• Comprehensive monitoring: Endpoint monitoring provides a comprehensive view of network performance by monitoring a variety of metrics, including CPU usage, memory usage, disk usage, network utilization, and more.
• Real-time analysis: Endpoint monitoring can be performed in real-time, allowing you to identify issues as they occur and take corrective action quickly.
• Historical data: Endpoint monitoring can provide historical data on the performance of each endpoint, allowing you to track performance trends over time and identify patterns or issues that may only occur under certain conditions.
• Customization: Endpoint monitoring can be customized to suit your needs. You can monitor specific performance metrics that are critical to the performance of your applications, and you can adjust the frequency and duration of the monitoring.
• Integration: Endpoint monitoring can be integrated with other monitoring tools to provide a more comprehensive view of network availability. For example, you can use endpoint monitoring in combination with ping monitoring, synthetic monitoring, or SNMP monitoring to monitor the availability and performance of network devices and applications.

Overall, endpoint monitoring is a valuable technique for network availability monitoring. By monitoring the performance and availability of network endpoints, you can proactively identify and address issues that may impact network availability and ensure that your applications and network devices are functioning properly. However, it is important to note that endpoint monitoring requires specialized tools and skills, and may not be feasible for all organizations.

Obkio is a modern network performance monitoring solution that provides real-time visibility into network performance and availability. It uses active and passive monitoring techniques to detect and diagnose network issues, and provides detailed analytics and reporting to help IT teams optimize network performance and availability.

With Obkio, users can monitor network latency, packet loss, jitter, and other key metrics, and receive alerts and notifications when network performance or availability falls below user-defined thresholds.

See for yourself!

Network availability is like a superhero, always ready to save the day and provide users with the services they need. But even superheroes have their weaknesses, and network availability issues are no exception. From hardware failures and power outages to software bugs and security breaches, there are many factors that can cause interruptions or downtime to network services.

By understanding these network availability issues and taking proactive measures to address them, organizations can ensure that their networks remain reliable and always available to users.

1. Hardware failure: Network devices such as routers, switches, and servers can fail due to a variety of reasons, including wear and tear, age, and physical damage. When a device fails, it can cause interruptions to network services, and in some cases, require replacement of the failed device.
2. Power outages: Power outages can cause network devices to shut down or lose connectivity, resulting in downtime. It is important to have backup power systems such as uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) to prevent power-related downtime.
3. Software issues: Software bugs, glitches, and compatibility issues can cause network devices to malfunction or crash. To prevent software-related downtime, it is important to keep network devices up-to-date with the latest firmware and software patches.
4. Configuration errors: Improper configuration of network devices can cause network services to become unavailable. Configuration errors can include misconfigured network addresses, improper routing, and misconfigured security settings. Regular configuration audits and validation can help prevent configuration-related downtime.
5. Security breaches: Security breaches can result in denial-of-service attacks, which can overload network devices and cause them to become unavailable. Regular security audits and vulnerability assessments can help identify and address security-related risks.
6. Network congestion: When network traffic exceeds the capacity of the network, it can lead to network congestion and cause network services to become slow or unavailable. To prevent network congestion-related downtime, it is important to monitor network traffic and optimize network capacity as needed.
7. Environmental factors: Environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and physical damage can cause network devices to malfunction or fail. It is important to monitor environmental conditions and implement appropriate measures such as temperature and humidity controls, and physical security measures.

By proactively monitoring network performance and availability, and addressing issues as they arise, organizations can minimize downtime and ensure that network services are available to users when they need them.

Ready to level up your networking game and become a master of network availability? In this section, we'll explore some tips and tricks to improve network availability and keep your network running smoothly. From optimizing your network infrastructure to implementing proactive monitoring and troubleshooting strategies, we'll cover everything you need to know to master your network and ensure maximum uptime. So let's get started and take your networking skills to the next level!

Network availability is critical for ensuring that organizations can operate effectively and meet their business goals. Downtime, slow performance, and other issues can have a significant impact on productivity, revenue, and user experience.

With Obkio and Network Availability Monitoring, you'll have the tools you need to identify and troubleshoot network issues affecting network availability. Apart, from that, you always have the data you need to optimize network availability rates.

There are several ways to improve network availability, including:

1. Implement redundancy: Redundancy means having multiple paths, devices, or systems in place to ensure that if one fails, there is another one to take its place. This can include redundant power supplies, network cables, and network devices. By implementing redundancy, organizations can reduce the risk of downtime caused by a single point of failure.
2. Regularly update and patch software and hardware: Outdated software and hardware can pose security risks and may also impact network performance and availability. Regularly updating and patching software and hardware can help ensure that they are running smoothly and are less vulnerable to security threats.
3. Monitor and manage network performance: Network availability monitoring tools can help IT teams identify and resolve issues before they cause downtime. By proactively monitoring network performance and identifying potential issues, IT teams can optimize network infrastructure and reduce the risk of downtime.
4. Use load balancing: Load balancing involves distributing traffic evenly across multiple servers or network devices. This can help prevent overloading of any one device or server, reducing the risk of downtime due to network congestion or network overload.
5. Train and educate users: Many network issues can be caused by user error, such as misconfigured devices or accidental deletion of files. By providing training and education on network monitoring best practices and best practices for network use, organizations can reduce the risk of user error and improve network availability.

As we mentioned earlier, it’s important to monitor both network availability and network performance to identify both types of issues. Network performance can be heavily degraded even if the network is considered “up.”

You can of course also use Obkio Network Performance Monitoring to measure end-to-end network performance. Obkio measures every end of your network, from your LAN to your WAN, using Network Monitoring Agents. You can deploy Agents in all your branch offices, remote locations, data centers, Clouds and over the Internet. It can also support all network types.

We recommend deploying:

1. Local Agents: Installed in the targeted office location experiencing connectivity issues. There are several Agent types available (all with the same features), and they can be installed on MacOS, Windows, Linux and more.
2. Public Monitoring Agents: Which are deployed over the Internet and managed by Obkio. They compare performance up to the Internet and quickly identify if the problem is global or specific to the destination. This will be great information for later in the troubleshooting process. You can use an AWS (to monitor apps like Zoom too) or Google Cloud Agent.

Once you’ve deployed Obkio, Obkio’s Monitoring Agents will start exchanging synthetic traffic to measure network metrics like jitter, packet loss, and latency and display them on Obkio’s Network Response Time Graph.

Obkio measures these network metrics every 500ms to quickly identify any performance issues in your network, with details about the problems, when they happened, and where. You can also analyze historical performance data to identify network issues from the past.

You can now use all the data you’ve collected to actually identify network problems and collect the information you’ll use to troubleshoot. You can do so by analyzing Network Performance Reports.

For network availability monitoring, Obkio’s Critical Severity report is a clear indicator of a low network availability rate. For network performance monitoring, users can set and decide the thresholds and severity levels affecting their network performance. They can then create reports and alerts based on those severity thresholds.

In conclusion, network availability monitoring plays a critical role in ensuring that organizations can meet their client's expectations and SLAs. By proactively monitoring network performance and identifying potential issues before they cause downtime, IT teams can optimize network infrastructure, reduce the risk of downtime, and meet or exceed SLA requirements.

However, it's important to remember that client expectations may exceed SLAs, and that IT teams must be prepared to address client concerns and provide clear communication about network performance and availability. By setting realistic expectations, proactively monitoring network performance, and communicating effectively with clients, organizations can build strong relationships with their clients, maintain high levels of network availability, and deliver the best possible experience for all stakeholders.

To recap, there's a lot to consider when it comes to network availability and performance monitoring. In summary:

• Service providers may calculate the availability rate in their favor and not take performance issues into account.
• Proactive enforcement of SLA penalties is not always guaranteed.
• A 99% availability rate per month still equates to 7 hours of downtime.
• Availability issues aren't the only concern, as network service performance can also be affected.
• Service providers do not measure network performance availability and are generally not proactive in resolving performance issues.

It’s up to your business to ensure that your network availability is high, that your network performance is optimal, and that you can quickly identify and troubleshoot any network problem affecting either. And Obkio makes network availability monitoring and network performance monitoring easy.

• 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