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Home > Reviews > The Top 10 Distributed Network Monitoring Tools
March 21, 2024
As organizations increasingly adopt cloud-based infrastructures, deploy IoT devices, and expand their networks across various geographical locations, the need for robust tools capable of monitoring distributed network environments becomes more pronounced.
In this article, we will discuss the features and functionality of such tools, aiming to equip network administrators and IT professionals with the knowledge necessary to navigate the complexities of distributed network monitoring with confidence.
We will provide insights into the tools and strategies essential for maintaining the health and efficiency of distributed infrastructures, from real-time monitoring to predictive analytics and automated remediation, delve into the diverse capabilities offered by modern monitoring solutions, discuss the benefits they may bring for your business, and guide you on how to choose the best tool for your needs.
With this, we hope to help you make informed decisions tailored to your specific network requirements, that will allow you to optimize the efficiency and reliability of your distributed infrastructure.
Distributed network monitoring tools – also often called decentralized network monitoring tools – offer the possibility to monitor decentralized IT infrastructures and their network performance. It is a strategy of gathering information from multiple monitoring points.
This allows problems in the network, devices, or applications to be identified even if they are not on the local network. This approach is used by many network monitoring solutions to address the increasing shift to distributed network infrastructures and cloud-based services.
When people talk about distributed monitoring, they usually first think of large companies with multiple locations whose respective IT infrastructures need to be monitored. MSPs are also increasingly using this method to monitor their customers’ IT networks and to comply with agreed SLAs. But more and more companies are also storing their data in the cloud and moving to a decentralized data infrastructure.
Unlike centralized infrastructures, which were mainly about the network performance of the head office data center and connected sites, this is no longer sufficient for today’s cloud-based services. Local internet gateways at each site, as well as a dedicated data center and cloud-based services, require a different approach to monitoring.
There are many reasons to invest in distributed monitoring tools. Here are five of them, in no particular order.
Broadly speaking, there are 5 main features you need to look out for when choosing distributed monitoring tools. Keep in mind that this may vary according to your specific needs.
There are many distributed network monitoring tools, from as many different vendors, which may focus solely on a single aspect of the task or offer this capability as a subset of a broader range of features. We present a few of them below, in no particular order.
Paessler’s PRTG Enterprise Monitor scales to large IT environments with thousands of devices and systems in multiple locations and provides an easy way to gain visibility and control over increasingly complex infrastructures.
The ITOps Board extends the PRTG installation with an additional service-oriented, central overview of multiple PRTG servers. This allows real-time dashboards to be created, providing a centralized overview of everything that matters.
For monitoring distributed locations, any number of so-called remote probes can be used with this solution at no additional cost. Alternatively, additional local probes can be installed and combined in the ITOps Board.
These options are perfect for companies with multiple branch offices as well as for IT service providers who want to remotely monitor customer networks without additional costs for distributed editions and thus guarantee significantly higher service levels. You can centrally monitor the entire corporate network as well as multiple customer networks, saving both administration effort and time.
Paessler has implemented the remote probe feature directly in PRTG Enterprise Monitor, enabling the monitoring of multiple networks with just one license. A special system architecture was developed for this effort-optimized and cost-optimized variant. The PRTG server is responsible for data storage, the web server, alerting, reporting, etc. The individual remote probes collect the relevant data and then send it in encrypted form to the PRTG server.
In this way, the monitoring of a worldwide IT enterprise structure is possible. The probes can either be installed in the same network as the PRTG server or in physically separate networks. The prerequisite is that they communicate with the PRTG server via the internet. This eliminates the need for time-consuming, multiple installations as well as the purchase of numerous individual licenses or expensive “distributed” editions.
PRTG Enterprise Monitor is available in a flexible subscription licensing plan which starts at $ 17,599 for 20,000 sensors for one year. The number of sensors can be adjusted annually as your project requires, and if you exceed the maximum number of sensors, you pay the yearly average of what you have been using above your sensor limit. Every license comes with all monitoring features and functionality, including maintenance.
ManageEngine OpManager is a comprehensive network monitoring software designed to monitor various components of your network infrastructure such as routers, switches, firewalls, servers, and VMs. It provides real-time monitoring, customizable dashboards, multi-level thresholds, and mobile application support, making it an accessible and efficient solution for network administrators.
It implements a sturdy Probe–Central architecture that makes it possible to scale as and when an enterprise grows and expands, without compromising reliability. The probes are set up at the remote network monitoring sites, and the central server is designed to provide the required network visibility across locations and to report network health and performance stats over multiple remote probes.
An intuitive central dashboard gives an overview of network health & performance data across the probes that helps to visualize performance hiccups across the complete IT infrastructure of a specific remote site. One nice feature for teams across multiple locations is that you can set a different language for specific probes and the monitoring central.
ManageEngine OpManager is SaaS (Software as a Service) available in three editions: Standard, Professional or Enterprise. However, only the Enterprise edition includes distributed monitoring by default. Prices start at US$ 11,545 for 250 devices. Be aware that many interesting features, such as network traffic analysis and firewall monitoring, are offered as add-ons, which can quickly drive up the price.
WhatsUp Gold simplifies network monitoring by providing comprehensive visibility into the status and performance of network devices, servers, and applications, whether on-premises or in the cloud.
The distributed monitoring feature extends the capabilities of WhatsUp Gold to multiple remote networks, enabling a central installation and one or more remote installations. Instances are identified as either a central site or a remote site in a distributed environment based solely on the license used during installation.
The central site coordinates data feeds from remote sites, and the network data collected from them can be viewed in WhatsUp Gold reports on the central site. Together, the central and remote installations provide high visibility to multiple networks from one location. It is not necessary to be running the same edition of the tool on the central and remote sites.
There is a specific Distributed Monitoring Edition of WhatsUp Gold, which includes all features of the Premium Edition and is licensed in a perpetual basis. However, features like Network Traffic Analysis, Application and Virtualization Monitoring and Log Management, to name a few, are add-ons charged separately. Price is only available by quote.
Icinga is an Open Source monitoring tool that was originally developed as a fork of Nagios. As such, it is compatible with Nagios Plugins available on the Nagios Exchange, but also has its own repository for plugins, add-ons, and modules called the Icinga Exchange.
This expandability makes Icinga scalable from “small start-ups to multi-tenant enterprise environments”, and gives it great versatility: it can monitor “networks, devices, databases, applications, cloud services, websites and much more”.
Distributed Monitoring with Icinga is based on Master, Satellites, and Agents, whereby a master node is at the top of the hierarchy. A satellite is either a child of a satellite or a master node and agents ensure the connection to the master and/or satellite nodes.
A client can be a secondary master, a satellite, or an agent. It typically requests something from the primary master or parent node. The installation on each system is the same: You need to install the Icinga 2 package and the required plugins.
The Icinga 2 hierarchy consists of so-called zone objects. Zones depend on a parent-child relationship in order to trust each other. There are certain limitations for child zones such as their members are not allowed to send configuration commands to the parent zone members. Vice versa, the trust hierarchy allows, for example, the master zone to send configuration files to the satellite zone.
Icinga is free to use, but support is available through subscriptions, available in three plans: Basic, Premium and Enterprise. Pricing is only available by quote.
Zabbix is a fully Open Source, comprehensive monitoring solution that offers features such as flexible metric collection, smart problem detection, powerful alerting capabilities, extensive data visualization, seamless deployment options, enterprise-grade security, and unlimited scalability, covering the entire IT infrastructure stack.
Distributed monitoring is implemented in Zabbix by using proxies, which are used to collect data locally on behalf of a centralized Zabbix server and then report the data to the server. Proxies can be used to monitor remote locations, or ones which have unreliable communications. They offload the Zabbix server when monitoring thousands of devices, and simplify the maintenance of distributed monitoring.
Proxies only require one TCP connection to the server, simplifying the configuration of firewall rules. Data collected is stored locally by the proxy before transmission to the server, avoiding data loss due to temporary communication problems with the server.
Since Zabbix is 100% Open Source, you can use every feature free of charge. Technical support, however, is only available to paying customers and is offered in five tiers, each one with its own coverage limits and SLAs. Prices are only available by quote.
Nagios is a popular, Linux-based Open Source network monitoring solution for monitoring business-critical IT infrastructure components. There are two ways to set up distributed monitoring with Nagios: using a dedicated product (Nagios Fusion) or by using federated monitoring of remote Nagios instances.
Conceptually, both approaches work similarly: Nagios Core or XI instances are configured to monitor portions of the network environment, reporting results to a central server which provides a central monitoring dashboard that allows your team to quickly see the status of everything from a single location.
Each approach has its pros and cons. Fusion is more expensive, requiring a separate license for the Fusion server, but offers streamlined setup and management, like automatic authentication to the distributed Nagios XI servers. Multiple users can be configured to access the Fusion interface, and each one can customize their views and dashboards.
Federated monitoring is cheaper (no extra license besides the one you already have for Nagios XI) and more flexible: Notifications, reports, and configuration are handled by each remote Nagios server. Onsite monitoring by each remote server also allows for more powerful, in-depth monitoring capabilities than other models.
Nagios Fusion licenses start at $2,995. Forum support is included, with optional email and phone support contracts available. Nagios IX is available in two commercial editions (Standard and Enterprise) that start at $2,495, going up with the number of nodes being monitored.
Auvik offers cloud-based network management software designed to provide true network visibility and control, enabling users to visualize and manage their infrastructure efficiently by mapping networks globally and generating detailed inventory lists in under an hour.
This tool automates repetitive admin tasks, with an extensive feature set covering network monitoring, IT asset management, easy monitoring and troubleshooting, centralized automation, and integrations and APIs for enhanced productivity. It can show what is on your network, how it is connected and extensive device data, including lifecycle data to pinpoint expired support contracts.
Auvik offers 50+ preconfigured alerts that are classified from informational to emergency, and you can define customized alerts and specify the interval in which you receive notifications. Unfortunately, Auvik offers no customizable dashboards, so visualization options are very limited.
There are two commercial editions of Auvik that you can choose from: Essentials, which includes all basic network monitoring functionalities, and Performance, which you need for traffic and log monitoring, and for unified troubleshooting dashboards. Pricing is quote-based. There is a 14-day free trial available.
With the remote work revolution, your workers home networks have suddenly become part of your corporate network. PingPlotter offers distributed network monitoring and troubleshooting solutions, aimed at helping businesses reduce internet downtime and diagnose connection issues of remote employees, showing you problems from their perspective.
The quality monitor dashboard summarizes every connection in one place, displaying quality metrics over time for each remote connection and allowing you to group, sort and filter connections by network quality. Custom quality definitions allow you to set your own quality benchmarks.
Read-only test results, like graphs, time periods, and network insights, can be shared with customers so they can see exactly what’s happening with their connection in real-time. A mass deployment feature allows you to install remote monitoring agents on “hundreds of computers in a few hours”, with support for Windows, Linux and macOS devices.
PingPlotter Cloud is subscription based, with prices varying with the number of monitored endpoints, starting at US$ 90 per month for 5 agents. Volume discounts are available, along a 7-day free trial, the shortest test period among the tools featured in this article.
Obkio offers a comprehensive network performance monitoring solution designed for SMBs and enterprises, with distributed agents to provide end-to-end visibility and troubleshoot network issues efficiently.
Its distributed architecture allows monitoring agents to be deployed seamlessly across various environments for comprehensive network monitoring, enabling users to pinpoint network issues accurately by monitoring user experience, services, and the network between them.
It caters to specific use cases across various network environments, including troubleshooting applications like VoIP and UC, monitoring complex network technologies like SD-WAN and MPLS, and ensuring seamless connectivity across WAN, LAN, and the internet. It allows for proactive performance management through continuous monitoring, anomaly detection, and performance reporting, and holistic network audits and performance evaluations, providing insights into trends, patterns, and compliance requirements.
Obkio is SaaS available in three plans (Basic, Premium and Enterprise), with prices starting at US$ 399 per month on the basic plan. There is also a free plan, which allows you to deploy only two agents and monitor one device for unlimited time, and a 14-day free trial of the enterprise edition.
Dynatrace offers a comprehensive infrastructure observability solution powered by AI, enabling organizations to monitor and analyze their complex cloud and hybrid environments efficiently.
Dynatrace’s AI-driven insights, particularly through its Davis AI, enable teams to focus on outcomes rather than false positives, boosting productivity by “up to 40%”. The platform saves time with automated context and causation, providing powerful analytics, root cause analysis, and contextualization of logs to traces.
Backed by its own AutomationEngine, it seamlessly integrates with automation platforms and incident remediation tools, enabling auto-remediation, automatic ticketing, and real-time CMDB updates. The platform also allows for customization and extension to fit unique environments using APIs, turnkey extensions from the Dynatrace Hub, and custom apps.
Pricing for Dynatrace is dependent on which features you need. Infrastructure Monitoring starts at US$ 0,04 per hour “for any size host”. However, keep in mind that features like Log Management & Analytics, Real User Monitoring, and Synthetic Monitoring are charged as extras.
Among all these distributed network monitoring tools, our favorite is Paessler PRTG, as it “ticks all the boxes” in our list of desired characteristics, and streamlines your workflow by enabling you to monitor all of your infrastructure with a single tool.
The built-in sensors cover many of the main use cases, without the need to purchase extras, so it can monitor your distributed infrastructure, but also your network, services, servers, IoT devices, cloud infrastructure, and much more. And it is extensible, which means you can deploy third-party sensors, or even develop your own, to cover specific needs.
That means you can do away with having to rely on a variety of individualized solutions, which can carry potential risks such as conflict with your current workflow and even network security issues.
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