Remote IT Monitoring and Management: How to Implement A Proactive Solution

‍The increasing adoption of remote work, cloud-based solutions and intelligent devices has created a new world of IT monitoring. In the past, monitoring was confined to local access points or management software that could only monitor on-premise servers.

Today’s remote IT monitoring solutions allow you to monitor almost any device from anywhere. In this article, we explore the pros and cons of various remote IT monitoring and management solutions. The article then details the benefits of each solution and provides recommendations for specific organizations based on their unique needs. Whether you’re just starting to explore your options or already have an idea in mind, this article can help guide you in the right direction.



Why Should You Invest in Remote IT Monitoring?

Remote IT monitoring is an effective way to better understand your IT environment and proactively identify potential issues before they impact users.

This can lead to:

- Better insights into your IT assets - Remote monitoring solutions allow you to see what’s running on your infrastructure and the status of each device.

This information can help you gain a better understanding of your IT assets and simplify the process of tracking IT expenses.

- Fewer on-site interruptions

- If organizations know about IT issues before users report them, they can proactively address the source of the issue and forgo the need for an on-site visit. Remote monitoring can help ensure that organizations are alerted when an issue arises without negatively impacting user experience.

- Reduced downtime - With remote monitoring, you can identify the source of issues before they impact your users. This can help reduce the amount of downtime and simplify the process of resolving issues.


Remote Monitoring Software

Remote monitoring software can be installed on individual devices, network equipment, or both. It is designed for monitoring devices in remote locations and is typically used for network, server and application monitoring. There are three primary ways that remote monitoring software collects data. - Device poll - The polling method is used to send a request to the server to determine if the specific device is online.

The polling interval is typically very short and is often used to monitor the availability of a device. - Device push - The push method sends data to the monitoring software on a scheduled or triggered basis. The most common uses of push data are events that require an immediate response such as a critical server failure. - Device pull - The pull method is used to manually collect data from a device. The most common use of the pull method is when data needs to be collected from a device that doesn't offer a push or poll method.


Virtual Network Monitoring

Virtual network monitoring solutions use a combination of network traffic analysis and packet sniffing. Network traffic analysis is a method for collecting and analyzing network traffic. It can be used to detect the numbers and types of network connections and activities occurring on the network. Virtual network monitoring allows you to collect network traffic from switches or other infrastructure residing in a remote location. The most common use of virtual network monitoring is collecting traffic from remote switches. This allows you to monitor network traffic and asset utilization across your whole network, including remote locations. Virtual network monitoring is often used in conjunction with remote network management to completely manage a network. This allows you to manage all network devices across your entire network, including remote locations.


Cloud-Based Infrastructure Monitoring

Cloud-based infrastructure monitoring solutions can be used to monitor on-premises or remote environments. They collect data using agents or software installed on or within the managed infrastructure. Data is then transmitted to a cloud-based central hub for analysis.

Cloud-based infrastructure monitoring solutions are typically used to monitor critical infrastructure such as load balancers, databases, web servers, and other applications running in a public cloud. A major advantage of cloud-based infrastructure monitoring is that you can use it to monitor public cloud environments where management tools are not available.


Consolidated Infrastructure Monitoring

A consolidated IT monitoring solution can help you collect data from multiple other monitoring solutions. This can be useful when you have multiple monitoring tools in place but need a single view to simplify management and reporting. Benefits of a consolidated monitoring solution include reduced costs, simplified management, and increased efficiency. A consolidated monitoring solution can be used to streamline data collection from other monitoring solutions. This can simplify management and improve the efficiency of your monitoring tools.


Conclusion

Remote monitoring and management tools can be a great addition to any IT department. With the right tools, you can proactively identify issues before they impact users. Remote monitoring can also simplify management across multiple tools and improve the accuracy of your data. When choosing a remote monitoring solution, it’s important to select one that fits your organization’s needs. This can help ensure that you receive the most value from the solution and don’t end up wasting time and money on something that doesn’t work for you.