Network Management, especially in today’s times, is a very important factor in the growth and operation of your business network. There will be times when you try to connect to the internet, and it says something like “One or more network protocols are missing from this computer.” if yes, then your solution is at this site. However, these issues are not desirable; to avoid such issues, one’s network must be able to support high-value solutions that include voice, data, value, and other important information from the users.
With the increase in digitalization, it is difficult and taxing to compile such huge amounts of data without such network management tools.
Importance of Network Management in Small Businesses:
A network manager is essential to maintain stability in a company and prevent losses. It acts as a preventative measure and a shock absorber for your company and its network accounts. This tool is also beneficial in expanding your business and providing it with opportunities to grow.
These features make managing a small business a lot easier:
- A good network management device lets you maintain and monitor your network and the attached network devices. Implementation of upgrades, user administration, and monthly status reporting becomes a lot easier and accessible.
- It helps make adjustments in the IT infrastructure and network based on its capabilities of managing the traffic.
- It provides routine monitoring that can help you tackle important problems. This particular benefit also helps improve performance, avoid downtime, and efficiently tackle and manage any issues that may arise.
Thus in current times, network management easily is one of the most important, efficient, affordable, and reliable tools to kick start and establish your business.
The market provides various kinds of tools that provide Network Management. There increased competition and high-quality marketing along with misleading advertisements. It can be not easy to pick what may be best for your company and its purpose in such situations. It is detrimental that you chose tools that cater to your wants and needs efficiently.
There are many options, but the best ones among them are listed below:
1. SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor:
It uses SNMP to monitor the statuses of network devices. It runs on a Windows server. It helps you discover devices connected to your server automatically. It can help you track packet transfers and effectively diagnose where the network issue originated. You get frequent and well-timed alerts according to the trigger conditions that you can set.
Some features are:
- You have access to a thirty-day free trial.
- It starts at $2995
- Can create WiFi heat maps
- Alerts and reports the system
2. Manage Engine Op Manager:
The most attractive feature of this is that it allows you to customize your dashboard. It lets you choose from over two hundred widgets to make your monitoring experience unique and suits you best. It helps you to respond to performance change quickly.
The important features are:
- SNMP monitoring
- You can customize your dashboard.
- Provides a 30-day free trial
- The price starts at $245.
3. Datadog Network Performance Monitoring:
It depends on SNMP for live statistics, while its network management is based on a cloud-based SaaS infrastructure monitoring service. It has storage space for statistics while it continuously monitors the network. It can be accessed through any browser. You can easily filter data to get access to focused analysis.
Its important underlining features are:
- Managing hypervisors and containing systems.
- It provides capacity predictions.
- It has a 14-day free trial.
- It is suitable for almost all networks and topologies.
4. What’s Up Gold from Progress Software Corporation:
It uses SNMP and has a very flexible system of pricing that can be extremely beneficial. It updates the network inventory automatically. It covers LANs, Internet Connections, and wireless networks. Some of its helpful features are listed below:
- A 14-day free trial.
- Prompt alerts from time to time.
- Diagnostic tools
- Network Mapping.
5. Site 24*7 Monitoring tool:
It is driven by SNMP or Simple Network Management Protocol. It is an all-in-one solution that has automatic network discoveries. A very useful tool in mapping user behavior modules can monitor routers, WAN connections, wireless networks, and cloud services.
Its important features are:
- It is available for free for up to five websites or servers.
- There are four options or packages for paid editions that can be customized and changed according to the requirements of various corporates.
- A 30 day free trial for all four paid editions is also available.
- It has powerful analytics, reporting, and alerts.
6. Icinga:
It can be configured through GUI or DSL. It gives you a lot of control over how you manage your environment. In the dashboard, the issues that are faced are color-coded based on the severity of the issue. It has a free trial version which is an important feature.
These are a few excellent tools for network management. It is always very important to make sure that you pick out a network management tool that serves your purpose and caters to your needs.
