Network Bottleneck Detection and Monitoring

What is a network bandwidth bottleneck?

A network bandwidth bottleneck, also called a network bottleneck, is a condition that limits the data flow of your network. A network bandwidth bottleneck occurs when there aren’t enough resources to ensure prompt and reliable network data delivery.

Network bandwidth bottlenecks can lead to slow, unresponsive applications. As a result, they compromise network processes and could halt operations altogether. Loss in productivity, finances, and customer satisfaction are potential negative side effects. Many organizations use automated tools to detect, troubleshoot, and monitor bandwidth bottlenecks.

How can I identify a bandwidth bottleneck?

The easiest way to identify a bandwidth bottleneck is by using a solution like SolarWinds® Hybrid Cloud Observability. Hybrid Cloud Observability has integrated capabilities enabling you to enact bandwidth monitoring and overall network analysis, which can help you spot slowdowns within your network and begin troubleshooting.

Hybrid Cloud Observability bandwidth analysis capabilities isolate and analyze bandwidth allocation within a network and identify top talkers by tracking which endpoints and applications consume the most bandwidth. Hybrid Cloud Observability has built-in, actionable insights that can enable you to identify malicious, malformed, or otherwise irregular network traffic to spot potential slowdowns.

Hybrid Cloud Observability is also made to help end users better pinpoint the root causes of network bandwidth bottlenecks. You can drill down into the details of unexplained traffic patterns and leverage cross-stack network data correlation using an intuitive point-and-click interface. This makes it even easier to dive deep into suspicious traffic issues, understand the root source, and work towards finding network bottleneck solutions.

How can I set alerts to identify consumers of bandwidth?

Hybrid Cloud Observability supports customizable and out-of-the-box network bandwidth alarms, which can be configured to deliver alerts to your email. This can enable you to proactively address the problems associated with high bandwidth utilization and any slowdowns that may arise.

Set alerts to identify bandwidth consumers and top talkers, go to the Alerts section in Alerts and Activity and click Manage Alerts. Then, in the Group by Field, select the Trigger Actions Type and select Email a Webpage.

Select the High Receive Percent Utilization with Top Talkers alert, and then click Duplicate & Edit. Under Enabled, turn the alert On and choose how often to evaluate or check the Trigger Condition. On Trigger Condition, change the utilization percent to your desired percent utilization—note that the default utilization threshold is 75% when first enabling bandwidth alarms.

Finally, complete the Trigger Actions and Reset Actions panel as necessary. Then review the Summary and click Submit. Now you have set an alert designed to identify bandwidth consumers within your network.

How can I plan bandwidth capacity to avoid a bottleneck?

You can plan bandwidth capacity to avoid a bottleneck using Hybrid Cloud Observability, to comprehensively analyze and organize traffic patterns. By converting flow data into visualizations like charts and tables, Hybrid Cloud Observability enables you to understand exactly how your network bandwidth is being used, by whom, and for what purpose.

Hybrid Cloud Observability bandwidth analysis capabilities let you monitor bandwidth utilization by application and IP groups and leverage specific threshold alerts for each app and group. Users can also analyze bandwidth by different increments of time—minutes, days, and months—by drilling down into specific network elements. This can help determine whether the network requires additional bandwidth to prevent, avoid, and solve bandwidth bottlenecks.

You can also create detailed network traffic and bandwidth reports. These reports can enable you to specify the root sources of bandwidth bottlenecks and further understand patterns within your network. Hybrid Cloud Observability reports can be predefined or customized depending on your specific bandwidth requirements.

What other network analysis features does SolarWinds offer?

Hybrid Cloud Observability has a traffic analysis dashboard that displays network traffic data on a single pane of glass. This can help you gain a comprehensive and customizable view of all network traffic data, along with critical bandwidth information.

In addition, Hybrid Cloud Observability integrates well with all kinds of systems and programs, allowing end users to leverage in-depth network analysis monitoring of all network elements. As a result, you can leverage multiple views to investigate abnormal traffic and activity across your network.

You can also set automated alarms, which are designed to trigger based on changes in app traffic or if a device ceases to send any flow data.

Hybrid Cloud Observability offers flow-based reporting, which can leverage insights far beyond bandwidth monitoring. You can create these in-depth network traffic reports in a few clicks and schedule them for automatic delivery. By allowing users to leverage simple yet comprehensive network analysis, Hybrid Cloud Observability can help proactively detect and solve network issues like bandwidth bottlenecks.