Network Alerts – Get Configurations Change Notification

What are network alerts?

Network alerts are notifications about potentially problematic changes occurring within the network. These network monitoring alerts can be triggered by everything from health indicators exceeding set thresholds to unauthorized configuration changes for routers, switches, and other network devices.

Getting intelligent network notifications about configuration changes is important given the change is a regular and critical part of network management. A network’s configurations define its operation, flow, and control. Good, up-to-date configurations are essential to ensuring individual network components are functioning effectively. When intentional and authorized, configuration changes help you improve network reliability and performance. However, if an authorized configuration change fails or an unauthorized change occurs, not only can network performance decline, the network can also become vulnerable to cybersecurity risks.

Using network alert software can help reduce this risk by notifying when configuration changes occur, so you can ensure changes were authorized and successful.

How do network alerts work?

Network alerts can notify whenever an issue occurs within the network demanding your attention like configuration issues. If left unaddressed, failing or unauthorized configurations can put network performance or security at risk.

By using alert software to monitor the network for incidents and alert you when configuration changes occur, you can more easily ensure config changes re authorized and, if so, that they didn’t fail.

With a network alert system, you can even control what, when, how, and who receives the notifications. Instead of getting flooded with constant network notifications on unimportant matters, a network alert system lets you customize how and when someone is notified about prioritized issues potentially impacting security or functionality, so you don’t get non-critical notifications during off-work hours.

Not only do network alerts tell you when a configuration change occurs, they can also give you the critical information you need to quickly determine whether the change was authorized or not to determine if it was successful. If not, the network alert can also give you the information you need to get to the bottom of the configuration change quickly. This means faster troubleshooting and problem solving, which means less time the network may be at risk.

What types of network issues should send alerts?

You can set alerts for the specific most relevant to your network, including important network configuration changes.

There are three different types of configuration changes that should be monitored by network configuration alert software. These three types are:

1. Standard changes: Standard changes are the normally occurring configuration changes in a network. They’re usually recurring changes and, as such, involve comparatively little risk.
2. Normal changes: Unlike standard changes, which are recurring, normal changes are one-off changes. The difference between normal changes and emergency changes is normal changes are pre-planned. They carry more risk than standard changes and should be monitored closely even though they’re pre-planned.
3. Emergency changes: Also called urgent changes, emergency changes are changes needing to be performed right away without any time to plan them beforehand. These changes carry the highest level of risk.

If any of these configuration changes occur and trigger a present threshold, the network monitoring tool is designed to send a real-time network alert. This can allow you to determine whether there’s a reason for concern and, using the information contained in the alert, can help you resolve the problem quickly.

Why are network alerts important?

Network alerts are important because failed or unauthorized configuration changes can pose a serious risk for network performance and security.

Unauthorized changes to configurations can be a sign of a security threat. However, the failure could also be accidental but still endanger network performance and create a cybersecurity vulnerability. Whatever the cause, a reduction in network performance can hurt end-user experience, which can have serious repercussions.

The time it takes to identify the root cause of a problem is longer than the time it takes to fix the problem. With network alerts, users can more easily stay on top of configuration changes and get to the bottom of any suspicious or problematic changes by identifying the root cause and troubleshooting faster. 

What does a network alert tool do?

A network alert tool is typically part of a larger network monitoring and configuration management solution. This software is designed to monitor nodes on a network for everything from performance and health to availability and faults. It can also monitor configuration changes occurring within a network.

If the network monitoring tool detects a problem with a configuration change, it can send a network alert to the designated network administrator. However, network alerts are only as useful as the information they give you. It’s important for organizations of all sizes to invest in quality network monitoring, configuration management, and alerting tools.

How do network alerts work in Kiwi CatTools?

SolarWinds Kiwi CatTools offers affordable network configuration management designed specifically for business networks. Kiwi CatTools is built to detect and alert on network configuration changes, sending out email notifications to the designated network administrators.

The tool is designed to monitor the network to detect configuration changes. When it detects an issue, it creates an email alert it passes through to the mailer, which generates a message and sends the alert out. After the alert is generated, the tool continues to collect information about the event that triggered the alert. Once the admin receives the network alert, they’ll have access to uninterrupted data surrounding the event to help them get to the bottom of any potential issue.

Beyond offering network alerts, Kiwi CatTools provides network admins with the tools they need to effectively manage the configurations of their network devices, including switches, routers, and firewalls. The tool offers support for various devices including Nortel, Foundry, HP Juniper, 3Com, Dell, Enterasys, Extreme, and Cisco.