Network monitoring is a tool that can be used to monitor and measure the performance of your network. In general, network monitoring tools are used by companies that always rely on networks for the smooth running of their business. Network monitoring is divided into two methods, namely active and passive monitoring. What is the difference between active network monitoring and passive network monitoring? Which of the two should you use? Let’s see the explanation of both below.
Active monitoring
Active monitoring, also known as synthetic monitoring, works by pushing traffic tests into the environment and then measuring how that traffic passes through the network. According to Daniel Hein, active network monitoring simulates user behavior to determine the potential performance of the network. Active performance monitors do not examine actual users and data, but instead mimic how real users behave on the network. This competition occurs in real-time at set intervals, meaning your monitor will always analyze simulated performance data.
Daniel also argues that active monitoring takes a proactive approach to network troubleshooting by highlighting potential problem areas before they affect end-users. Most active monitoring can be configured to allow you to target specific areas of the network to monitor. So you can stop the bottleneck before it affects end users that occurs due to new connections that affect network performance.
The advantage of using active monitoring is its ability to maintain complete visibility into your network. In another article written by Jacques, active monitoring is more resource-intensive than passive monitoring, but produces specific daily statistics about certain network functions, and puts the network environment into a larger context. However, active monitoring does not always provide 100% accurate network performance because its monitoring is based on predictive data.
Passive monitoring
Passive monitoring analyzes existing traffic over a period of time and reports the results. Daniel argues that passive monitoring does not inject test data into the network to mimic user behavior like active monitoring. Instead, it pulls real user data from specific points on the network. Not only that, passive monitoring can generate and collect large amounts of performance data because unlike active monitoring. Passive monitoring collects actual user data that will then notify or alert you of problems that need to be addressed immediately.
Jacques in his article, passive monitoring is less demanding on network resources, and is useful for making long-term measurements of the network in general. It is very useful as a tool to collect historical network data and make predictive analysis easier. Just like Netmonk, an Indonesian network monitoring application provider that is included in passive monitoring.
Conclusion
Active monitoring and passive monitoring certainly have their own advantages and disadvantages as mentioned above. So which one should you use? The answer is quite simple. Some Network performance monitoring only provides active or passive monitoring. However, don’t let that be your limitation because it is okay if you use monitoring with a combination of both. This is the best way to monitor and modify the network you have.
References:
https://www.irisns.com/active-vs-passive-network-monitoring-an-infographic/
