Networks are very important and crucial constituents of modern s a day business environment. Failure of networks or its components results in failure of communication between customers and employees that may result in substantial loss of revenue and productivity. There are various elements of the network that may need adequate monitoring to keep them running. These components are WAN; E-mail servers, business applications, LAN infrastructure like switches, routers etc. Monitoring tools generally diagnose the problems and report the same in a timely manner. They also provide useful information of the performance of the devices that are being monitored.

Selection of network monitoring tools largely depends on the size of the networks. For small to mid range networks, there are quite a few freeware available that can be downloaded and used for network monitoring. For larger networks, the monitoring tools generally have features for monitoring servers, networks, applications and systems. Some of the high-ended tools even have facilities for asset management and a helpdesk. A full feature tool diagnoses a problem in the network, reports the problem to the administrator through e-mail and generates an incident in the helpdesk tools.

Monitoring tools provide graphical representations and statistical data of the traffic load on the networks within any specified time periods, when it detects abnormal conditions on the network; it can send e-mail alerts and text messages to the administrator and support staff.

Key selection criteria for any tools are scalability, cost, ease of use and maintainability. It is advisable to conduct a detailed analysis alert and reporting requirements from the monitoring tool before deciding on the tool to buy. Generally the cost of monitoring tool is based on the number of devices to be monitored however most of tools can be upgraded to monitor larger number of devices as the network grows.

Network monitoring tools assists in reducing conditions of outages of the key and business critical elements of network and greatly helps in smooth functioning of internal and external business communications and transactions