NETSCOUT nGeniusONE: The Perfect Network Performance Monitoring Tool
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
NETSCOUT nGeniusONE is a deep packet inspection tool that helps to trace the connectivity between the clients, and we get the details like where the packet is dropped, what can be the possible reason of packet drop, and several other parameters regarding network connectivity and its functioning. Hence, it helps in makin our network more stable. We use it for generating trigger and alarm when the packet drop takes place due to any connectivity issue or link flaps. Apart from that we use it to monitor the behavior of server and traffic that is generated. It works as an man-in-middle to sniff the packet, so it helps as an monitoring tool and hence very beneficial for any enterprise or large organization. So, in brief it tell us where the problem persist in the network which can lead to any loss because everything depends upon connectivity and stability of network.
Pros
- It can be integrated with various third party tool or visibility solution like IXIA, and other NMS tool to get a detailed report about behavior of different application.
- It gives the ability to capture the packet in real time which is very beneficial.
- It gives a complete detailed history of past days or even months to track the overall behavior so that we can distinguish between the stable and unstable sites and can identify the mist critical site.
- The dashboard is very user friendly and all the features are clearly visible and well organized. It shows discovery and flap links very clearly location wise so that we can troubleshoot them.
Cons
- The deployment part and initial configuration require so much time and efforts and needs perfect expertise for the implementation purpose.
- Technical support is poor as they do not provide solution in initial meetings. In 2-3 meetings they simply collect logs and ask time for inspection. We need to continuously follow them for the solution.
- The costing part is very high and we can get other similar tools with a lot more features and functionalities. So this needs to addressed.
- With every new version, lot of bugs are introduced hence it is not recommended to move on latest version.
Return on Investment
- NETSCOUT nGeniusONE is the best tool and very profitable for our organization as it helped in to reduce the manual effort of engineers to track the Network flaps and connectivity issue.
- Return on investment for this product is quiet good as of now and we have achieved 80% ROI till now and we are very much confident that we will achieve the full ROI.
- It has helped in cost cutting as we need only few network admin and engineers to track the discovery, behavior and connectivity. Earlier we need a lot of employee to do that due to which the organization may suffer some financial loss.
Alternatives Considered
OpenNMS and SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM)
Other Software Used
Forescout Continuum, Radware Alteon, Kemp LoadMaster
