In this section of the course,
we're going to discuss network monitoring.
Now, network monitoring involves various tools
and technologies that are employed to continually observe
and analyze the performance of a computer network
in real-time.
Network monitoring is used to ensure
that the network's operational integrity
and optimal performance can detect
and report on issues such as traffic bottlenecks,
network outages, unauthorized access attempts,
and other inefficiencies or security breaches.
By using a combination of software
and hardware solutions,
network administrators are able to track metrics
like bandwidth utilization, uptime,
availability of network devices, and network services.
With effective network monitoring,
we can also preemptively identify potential problems
and help maintain the reliability, stability,
and security of our network architecture
so that we can minimize our network's downtime
and improve our overall user experience.
Now, in this section, we're going to be focused on Domain 1,
Networking Concepts, and Domain 3, Network Operations.
Objective 1.2 states that you must be able to compare
and contrast networking, appliances,
applications, and functions.
Objective 3.2 states that given a scenario,
you must be able to use network monitoring technologies.
First, we're going to look at intrusion detection systems
and intrusion prevention systems.
Intrusion Detection Systems are security technologies
that monitor network traffic for suspicious activities
and potential threats that can then issue alerts
when those activities are detected.
Now, an Intrusion and Prevention System, on the other hand,
is a security mechanism
that not only detects the potential threats,
but also can take automated actions
to prevent or mitigate such threats from occurring.
Then we're going to discuss
the Simple Network Management Protocol.
The Simple Network Management Protocol,
or SNMP, is a set of protocols for managing complex networks
by monitoring nodes for conditions
that warrant administrative action.
Next, you're going to learn about network sensors.
Network sensors are devices or software
that collect data about traffic on a network,
and they're used for monitoring and analysis purposes.
After that, we're going to explore packet captures.
Now, packet captures are recordings of all
or specific segments of your network traffic
that you can then analyze
and diagnose for security problems and other reasons.
Then we'll be covering network flow data.
Now, network flow data refers to
the information collected about traffic flowing
through a network device by capturing the source,
the destination, the volume, and the path of that traffic.
Next, we'll look at log aggregation.
Log aggregation refers to the process of collecting,
centralizing, and organizing your log data
from various systems within a network
so you can analyze and monitor that data.
After that, we'll explore a technology known as a SIEM,
or the Security Information and Event Management system.
The Security Information and Event Management system
is considered to be a comprehensive solution
that aggregates, correlates,
and analyzes your security-related data
from across your network and its devices
to identify and report on security incidents and threats.
Then we'll discuss some different
network performance metrics that we can use
in our real world.
Network performance metrics are these quantitative measures
that are used to evaluate the level of service
provided by the network.
Next, we'll explore interface statistics.
Interface statistics are the detailed metrics
related to the performance and usage of network interfaces
such as error rates, utilization percentages,
and traffic volumes.
Finally, we're going to take a short quiz
to see what you learned during this section of the course,
and review your answers to ensure you know
why the right answers were right
and the wrong answers were wrong.
So if you're ready, let's get started with our coverage
of network monitoring in this section of the course.