In order to keep the network operational and manage it so that business continuity is maintained, network administrators must constantly overcome a variety of problems. In order to meet future expectations, businesses are concentrating on network growth, with a trend towards utilising IoT to boost agility and flexibility. To maximise network performance and reliably serve hundreds of mission-critical devices, large networks must employ a clever strategy. These factors frequently intersect with other difficulties including the price of IT operations. Organizations must recognise and solve the issues that have the biggest negative effects on productivity and growth.
Bottlenecks and latency
Modernization of networks and the transformation of data centres have been fueled by the advent of virtualization. The majority of IT processes may now be carried out on the cloud, allowing businesses to consolidate operations and promote collaboration through unified communication.
To enable the successful proliferation of media files, enormous volumes of data generated by IoT devices, and huge programs, this integrated system needs optimised network bandwidth. In the absence of this, networks may experience latency problems that slow down applications and data transfers. Similar to how slow switch ports can generate traffic congestion for the server, bad network architecture can also cause data bottlenecks.
Eliminating latency and bottlenecks requires prioritising bandwidth usage and taking a careful, proactive approach to underperforming devices and network traffic.
Removing unused protocols like IPV6, IPX Network Client, NetBios, LLMNR, and PGM may also be beneficial. The unneeded bandwidth usage of these dormant protocols can frequently cause network congestion and subpar network performance.
QoS policy can be executed from the server on routers and switches that make use of COPS, the common open-policy service. By giving priority to certain data packets according to pre-established rules and conditions, enabling QoS over routers can improve data streaming. Once you’ve established your priorities, you can sort the traffic according to various services, such as programs, web browsing, interfaces, and hardware with IP and MAC addresses. This will make it possible for network administrators to allocate bandwidth to the most important applications.
Security
Cyber attacks are the main danger to any enterprise’s data. The largest threat to your data and systems, according to Cortney Thompson, CTO of Green House Data, is internal attacks. Numerous attacks go undiscovered and unreported, resulting in financial losses ranging from thousands to millions of dollars. Forbes estimates that by 2019, the cost of cybercrime will have risen to $2 trillion. According to Kaspersky, major firms could lose up to 1.2 million dollars as a result of a cyberattack.
BYOD devices, including laptops and USB drives, wireless access points, and emails are typically the most vulnerable locations in a network. Shadow IT can take advantage of BYOD device vulnerabilities to access the most important and privileged systems using DoS attacks, email worms, rootkits, session hacking, root access, spear phishing, and SQL injection.
Hire a group of cyber security professionals to develop the correct security policies and assume responsibility for security patches, updates, and monitoring in order to address these security flaws. Look for knowledge of proactive log and event monitoring across apps and devices, as well as network support baseline assessment. The team must also ensure that peers and coworkers are informed on how to spot phishing scams and emails with dubious attachments and how to prevent them. Although this is unquestionably an essential expenditure, it’s crucial to take into account the greater costs associated with operating an internal security staff as opposed to outsourcing to a security firm.
Downtime Control
According to a recent Avaya survey, network interruptions can cost a business an average of £54,750 annually. Network outages frequently have negative effects on supply chains, productivity, and the continuity of ongoing projects. Typically, human error, incorrect configuration, routing issues, a failure to upgrade, and power outages cause businesses to face network downtime.
You must employ a two-pronged strategy to lessen the effects of network interruptions. The first phase is continuous network monitoring that not only keeps an eye out for failures that are already occurring but also proactively identifies particular devices or nodes that are likely to break soon. In order to avoid network outages and expensive breaches, it is also necessary to automate notifications regarding high CPU and bandwidth usage as well as malicious behaviour throughout the network. Similar to the security team, it might be wise to outsource these duties to reduce costs and save time.
Problem Solving
A centralised management system is necessary to efficiently monitor each node and interface when businesses operate globally and access data and apps through the cloud. In order to minimise disruptions, it’s crucial to have the ability to remotely resolve issues as soon as they arise.
The difficulty lies in deciding which solutions will be most effective at addressing bandwidth optimisation and security issues while still generating a positive return on investment. Some of the main barriers to network modernisation, which is required to support today’s expanding IoT needs, include limited finances, knowledge, and resources. Companies now have to adopt new networking trends, such as a highly optimised network to maintain a seamless flow of information, due to the high expenses of managing outdated network equipment.
