Network monitoring
Continuously checking that devices, links, and services are up and performing as expected.
Monitoring catches the failures that would otherwise be reported by a user hours later: a failed link on a redundant pair, a switch running hot, a backup job that stopped completing, a certificate about to expire.
Alert quality decides its usefulness. A monitoring system that pages on everything trains people to ignore it, which is worse than not having it.
Where this comes up
Network monitoring sits inside our networks and infrastructure work. If you are trying to work out what this means for your own environment rather than in the abstract, that is the page worth reading next, and a short call will get you a straight answer faster than either.
Related terms
SNMP A protocol network devices use to report their status and statistics to a monitoring system. Syslog A standard for devices to send log messages to a central collector. Remote monitoring and management The platform an IT team uses to monitor, patch, script, and remotely support the devices it manages. Uptime The proportion of time a system is available, usually expressed as a percentage over a period.