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SD-WAN Monitoring Tool
Monitoring SD-WAN networks before, after & during migrations to ensure you're getting the performance you were promised.
4.96 Average Rating (169 Reviews)
75% of IT Pros struggle with the native monitoring features of SD-WAN
And traditional monitoring tools don’t offer the depth needed for modern WAN networks.
SD-WAN introduces a new complexity with multiple devices and operators managing many Internet connections per site, various equipment vendors with differing monitoring promises, and diverse Internet connections to monitor. When issues arise, the "ping-pong effect" kicks in, with responsibility bouncing between multiple parties.
Traditional packet capture tools are not designed to handle synthetic traffic, meaning they are unable to monitor SD-WAN environments properly. Similarly, these tools require significant expertise and resources to operate effectively, making them less accessible for many teams. So IT pros often lack the visibility needed to monitor SASE services or ISP performance effectively from native platforms.
With businesses increasingly moving to the Cloud, and migrating from MPLS to hybrid WAN architectures and SD-WAN networks - you need to be ready. That’s where Obkio comes in. Obkio’s SD-WAN monitoring tool is designed specifically to deal with the unique challenges of SD-WAN. It gives you the visibility you need into your network’s performance, so you can spot issues before they turn into bigger problems.
It simplifies the monitoring of SD-WAN, cloud-based services, and Internet connectivity, ensuring that you can pinpoint performance issues quickly and effectively—without the need for specialized expertise or extensive resources. With Obkio, you gain the ability to monitor all your SD-WAN segments and connections in one easy-to-use platform, helping you stay ahead of potential issues before they impact your business.
How Obkio's SD-WAN Monitoring Tool Works
Obkio’s founders have been at the forefront of telecom innovation since the early days of SD-WAN. They were part of Cisco’s IWAN journey in 2012, a precursor to SD-WAN, and recognized early on the visibility challenges customers would face with traditional tools. When SD-WAN started to gain popularity, Obkio’s founders knew that businesses would need a better way to monitor SD-WAN performance.
Obkio Was Built to Solve Modern SD-WAN Challenges
Obkio is a simple yet powerful Network Performance Monitoring (NPM) solution tailor-made for modern SD-WAN and Internet monitoring. This solution was designed to proactively monitor SD-WAN segments, over-the-top (OTT) applications, and transport critical traffic via the Internet.
Obkio focuses on ease of use, even for teams without extensive expertise, and was adaptable enough to evolve with the growing demand to monitor cloud-based SASE services integrated into SD-WAN. Today, monitoring SD-WAN is our most popular use case, helping businesses ensure the performance and reliability of their increasingly complex networks.
- Proactive monitoring of SD-WAN segments, over-the-top (OTT) applications, and critical traffic transported via the Internet.
- Ease of use, even for teams without extensive expertise.
- Adaptability, evolving to monitor cloud-based SASE services integrated into SD-WAN
Our Customers Love Monitoring SD-WAN With Obkio
The Benefits of Obkio’s Next-Gen SD-WAN Monitoring Tool
Ensure Your SD-WAN Lives Up to the Promise with Real-Time, End-to-End Monitoring
Vendor-Neutral
Obkio monitors SD-WAN services from all vendors, so you’re not locked into one provider, whether it’s Cisco, Fortinet, Meraki, or VeloCloud.
See The End-User POV
Obkio uses synthetic monitoring to simulate real traffic to catch issues before they affect user and see exactly what your users experience.
Full SD-WAN Visibility
Monitor every WAN connection (WAN 1, WAN 2, WAN X), the Internet underlay, the VPN overlay, and each SD-WAN site for a comprehensive view.
Monitor SD-WAN Promise
SD-WAN vendors promise seamless performance with multiple Internet connections, but when things go wrong, is the performance still up to par? Obkio helps you find out.
How Obkio's SD-WAN Monitoring Tool Can Help You: From Migrations to Troubleshooting
When it comes to managing SD-WAN networks, having the right monitoring tool makes all the difference. Obkio’s SD-WAN Monitoring Tool is designed to help you every step of the way—from deployment to day-to-day performance and troubleshooting.
SD-WAN Migration Monitoring:
Moving to SD-WAN? Obkio helps ensure a smooth transition by monitoring performance every step of the way. You'll have full visibility into your new network setup and can quickly spot any issues during the migration process.
Continuous SD-WAN Monitoring:
Once your SD-WAN is up and running, Obkio keeps a constant eye on performance. With real-time monitoring, you can be sure your network is performing at its best, all the time.
SD-WAN Troubleshooting:
When problems pop up, Obkio helps you identify the root cause fast. Whether it’s a connection issue, poor performance, or something else, you’ll have the data you need to troubleshoot and fix issues quickly.
No Matter Your Network Issue
We've Got the Solution For You
Obkio's solution is designed to be the easiest Network Monitoring tool on the market, making it the ideal choice for businesses of all sizes, from IT professionals working from home to managing the complexities of large-scale corporate networks.
- 14-Day Proof Of Concept
- Single and home offices
- SMEs with less than 3 locations
- Mid to large multisite networks
- MSPs & large businesses
- Non-Profit Organizations
- Colleges and Universities
Check out our plans, all available with a free 14-day trial, no credit card required!
Deploy End-to-End SD-WAN Monitoring In Minutes
Get complete visibility of your SD-WAN network in just 10 minutes with our easy-to-follow Onboarding Wizard and immediate access to all premium features during a 14-day free trial.
Obkio’s SD-WAN Monitoring Tool is designed to help you every step of the way—from deployment to day-to-day performance and troubleshooting. Just sign up for a free trial, deploy your Monitoring Agents across your SD-WAN network, and Obkio takes care of the rest.
You don’t need to be a network expert—there are no complex setups or steep learning curves. With our easy-to-follow Onboarding Wizard, you can get complete visibility of your SD-WAN network in just 10 minutes. Plus, enjoy immediate access to all premium features during a 14-day free trial.
Step 1.1. Deploy Monitoring Agents In All Ends of Your SD-WAN Network
Obkio’s SD-WAN Monitoring software continuously monitors end-to-end network performance with synthetic traffic using Network Monitoring Agents.
To achieve the level depth required to monitor SD-WAN networks, install Network Monitoring Agents in the customer LAN, behind the SD-WAN appliance, to measure SD-WAN network performance like an end-user.
You need:
- 1 Local Agent per network location (data centers, remote offices etc.)
- 3 Public Monitoring Agents to monitor the Internet
The Agents then create Monitoring Sessions by exchanging synthetic UDP packets between every 2 sets of Agents to measure performance metrics and raise alerts for when network issues are detected. In the screenshot beside, you can see an Obkio Chord Diagram with Agents monitoring the performance of:
- ISP-1: A UDP flow from Branch 5 sticky on the first Internet connection
- ISP-2: A UDP flow from Branch 5 sticky on the secondary Internet connection
- SD-WAN Internet: UDP flows load balanced across the two Internet links following the SD-WAN algorithm
- 8 Remote Branches
- 2 Data Centers
“Obkio ensured that our stakeholders could see the value of our investment in SD-WAN. They provided data and metrics proving that this transformation was successfully improving the end-to-end quality of services for our internal customers. For day-to-day operations, Obkio is improving our ability to troubleshoot incidents rapidly.”
Collect End-to-End SD-WAN Performance Metrics & Establish A Baseline
Once you've deployed Obkio’s Monitoring Agents, the next step is to start collecting data to gain full visibility into your SD-WAN network’s performance.
Obkio allows you to monitor various critical points of your SD-WAN infrastructure, ensuring you can identify and address any issues from the end-user's perspective.
- LAN: Monitor the local network at each site to ensure smooth connectivity to your SD-WAN device.
- The SD-WAN Device Itself: Keep tabs on the performance of the SD-WAN equipment to ensure it’s functioning optimally.
- The Underlay (ISP 1, ISP 2): Monitor the underlying Internet connections supporting your SD-WAN, including all ISPs involved.
- IPSec Tunnels: Measure the performance of encrypted tunnels that transport your data securely across the network.
- SD-WAN Internet: Track how your SD-WAN leverages the Internet for efficient data routing and connectivity.
- Remote Branches: Ensure all branches connected to your SD-WAN network experience reliable performance.
Step 2.1. Measure the SD-WAN Promise
SD-WAN vendors usually make two promises:
- The capacity of the SD-WAN device to seamlessly perform load balancing on multiple links.
- The ability of the SD-WAN management platform to provide visibility on the network performance.
To be able to truly see the promise of your SD-WAN network, you need to monitor performance from the end-user perspective, as well as the underlay connections themself to compare the performance.
Luckily Obkio can monitor SD-WAN network performance like an end-user and can also monitor each connection used by the SD-WAN appliance. Obkio's Agent is installed in the customer LAN, behind the SD-WAN appliance, to ensure it does its job from the end-user's point-of-view.
- A local Monitoring Agent behind the SD-WAN appliance
- And three remote Monitoring Agents that are located at the same location (either cloud, datacenter or head office)
The three network monitoring sessions monitor the network performance between the two locations using different connections:
- The performance as seen by the end-user (load balanced between the connection using the SD-WAN algorithm) - top graph
- The performance of the ISP A connection - middle graph
- The performance of the ISP B connection - bottom graph
Identify SD-WAN Problems Anywhere In Your Network
Now that you’ve collected a wealth of data, it’s time to dig in and see if there’s a problem lurking in your SD-WAN network. This step is all about using the insights you’ve gathered to pinpoint network issues and figure out where they’re coming from.
Sometimes, things go wrong on the underlay—like an ISP link acting up—but you might not notice right away because SD-WAN’s magic kicks in. With load balancing and failover, SD-WAN can seamlessly switch traffic from one ISP to another.
For example: If ISP 2 has issues, SD-WAN might route everything to ISP 1 without missing a beat. While this is great in the short term, it can mask deeper problems. If both ISPs eventually run into trouble, your SD-WAN network won’t be able to keep up, and that’s when you’ll notice.
Is It Really A Network Issue
Analyze the data to understand if the issue is in your network or beyond.
With Obkio’s SD-WAN Monitoring Tool, you have all the data and visibility you need to identify exactly where the problem is—whether it’s local, underlay, or overlay—so you can quickly move on to fixing it. The best part? Obkio makes this process clear and hassle-free.
It looks like the issue is network-related!
When you’re identifying a network-related issue in Obkio’s app, start by looking at the Network Performance Dashboards. You’ll see detailed metrics such as latency, packet loss, and jitter for each monitoring agent, giving you a snapshot of your SD-WAN performance at a glance.
If there’s a network or SD-WAN-related issue, it will be flagged with a red or yellow indicator depending on severity.
It's not a network issue. Look elsewhere!
Great! If there’s no problem on your SD-WAN, it’s time to look elsewhere. The issue might be on your application side, with a specific SaaS tool, or even in user-specific hardware or connectivity. SD-WAN is clear, but your job isn’t done yet.
First: Where is the Network Issue Happening?
Is it local, meaning it’s tied to the LAN or the SD-WAN device itself? Maybe a device isn’t functioning correctly, or there’s a misconfiguration.
Is it in the underlay, which involves your ISP connections? Even with SD-WAN, poor ISP performance can create significant bottlenecks.
Is it in the overlay, which includes the VPN tunnels or how SD-WAN is managing your application traffic? Overlay issues can impact how data flows between sites and affect the overall user experience.
Second: Drill-Down With Obkio’s SD-WAN Monitoring Graphs
Check your Device Performance Metrics to identify if the issue is local. This will show how your SD-WAN devices are performing, highlighting any signs of high CPU or memory usage or misconfigurations.
If the devices are fine, move on to the Underlay. Here, you’ll find performance data for each ISP connection (ISP A, ISP B, etc.), with clear visualizations that let you see if one of the ISPs is causing problems. For example, if ISP B is experiencing packet loss, you’ll see spikes in the graphs and receive alerts pinpointing the exact location of the issue.
Finally, check the Overlay Performance, which monitors IPSec tunnels and SD-WAN Internet performance. This view helps you determine if there are issues with the VPN or how the SD-WAN is managing application traffic across multiple sites.
Identify Where the the SD-WAN Issue is Happening
Once you’ve confirmed there’s an issue, the next step is to pinpoint exactly where it’s occurring in your SD-WAN network. With Obkio’s app, identifying whether the issue is local or external is easy.
Step 1: Start with the SD-WAN Dashboard
The SD-WAN Dashboard provides a high-level view of your network’s performance. From here, you can see which part of your SD-WAN network is experiencing issues. Obkio’s Chord Diagram is particularly useful for visualizing the flow of traffic across your network. It highlights problem areas, showing whether the issue lies within your local network, at the ISP level, or somewhere further along the Internet.
Step 2: Investigate Internal Issues
If the dashboard indicates an issue within your local network, use Obkio’s SNMP Monitoring to cross-reference key performance metrics such as bandwidth usage and device CPU load. For example:
- Bandwidth: Check if a specific device or user is consuming excessive bandwidth, leading to congestion.
- CPU Usage: Determine if an SD-WAN device is overburdened and causing delays.
This helps you rule out internal factors like hardware limitations or misconfigurations as the root cause.
Step 3: Investigate External Issues
If the problem is external, Obkio’s Traceroute Analysis tool is your next step. Traceroute lets you follow the path of your data packets through the network, identifying where delays or packet loss are occurring. Key scenarios include:
- Local Loop Issues: If the traceroute points to a problem at the first hop, the issue likely lies with your ISP’s local loop.
- Further Along the Internet: If the problem occurs several hops into the traceroute, it could be an issue deeper within your ISP’s network or even with an upstream provider.
By analyzing these paths, you can identify whether the issue is with your immediate ISP or somewhere further along the Internet.
Step 4.1. Stop the Blame-Game: Understand Who Is Responsible For The SD-WAN Bottleneck
Understanding where the issue is happening in your SD-WAN network is crucial not just for troubleshooting, but for figuring out who’s responsible for fixing it.
SD-WAN networks are complex and involve multiple players—each responsible for different parts of the network. When something goes wrong, it can often lead to a frustrating ping-pong blame game as everyone tries to point fingers and figure out who’s accountable for solving the problem.
ISPs (Internet Service Providers): If the problem is on the underlay network (e.g., with ISP 1 or ISP 2), it’s their responsibility to fix it. But if you can’t pinpoint the issue specifically to one ISP, it may cause confusion, with both ISPs denying the problem and redirecting the blame.
SD-WAN Device Vendor: If the issue lies with the SD-WAN device itself, such as a misconfiguration or performance problem, the SD-WAN device vendor is the one to address it. However, if you can’t clearly determine whether it’s an issue with the SD-WAN device or an external network problem, you might end up getting bounced between your device vendor and the ISPs.
Cloud-Based Application Providers (e.g., ERP, CRM, Business-Critical Apps): If the issue is related to the overlay network, such as a cloud-based application like your ERP or CRM platform experiencing performance issues, then the application provider is responsible. These issues can be tricky because it’s not always obvious whether the problem lies with the application or with your network.
When you don’t have visibility into where the issue is happening, this can lead to frustration and delays as everyone points the finger at someone else. However, by knowing exactly where the problem is happening — whether it’s with the ISP, SD-WAN device, or application provider — you can quickly identify who’s responsible for resolving the issue, saving time and getting your network back to full health faster.
Understand the Common Causes of SD-WAN Problems
To troubleshoot SD-WAN issues right at the source, it's essential to understand the common causes that can impact performance across your SD-WAN network.
These issues can arise from various areas, and by knowing what to look for, you can quickly pinpoint the root cause. Luckily, this is where Using Obkio’s SD-WAN Monitoring tool shines, helping you uncover issues like:
Bandwidth Limitations
Insufficient bandwidth on one or more of your Internet connections can cause performance bottlenecks, leading to high latency, packet loss, and overall poor user experience.
CPU Overload
When the CPU on your SD-WAN device is overloaded, it may struggle to process network traffic, leading to performance issues and slowdowns.
Local Loop Issues
Local loop issues occur when there’s a problem with the physical connections between your network and the ISP, causing interruptions and degraded performance.
SASE Issues
SASE services, which provide security and optimization for SD-WAN traffic, can introduce performance problems if there are misconfigurations or latency between your SD-WAN network and the SASE platform.
Internet Peering Issues
Internet peering issues arise when the SD-WAN or ISP network faces problems with how it peers with other ISPs or networks, causing increased latency or packet loss.
Troubleshoot Based on the Source of the SD-WAN Issue
Once you've identified where the issue is located in your SD-WAN network, troubleshoot internally or with your Service Provider.
Understanding who is responsible for fixing the issue helps streamline the troubleshooting process and ensures the right team addresses the problem efficiently. Here’s how to approach troubleshooting based on the source of the issue:
1. If the Issue Is with the ISP (Underlay Network): Contact your ISP and provide them with the data you've gathered from Obkio, like traceroute results and performance metrics. This data will help them quickly pinpoint whether there’s an issue on their end, like packet loss, high latency, or service outages.
2. If the Issue Is with the SD-WAN Device Vendor (Device Layer): If you suspect the issue is with the SD-WAN device, check the device's performance metrics such as CPU load and bandwidth usage. Use SNMP monitoring to look for any abnormalities or misconfigurations. Reach out to the SD-WAN device vendor’s support team with detailed logs and performance data to help them diagnose the problem.
3. If the Issue Is with the Cloud-Based Application (Overlay Network):
If the issue seems to be with a cloud-based application, such as an ERP or CRM system, it’s time to contact the application’s support team. Provide performance metrics like latency and packet loss from Obkio’s monitoring data, as well as information from the application’s side if possible.
Our Customers Love Monitoring SD-WAN With Obkio
Continuous SD-WAN Monitoring, Proactive Notifications & Reports
Once you’ve identified and resolved any SD-WAN issues, the work doesn’t stop there. Continuous monitoring is essential to maintain optimal network performance.
While troubleshooting will help fix current issues, it's important to continue monitoring your network with Obkio to ensure that performance improves once the problem is resolved. Obkio allows you to monitor all aspects of your SD-WAN network continuously, so you can easily spot any lingering problems or new issues that may arise. By tracking performance in real-time, you can ensure that your SD-WAN network remains optimized, even after the immediate problem is solved.
This ongoing visibility and proactive monitoring will help you stay on top of your network’s health and prevent future disruptions, keeping your SD-WAN network running at its best.
It's not a matter of if SD-WAN issues will happen again, but when.
Obkio knows the unpredictable nature of networks. And no matter what promises your vendor makes about your SD-WAN service, SD-WAN is still prone to performance issues. So you need to be proactive.
Proactive SD-WAN Notifications
Obkio’s proactive notifications will alert you if something goes wrong in the future, so you’re not left guessing when a new issue arises. Whether it's a drop in performance, increased latency, or packet loss, you can get notified immediately, enabling you to take action before the problem escalates. These alerts help you stay ahead of any network disruptions and ensure a better experience for users.
SD-WAN Performance Reporting
For organizations with multiple sites, reports are crucial for keeping track of performance across the entire SD-WAN network. Obkio’s reporting features make it easy to aggregate data from all your SD-WAN sites and summarize performance across your network. You can generate reports that provide insights into how your network is performing over time, helping you understand long-term trends and ensuring there are no hidden issues.
Conquering Network Issues with
Expert Insights and Effective Strategies
Welcome to our blog, where we address the common challenge of identifying network issues and provide you with effective solutions. At times, network problems can be elusive, causing disruptions, performance bottlenecks, and frustration. But fret not, because we are here to help. Our team of experts has extensive experience in tackling network issues head-on, and we are excited to share our knowledge and insights with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
SD-WAN Monitoring is the continuous monitoring of your SD-WAN network from the end-user perspective, by class of service, to locate network problems affecting your SD-WAN network performance.
Obkio monitors the real performance of your SD-WAN network from the end-user perspective, by class of service, to find and fix issues quickly. Obkio monitors the impact of your SD-WAN network by injecting synthetic traffic to monitor from the end-user perspective.
Businesses are increasingly moving to cloud-based apps, which increases reliance on the Internet to deliver WAN traffic. As a result, businesses are migrating from MPLS to hybrid WAN architectures and SD-WAN technology. Monitoring your SD-WAN network ensures that everything on your network is working as it should be.
Most traditional monitoring tools don’t offer the depth and visibility needed for modern WAN networks. Obkio is a monitoring tool that monitors continuous, end-to-end performance, including SD-WAN, using synthetic traffic to monitor from the end-user perspective.
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