Network monitoring refers to the ongoing tracking and analysis of a computer network’s availability, usage, health and performance metrics using specialized tools.

Importance for Managed IT Services:

– Helps quickly identify network issues before they cause outages
– Enables managing bandwidth usage and bottlenecks
– Provides visibility into client security status and threats
– Important deliverable included in most Managed IT contracts

Example:

A managed service provider employs automated network monitoring to have real-time insights into client infrastructure analytics like up/downtimes, capacity utilization, user-activities etc. This allows for preventative maintenance and timely issue resolution.

Common Network Monitoring Approaches:

– Using management dashboards that consolidate key network data
– Configuring automated alerts for critical events
– Tracking network statistics like latency, errors, throughput
– Log analysis of network device and server components
– Combining tools for holistic insights

Proactively monitoring network health is vital for industries like education, manufacturing etc where Internet connectivity is imperative for business continuity. This prevents problems from escalating and causing workflow disruptions.