RMM network path diagram

Easily monitor network bandwidth with out-of-the-box monitoring capabilities

Bandwidth monitoring is key for keeping business-critical operations online. Networks without sufficient bandwidth can cause devices and applications perform slowly, which can negatively affect productivity. It is also common for customer networks to experience periods of high demand, during which bandwidth usage might be extremely high—only to fluctuate and then have a period of low bandwidth usage. How can you keep up?

N‑able RMM can help you keep your customers’ operations up and running reliably with comprehensive bandwidth monitoring capabilities. With N‑able RMM, MSPs can keep an eye on bandwidth usage by monitoring network devices, switches, and routers via out-of-the-box SNMP capabilities. Additionally, with the NetPath feature, you can easily monitor bandwidth and performance for instances that are outside of your customers’ firewalls, helping ensure you have greater visibility into network traffic.

RMM remote monitoring mixed devices

Identify bandwidth needs to make smarter financial and resource provisioning decisions

With the demands of modern technologies like cloud-based computing, video on demand, VoIP, and more, it’s easy to see how companies can reach bandwidth thresholds in no time.

Your customers look to you to determine the right amount of bandwidth for their current requirements—and they’ll also want to know how much bandwidth they’ll need as they bring additional hardware and applications online. The best way to measure your customers’ actual bandwidth usage is by using a bandwidth monitoring tool.

N‑able RMM’s automated bandwidth checks and alerts allow you to easily monitor daily usage. With this data, you can establish a bandwidth usage baseline and use that information to make informed decisions around resource provisioning or the need for additional bandwidth. By understanding customers’ bandwidth needs and buying only the bandwidth required to handle their actual load, MSPs can better satisfy customers by helping them save costs.

RMM monitoring dashboard

Isolate performance issues with advanced bandwidth monitoring and analytics

When it comes to drilling down on performance issues, monitoring bandwidth will only take you so far. Bandwidth may be low, but why? What is the root cause? MSPs need an intelligent bandwidth monitoring tool that helps them make sense of bandwidth data and develop more granular insights.

N‑able RMM displays detailed bandwidth monitoring results in real time with dynamic graphs and tables. Using this information, you can pinpoint actual bandwidth consumption based on key performance indicators on devices, applications, IP addresses, port numbers, and protocols.

By understanding your customers’ bandwidth and resource consumption, you can begin to improve performance and deliver a superior quality of service. N‑able RMM can help MSPs identify and resolve current bottlenecks, isolate application and server “bandwidth hogs,” and proactively manage issues.

N-able RMM Active Issues

Use bandwidth monitoring to better protect customer data

Knowing how to get the most out of bandwidth monitoring can provide MSPs with valuable insights for their customers. Data from bandwidth monitoring can be used to improve cybersecurity in multiple ways. For example, an unanticipated spike in usage can indicate that an attack is underway, meaning that hackers might be actively attempting to steal your customers’ data.

N‑able RMM combines bandwidth monitoring and web filtering to enhance your customers’ security. By removing non-business bandwidth, you can determine each of your customer’s true bandwidth requirements once and for all. This helps boost performance by denying access to bandwidth-hungry sites and makes it easier to identify uncharacteristic bandwidth use. Bandwidth usage and web filtering also protect your customers from security threats stemming from visits to potentially insecure gaming, dating, and social networking sites.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is bandwidth?

What is bandwidth?

Bandwidth is a term referring to the maximum amount of data that a wired or wireless network can transmit to another computer in a period of time. Bandwidth is a factor used to determine the speed and quality of a network’s internet connection and is measured in bits per second.

Bandwidth is often explained using the analogy of water flowing through a pipe. The wider the pipe (or the more bandwidth your internet connection has) the more water (or data) can flow through.

It’s important to note that increasing bandwidth will not actually make your internet connection faster, but because the “pipe” is wider, it will appear faster to everyone sharing the connection.

What is bandwidth monitoring?

What is bandwidth monitoring?

Bandwidth monitoring is the practice of measuring how much bandwidth is available on a local area network or WiFi network. MSPs also use bandwidth monitoring to identify bottlenecks (where the network cannot handle the volume of data) and troubleshoot bandwidth-related network connectivity issues.

For example, bandwidth bottlenecks can cause jitter, latency, and packet loss, which can negatively impact performance in many ways. If you are using streaming services on your network, low bandwidth can cause extensive buffering or reduced audio quality. Bandwidth monitoring helps MSPs find and resolve performance issues before they affect end users.

What is the difference between bandwidth and throughput?

What is the difference between bandwidth and throughput?

Bandwidth and throughput are closely related concepts, but they are two different processes with two different goals in measuring the speed of a network.

Bandwidth is a theoretical measure of how much data could pass through a network in any given time. Throughput, on the other hand, is a measure of how many data packets arrive at their destination successfully. Throughput can be measured in bits per second, like bandwidth, but can also be measured in packets per second. Throughput reflects end users’ experience while bandwidth reflects theoretical maximum performance.

Why is bandwidth monitoring important?

Why is bandwidth monitoring important?

Bandwidth monitoring is important because all deployment locations, from single residential to large-scale enterprise infrastructures, have bandwidth limitations. No matter how big the network is or how strong the internet connection is, there is only so much bandwidth for all users to share.

As such, bandwidth monitoring plays a critical role in helping ensure that all devices on the network are using just enough bandwidth to maintain smooth operations. Bandwidth monitoring includes routinely monitoring the network, identifying bottlenecks and bandwidth hogs, reallocating bandwidth, and more. Internet bandwidth monitoring software helps make this process easier and faster for MSPs to provide bandwidth monitoring services at scale.

How do you monitor bandwidth on a network?

How do you monitor bandwidth on a network?

There are many ways to measure and monitor network bandwidth, depending on your network organization and hardware.

For example, packet sniffers work by intercepting a small section of network traffic data as it passes through the network. They then log the data and analyze it to help you break down performance and gain a better understanding of how your network bandwidth is being used—and by whom.

You can also monitor bandwidth using flow data, SNMP, and other protocols. Regardless of how you choose to monitor bandwidth on your network, a WAN bandwidth monitoring tool will supplement that approach by offering more granular insights.

How can I optimize my network bandwidth?

How can I optimize my network bandwidth?

Aside from using a bandwidth monitoring tool, there are a few things you can do to get the most out of your available bandwidth:

  1. Use Quality of Service (QoS) settings to focus on business-critical operations.
  2. Use cloud-based solutions where possible to ease the burden on your local network.
  3. Use wired connection instead of wireless where possible.
  4. Scan for malware.
  5. Block non-essential traffic during business hours.
  6. Conduct backups, updates, and maintenance during off-peak hours.
  7. Use WAN optimization tools, caching, and other techniques to reduce the amount of traffic going across WAN connections.
  8. Set your router to automatically reboot when you’re not using it.

What can you do with bandwidth monitoring tools?

What can you do with bandwidth monitoring tools?

Using a bandwidth monitoring tool can help you provide better service to your customers in three key ways:

  1. Boost network performance: Bandwidth monitoring paints a clear picture of your customers’ network health and bandwidth so you can optimize for critical applications.
  2. Identify bandwidth needs: It’s best to calculate your customers’ bandwidth needs ahead of time to avoid major overhauls later. Bandwidth monitoring takes the guesswork out of this process and helps you proactively spot trends that may indicate a need for more bandwidth.
  3. Reduce costs: Knowing how much bandwidth your customers use, and maximizing this bandwidth with a monitoring tool, prevents you or your customers from spending money on extra bandwidth that’s not needed.

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Optimize performance with bandwidth monitoring

  • Out-of-the-box capabilities allow you to monitor devices and applications across your managed network
  • Drill down on performance issues
  • Use bandwidth monitoring to assist in cybersecurity