Wanted: One Network Babysitter because I Have Better Things to Do
Not many people become network managers because they like to babysit end-users, or maybe even think about them a lot. Now that networks are the operational foundation for most organizations, not to mention a very significant overhead cost, keeping them running and focused on the job at hand is critical. That means that understanding user behavior is just as important as understanding device behavior. It also means that blocking inappropriate network behavior is falling to the network team.
It can be icky work; finding the guy who is downloading large files that shouldn’t be downloaded, identifying the fan of a hacker site, getting some telemetry on someone’s taste in film. On the other hand, if you’re the person who’s going to take it on the chin for needing to add bandwidth AGAIN, you’d better know you’re doing it for a good reason.
InterMapper Flows is, in effect, a good babysitter. It watches over network behavior and provides very specific evidence of behavior that needs to be checked into. A new user recently told us that he’d noticed a real spike in network traffic – it would zoom up to 98% - at 10:00 am every day. At 10:40 am traffic would plummet to its usual level. At a consultant’s recommendation he installed an InterMapper Flows evaluation and, at 10:00 am the next day, watched.
There was the spike. He was able to see that someone was interacting with a hacking site which was NOT on the list of appropriate network uses. In no time he had blocked the site and alerted someone to take care of the end-user.
The whole transaction – noting the host, shutting it down, informing the authorities – took minutes and saved a budget justification for more bandwidth.
Actually, that’s a great babysitter.
It can be icky work; finding the guy who is downloading large files that shouldn’t be downloaded, identifying the fan of a hacker site, getting some telemetry on someone’s taste in film. On the other hand, if you’re the person who’s going to take it on the chin for needing to add bandwidth AGAIN, you’d better know you’re doing it for a good reason.
InterMapper Flows is, in effect, a good babysitter. It watches over network behavior and provides very specific evidence of behavior that needs to be checked into. A new user recently told us that he’d noticed a real spike in network traffic – it would zoom up to 98% - at 10:00 am every day. At 10:40 am traffic would plummet to its usual level. At a consultant’s recommendation he installed an InterMapper Flows evaluation and, at 10:00 am the next day, watched.
There was the spike. He was able to see that someone was interacting with a hacking site which was NOT on the list of appropriate network uses. In no time he had blocked the site and alerted someone to take care of the end-user.
The whole transaction – noting the host, shutting it down, informing the authorities – took minutes and saved a budget justification for more bandwidth.
Actually, that’s a great babysitter.
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