08
Fall
SOLARWINDS: NETWORK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

VALENTINO ALAN LLEREZA

De Vry UNIVERSITY

In today’s world, the growth of computer technology has impacted and enhanced the way we communicate with each other and even the way we live. Many companies use this technology to create some type of computer network to be able to get information to and from each other during an ordinary day. As the computer network grows, the requirement for a network administrator increased. The network administrator is tasked with the management and responsibility of keeping the network healthy, at all times. This is accomplished through managing the activities, methods, procedures, and tools that pertain to the operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning of networked systems(Clemm, 2007). To assist the network administrator, the use of network management system such as the Solarwinds Network Management System helps reduce operational cost while offering a secure and stable network that is crucial to all businesses.

It does matter whether you’re a huge corporation or a small business, many computer network issues are unavoidable. The use of Solarwinds Network Management System presents various applications to maintain the simplicity of network management and is the complete package. The management software makes it easy to discover and map network devices, monitor network performance, analyze network traffic, manage and back up network configurations, track IP addresses, find rogue devices, and many other network concerns.

One of the applications that I found is a must need in any computer network is the Solar Winds Network Performance Monitor. This is a powerful network fault and availability management tool that makes it easy to detect, diagnose, and resolve network performance issues. It uses a graphical user interface that provides real-time views and dashboards to visually track and monitor network performance at a glance. It monitors network devices and interface availability and performance indicators, such as bandwidth utilization, packet loss, latency, errors, discards, CPU, and memory for SNMP and WMI-enabled devices. It also generates reports and alerts so that you can focus on the main issues on your network. This can be visualized in the current top10 dashboard tab and each node can be drilled down for a node detail summary page to be edited and managed (Network Performance Monitor | NPM | SolarWinds. (n.d.)). Below are screenshots from http://www.solarwinds.com/network-management-software.aspx

As you can see from the screenshots, Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor is virtual easy to understand with the different types of graphs and charts it offers but it does come with a starting price tag of $2675. The cost of any network management system can be costly, but just consider the valuable investment, the reduction in administrative cost, and a stable and secure network.

Works Cited
Clemm, A. (2007). Network Management Fundamentals. Cisco Press.

Network Performance Monitor | NPM | SolarWinds. (n.d.). SolarWinds: IT Management & Monitoring Software | Free Tools & Trials. Retrieved January 15, 2013, from http://www.solarwinds.com/network-performance-monitor.aspx