What is Remote Network Monitoring? (RMON)
Remote network monitoring plays a critical role in ensuring stable, secure, and performant IT network operation for your business. As IT networks become the mainstay of business operations, it is hard to imagine running without them. They are all the more crucial to keep organizations up and running in the era of remote work. When you have employees working on different devices and from diverse locations, it becomes essential to address performance issues as they arise. It is vital to understand the concept of remote network monitoring (RMON) in this context. Let us explain it in detail.
All About Remote Network Monitoring (RMON)
Remote network monitoring is a network management protocol that manages the monitoring of traffic on a remote Ethernet segment. It detects issues such as traffic congestion, collisions, and dropped packets. RMON enables network administrators to remotely track, monitor, and analyze data collected from local area networks.
They can collect data from LANs without even reaching the site physically and setting up equipment there. Additionally, they can set performance thresholds to provide alerts on their breach, enabling proactive network management.
RMON is an extension of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and includes nine groups of monitoring elements to capture detailed information. The data relates to the physical layer and the data-link layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model.
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Types of Remote Network Monitoring (RMON)
Remote network monitoring is of two types, namely RMON1 and RMON 2.
RMON1 covers a hierarchical database that defines the information an RMON console can seek from an agent using SNMP. The database includes physical layers such as statistics, history, alarm, hosts, matrix, filter, events, token ring, and packet capture.
RMON 2 refers to an extension of RMON1 with nine more groups of data pertaining to the network layer and application layer. It offers insights into the traffic statistics of RMON1 by indicating the protocol and applications composing that traffic.
A reliable Outsourced IT support provider will use both RMON1 and RMON2 capabilities for complete remote network monitoring. Both are mutually inclusive, and one cannot work without the other.
Working on Remote Network Monitoring (RMON)
RMON works through agents or probes, which are the hardware components and software embedded into a network device. The RMON probe is typically put on a single device or interface.
The probe software runs on the port of the device and gathers statistics and information on traffic activity and network protocols. This information is then relayed to an RMON console for further analysis and reporting.
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Network admins can monitor networks, capture historic performance, save logs, and get notifications when an issue arises. The best part is that they can do it remotely, and the activity does not interfere with normal operations.
With remote work becoming a norm, it becomes essential for businesses to invest in RMON capabilities. The best approach for small and mid-sized companies is to have an outsourced team doing it for them.
These professionals can monitor networks remotely to detect and repair performance issues and problems, even without being at present the source physically. By choosing this model, you can save a ton spent on an in-house networking team.
