Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

Bottlenecks and performance issues are the bane of network engineers everywhere. They can be hard to nail down, have a variety of different potential root causes, and give people an excuse to “blame the network”. Understanding network backplanes, backplane throughput, and concepts like blocking vs non-blocking switches, can help you better understand network design and troubleshoot bottlenecks when they come up.

The technology industry is predicted to reach a $5 trillion valuation in 2021, an additional 4% growth over 2020. This steady growth of the industry has, unsurprisingly, led to an increase in the number of jobs in networking and IT. As the last year has shown, when an enterprise is forced to switch work models to a remote or distributed approach, they need network specialists to set up and maintain the necessary infrastructure.

If you’re an Auvik user, you’ve likely come to realize our software can provide value to your business in more ways than one. From automating tedious and repetitive tasks like documentation and config backup, to cutting down on troubleshooting time, Auvik’s cloud-based network monitoring and management system gives you true network visibility and control.

We’re excited to announce the launch of the all-new idea portal. A place where great ideas can grow, build support, and help shape the future of Auvik. The idea portal allows us to collect your suggestions while keeping you informed of what we’re working on, and what we’re planning to implement next. We can’t wait for your input! Simply put, the Auvik idea portal is your chance to share ideas with the Auvik product team, request new features, and vote on the ideas you really like.

A thorough understanding of 802.1X and its role in our everyday network communications is a critical building block in your knowledge set for managing your network effectively. Let’s talk about some advantages and issues surrounding 802.1X, as well as a bit of history on how the protocol got to where it is today.

Experts predict that by 2025 we’ll have more than 75 billion connected devices, a number almost triple that recorded in 2019. With networks becoming far more dynamic and complex than ever before, the ability to find IP addresses on the network is essential. As well, people are connecting to company networks with an ever-increasing number of devices, leading to increased risk not only in security but also in maintenance and management.

IP address conflicts are an example of textbook “network problems”. There are multiple causes for IP conflicts, and, to make things even more fun, the behavior of devices experiencing an IP conflict can vary. Let’s explore IP conflicts in depth to help better understand what they are, why they occur, and how to fix IP address conflicts. An IP address conflict is a common network issue that occurs when two or more devices on the same network have the same IP.

Installing a firewall onto your network is “good network firewall security”, right? Let’s be clear, it’s not – it’s the start to good security. While installing a firewall is an important component of security in a network firewall security posture, there’s much more to the process than just dropping in a piece of hardware, or enabling some new software.

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) is the protocol that bridges Layer 2 and Layer 3 of the OSI model, which in the typical TCP/IP stack is effectively gluing together the Ethernet and Internet Protocol layers. This critical function allows for the discovery of a devices’ MAC (media access control) address based on its known IP address. By extension, an ARP table is simply the method for storing the information discovered through ARP.

When you’re in the networking technology field, you’re going to find that there are many different types of “monitors” (like router monitoring) that you need to stay on top of, from throughput to application performance and device health. And as you become more knowledgeable, you’re going to start to understand these diverse types of traffic and equipment. It’ll become more important to you to be able to understand concepts like where traffic is flowing.