As organizations continue to grow, the number of devices and technologies within their IT environments continues to grow as well. These systems also need continuous monitoring to ensure they are up-to-date. Ensuring that these devices and technologies are attended to on a regular basis is a paramount task required in IT environment management.
This is where infrastructure monitoring comes in. This article dives deep into infrastructure monitoring and its essence in maintaining IT infrastructure to ensure optimal performance and prevent downtime and disruptions.
What is infrastructure monitoring?
Infrastructure monitoring refers to tasks and processes that involve analyzing IT infrastructure data to assess the performance of an organization’s IT system. The process monitors several elements running in the background that people and organizations rely on, which could easily cause disruption if not properly maintained, managed, or optimized. The data, collected through infrastructure monitoring software, allows IT organizations to easily view and identify potential problem areas so that systems and applications can remain in full service.
Infrastructure monitoring is a significant part of IT infrastructure management, especially in today’s computing landscape. It defies everything that may cause negative effects on an IT environment. If infrastructure monitoring is ongoing, factors such as device health decline, CPU performance bottlenecks, network congestion, and application failures can be addressed immediately. Some instances that may be irreversible, like data loss, backup and restore failure, malware attacks, and more, can also be prevented if robust infrastructure monitoring is employed.
Components monitored in infrastructure monitoring
Infrastructure monitoring involves elements in an IT system an organization needs to manage and maintain for optimal performance. We’ll explore the most essential data sources for infrastructure monitoring later. Meanwhile, here are the most common components monitored in infrastructure monitoring:
- Hardware. This includes tangible elements in an IT infrastructure such as servers, workstations, storage devices, network devices, and more.
- Software. This component includes operating systems, applications, and databases.
- Network. Statistic data such as bandwidth usage, latency records, packet loss, network traffic, and more are monitored.
- Virtualizations. These are virtual machines, containers, and hypervisors.
- Cloud system. Cloud services (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), resource utilization, cloud storage, and everything involved in cloud computing that’s integrated within the IT infrastructure.
- Databases. This component involves query performance, database size, and backup status.
- Applications. Infrastructure monitoring also overlooks applications and their response time, error rates, resource utilization, and any statistics that dictate an application’s performance and efficiency.
- Security. Monitoring this component involves malware scanning, anomaly detection, vulnerability assessment, etc.
- Performance. These data show CPU usage, memory utilization, disk I/O, network traffic, and more.
- Log data. System, application, and security logs are also being monitored for optimal performance of the IT infrastructure.
How does IT infrastructure monitoring work?
IT infrastructure monitoring is accomplished through specialized software tools that collect and analyze the data on an IT infrastructure’s various components. Here is the breakdown of the processes involved in infrastructure monitoring:
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Data collection
This process pertains to deploying software agents to devices and collecting data from these systems using APIs. Meanwhile, SNMP, or Simple Network Management Protocol, is used to collect network data. System logs are also analyzed as part of the data collection process.
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Data processing
The next step involves aggregating all the data collected from multiple sources. These data are standardized for consistent analysis and then filtered based on criteria for data analysis. Relationships between different data points are also identified for correlations.
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Data analysis
There are several procedures involved in data analysis, including calculating and examining metrics or Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Then, data trends are analyzed to check for anomalies or deviations from a system’s normal behavior by referring to established baselines.
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Alerting and notification
When thresholds are determined for critical data, IT teams handling the infrastructure monitoring will be notified through alerting if these thresholds are exceeded (or fall below.)
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Visualization
Visualization is a crucial aspect of data analysis that involves representing data clearly and understandably. Dashboards provide a comprehensive overview of data and trends, while charts and graphs offer more detailed visualizations of specific data points. Reports summarize key findings and insights derived from the data.
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Remediation
The steps mentioned above should be sufficient to identify and diagnose potential issues within the IT infrastructure. This allows IT teams that handle infrastructure monitoring to identify the root cause of emerging issues within the IT infrastructure. Based on the results, IT teams will decide if they will initiate a resolution, take any actions as preventive measures only, or both to whichever systems the resolutions or preventive measures apply.
2 types of infrastructure monitoring
At its most basic level, infrastructure monitoring is completed through two different methods: agentless and agent-based.
1) Agentless
Agentless solutions don’t require an agent to be installed on devices in your IT environment. Monitoring is performed remotely with the agent placed on a server or probe, so data is collected quickly and easily. An agentless monitoring solution monitors SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) devices from the probe or server by reaching out to the SNMP devices and monitoring over the network.
2) Agent-based
With agent-based infrastructure monitoring, agents are installed on devices in your IT infrastructure. These devices typically consist of Windows, Mac, Linux, Hyper V, or VMWare operating systems. Doing this allows each device to be effectively monitored, and data points are easily gathered from the installed agents.
Important data sources for infrastructure monitoring
Since infrastructure monitoring entails collecting data on and monitoring important aspects of your IT environment, it’s important to know what components this data should be collected from. A few critical data sources for infrastructure monitoring include:
Hardware
Hardware, or endpoints, is the tangible part of an IT infrastructure. It includes physical devices such as computers, disk drives, phones, and tablets. Endpoint monitoring ensures that your devices perform optimally and provides support for key IT functions.
Network
The network has various components to monitor, such as the router, hub, and modem. Observing these important parts enables you to proactively resolve issues within the network that arise. By monitoring the network and quickly solving problems that are detected, you allow your devices to seamlessly connect with each other in your IT environment.
Server
Server monitoring involves tracking and collecting data about your server’s health and performance. This data may include system metrics on CPU and RAM usage, as well as overall disk space. Monitoring your server helps ensure that it is properly functioning.
Application
Applications consist of software configured to perform particular IT functions. Application monitoring provides valuable data for making changes that will reduce downtime, increase productivity, and improve end-user experience.
What are some use cases for infrastructure monitoring?
Infrastructure monitoring has several use cases for its beneficial role in IT infrastructure management. Here are some of its applications:
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Proactive problem management
Infrastructure monitoring fosters a proactive approach to resolving issues within the IT environment. Early detection of potential issues helps prevent mishaps before they escalate and cause major system disruptions. Infrastructure monitoring also enables IT teams to initiate a root cause analysis to mitigate potential issues that can affect the whole system.
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Performance optimization
Guaranteeing optimal performance for all components of an IT infrastructure can only be enforced by several procedures. This includes the identification of performance bottlenecks, ironing out resource allocation strategies, and resource capacity planning based on historical data.
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Cost reduction
Organizations can significantly reduce costs and increase operational efficiency by identifying opportunities to improve energy efficiency, optimizing hardware usage, and effectively managing cloud resources by identifying opportunities to improve energy efficiency.
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Compliance and risk management
Infrastructure monitoring allows IT teams to enforce compliance and risk management. This is done by consistent compliance audits brought about by robust infrastructure monitoring. On the other hand, risk assessment can identify potential vulnerabilities, while incident responses can facilitate rapid response to security incidents.
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Service Level Agreement (SLA) enforcement
Enforcing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) can contribute to overall infrastructure performance through continuous tracking against predefined SLAs. This allows IT teams and organizations to determine potential issues that may impact service delivery to clients.
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Business continuity planning
An IT infrastructure’s health is vital to business continuity. From disaster recovery that can help identify potential risks to appropriate resolutions to verification of backups to ensure they are working properly. Failover testing is also a part of business continuity planning under infrastructure monitoring.
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Operational efficiency
Infrastructure monitoring empowers organizations to optimize operational efficiency. Routine tasks can be streamlined through automation, reducing manual intervention and errors. Furthermore, teams can identify bottlenecks and optimize workflows by analyzing data-driven insights.
Infrastructure monitoring best practices
Use a designated infrastructure monitoring tool
Infrastructure monitoring is best carried out using a tool or software specifically designed for that purpose. The infrastructure monitoring tool will have the best options and settings as you gather relevant data. It also consolidates and analyzes the collected data so you can easily view and determine any changes that need to be made.
Consistently review collected metrics
Data from infrastructure monitoring is the most beneficial when it is viewed regularly. If you are keeping tabs on small changes that may occur in your IT environment, then when issues pop up, it will come as less of a surprise. It empowers you to be prepared and to take action when necessary.
Set and prioritize notifications
Make good use of the alert capabilities in infrastructure monitoring software to minimize risks within your IT infrastructure. Create expected ranges for your metrics, then set notifications for if/when a particular component is outside of an expected range. This leads to checking the specific component and determining what possibly caused the change. If possible, prioritize notifications in order of importance in case two notifications occur simultaneously.
Create a response strategy for when risks are identified
When a metric falls outside an expected range and a risk has been identified, don’t overreact. Make a general plan for responding when any risk is recognized. Then, decide what actions to take for particular areas of your IT environment. An identified risk on a server requires a different sort of response than malfunctioning hardware, for example.
Benefits of infrastructure monitoring
Streamlined operations
Some solutions consolidate infrastructure monitoring tools in a centralized platform. This provides unparalleled benefits to organizations and their IT infrastructure management teams by streamlining their workflow and ensuring undisrupted operations. All these factors can contribute positively to business continuity.
Real-time alerts
Instead of manually discovering an issue later, infrastructure monitoring solutions can notify you as soon as a metric falls out of the expected range, thus providing you with real-time information. Notifying IT teams of unexpected metric deviations from the standardized threshold can help them take the appropriate steps to mitigate the situation.
Comprehensive visibility
IT management is only effective if you employ infrastructure monitoring. It also helps to utilize a solution that gives you a comprehensive overview of your IT endpoints. Complete visibility is one of the crucial advantages infrastructure monitoring can provide an organization, ensuring no potential problems go unnoticed.
Early discovery of issues
Infrastructure monitoring continuously tracks a variety of data sources in your IT environment. View the data to see when changes first occur to quickly get to the root cause of problems. Nothing beats preventing potential issues when it comes to managing an IT environment. It’s always better to stop these issues from causing destructive effects.
Extensive reporting
IT teams and organizations rely on analyses to identify if problems within their IT infrastructure are potentially emerging. An infrastructure monitoring aided by robust tools to perform underlying tasks can provide a comprehensive report of an IT environment and its components’ status. This allows people who handle IT management to see the current state of the IT environment and see if any threats may arise, giving them time to plan their following actions to alleviate the situation.
Better infrastructure performance
Collecting data on the health and performance of the infrastructure gives you specific information on what areas can improve, so you know what actions to take to improve overall performance. You can also view historical data on your system and perform a comprehensive performance analysis to give you detailed information on past performance.
Endpoint security
An organization can depend on the advantages of a well-monitored infrastructure. One benefit of efficient infrastructure monitoring is its ability to provide endpoint security with the help of efficient tools. You might not know the underlying cyber threats causing issues on your IT infrastructure. Robust infrastructure monitoring can help identify and stop potential threats from causing severe problems in your IT environment.
Increased reliability
Infrastructure monitoring provides the information needed to ensure it continues to run smoothly. This helps organizations and IT teams know how to continually improve the IT infrastructure and increase overall reliability. Not only that, a reliable IT infrastructure also brings relief to its users, knowing that the system is always dependable and accessible.
Automated tools
Using automated tools is like having a team work 24/7 to recognize risks in your IT system. This helps eliminate human error and allows IT teams and organizations depend on automated technology to ensure your IT infrastructure works optimally.
What to look for in an infrastructure monitoring solution
With so many infrastructure monitoring solutions available, knowing what to look for in a solution and what will work for you can be difficult. Infrastructure monitoring should be easy and intuitive to use, so you spend less time figuring out how to use it and more time monitoring the data sources.
It should also monitor critical components of your IT infrastructure, provide the ability to set alerts and notifications, and use automation. An essential aspect of a dependable solution is its ability to aggregate and analyze the data so you can quickly glance at it and know what needs to be fixed or resolved.
Monitor your IT Infrastructure with NinjaOne
Infrastructure monitoring is a crucial tool for maintaining functional IT environments. Without it, many metric changes go undetected and can lead to bigger issues, which affect both end users and the infrastructure as a whole. Infrastructure monitoring software gives you the tools you need to monitor and maintain your IT environment’s components.
NinjaOne provides various infrastructure monitoring tools, such as endpoint monitoring, network monitoring, and server monitoring, as part of its Unified IT Management (UITO). The data is assembled and analyzed in a single-pane dashboard for easy viewing. With NinjaOne, you can also set alerts and receive real-time notifications so you can quickly take action. Sign up for a free trial today.
