What is Network Traffic Monitoring and Why is it Important?

Monitoring network traffic is recognized as one of the key tools for managing and improving network performance. It is a process that collects and analyzes data being transmitted over the network. In this article, we will first define network traffic and its measurement units, then explain network traffic monitoring and its importance, and finally introduce an Iranian software for monitoring the network traffic of various devices.

What is Network Traffic?

Network traffic refers to the amount of data and information packets that are transmitted through computer networks between devices and equipment. This traffic includes information such as emails, voice and video conversations, and any data transmitted through the network.

What is the Unit of Measurement for Network Traffic?

To express the amount of network traffic, units such as bits per second (bps), kilobits per second (kbps), megabits per second (Mbps) to megabytes per second (MBps), and gigabytes per second (GBps) can be used. The appropriate measurement unit depends on the speed and volume of data being transferred in the network.

What is Network Traffic Monitoring?

Network traffic monitoring is a process in which data and information packets being transmitted over the network are collected and then analyzed. During data analysis, various factors such as bandwidth, packet rate, latency, packet loss rate, and data flow are examined. By accurately examining these factors, issues can be quickly identified and resolved. For more information on the definition of network monitoring, you can read the article "What is Network Monitoring?"

Why Do We Monitor Network Traffic?

There are many reasons for monitoring network traffic, four of which are listed here:

1. Enhancing Network Security By monitoring network traffic, abnormal and suspicious activities such as DDoS attacks and intrusion attempts can be quickly identified, ensuring network security.
2. Improving Network Performance and Efficiency As mentioned, data analysis includes examining bandwidth. Monitoring bandwidth helps identify points where bandwidth is limited or delayed, allowing for optimal allocation of network resources.
3. Managing Resources and Costs Network traffic monitoring helps network managers allocate resources correctly, preventing resource waste and increased costs.
4. Improving User Experience Monitoring network traffic helps identify and resolve high-latency points, thereby improving user experience.

Network Traffic Monitoring Software

There are many tools and software for monitoring network traffic, such as Zabbix, SolarWinds, OpManager, and PRTG, each with its advantages and disadvantages. Among them, the Moein monitoring platform is an Iranian software that communicates with devices and technologies in an organization's IT infrastructure using their protocols and monitors various metrics, including their network traffic. You can click here to see the full list of technologies monitored by Moein.

Currently, Moein can monitor the network traffic of devices such as routers, switches and SAN switches, firewalls, servers, storage devices, virtualizers, and service provisioning tools like IBM Data Power Gateway. Metrics monitored by Moein include packet transmission rate, packet reception rate, output efficiency, input efficiency, speed, output loss percentage, input loss percentage, operational status, and management status.

Moein allows you to view network traffic charts for the desired time range and with various aggregation functions, as shown in the image below.

Here we have provided images of network traffic monitoring for various technologies like switches, virtualizers, and firewalls in Moein.

Network Traffic Monitoring in Cisco Switch

Network Traffic Monitoring in VCenter Virtualizer

Network Traffic Monitoring in Sophos Firewall