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Download the PDF here: Network Observability for Cloud and Internet-Centric Enterprise Backbones
1. The Initial Situation
While networks were mostly focused on connecting their own data centers and locations via private infrastructure, today’s enterprise networks must focus more on cloud/hyperscaler and internet connections.
This transformation requires new technologies and architectures, as well as operating concepts and services. The current drivers in this environment are:
- Multi-cloud infrastructure (GCP, Azure, AWS…)
- Hybrid network infrastructures (On-Premise, IaaS, Colocations…)
- The transformation to new technologies (SD-WAN, virtualization…)
- A multitude of different manufacturers and different service providers
On the other hand, existing classic network infrastructures must also continue to be supported.
So how Can a Modern Enterprise Backbone be Operated Effectively and Stably?
The visibility and performance of interconnectivity from clouds/hyperscalers, hybrid network structures, and the public internet is of critical importance. Disruptions or performance problems usually lead to the failure of critical business processes, resulting in high costs and risks for companies.
To avoid these scenarios and deliver the best possible results to their customers, companies need network intelligence for maximum service quality and cost efficiency.
The Key: Complete Observability of your Enterprise Backbone Connectivity from the Classic Network via Data Centers to the Cloud!
This is what a tool should offer you:
- Make all networks and clouds visible,
- Monitor availability and performance of network connectivity & services,
- Collect all network telemetry data,
- Enrich queries with your own contexts,
- Provide AI-driven insights,
- Answer any business-relevant questions about network usage,
- Analyze the use of cloud/hyperscalers,
- Enable a high degree of automation in operation and use, and
- Provide a highly available and globally scalable SaaS platform.
Technical parameters
- Network Connectivity Tests (IPv4&6, TCP, Jitter…)
- Network Service Tests (ASN, BGP, QoS…)
- Network Device Monitoring (SNMP, Network Telemetry…)
- Synthetic Network Service Tests (HTTP, DNS…)
- Synthetic WEB/ APP Tests (Page Load, Transaction, App-Login…)
- Synthetic Cloud & SaaS Tests (Azure, AWS, GCP, MS Teams, Gmail, WebEx…)
- Normalized data model for all flows (Netflow, sFlow, JFlow, VPC, NSG…)
- AI-supported monitoring and trend analyses
- Integrations and API (ServiceNow, Grafana, SSO…)
2. The Use Case
Our customer is a listed automobile manufacturer with more than 100,000 employees and hundreds of networked locations of various sizes worldwide.
The customer has already implemented the migration from the data center-centric WAN to the modern enterprise backbone. In order to ensure the service quality and availability of this new, complex and globally distributed network structure, they were looking for a scalable network observability solution.
The Solution from NetDescribe – Kentik Network Observability
With Kentik Network Observability, a scalable network analysis solution that is easy to implement and easy to use, you can plan, operate and optimize any network. The proactive monitoring of hybrid and multi-cloud networks shows anomalies in your data traffic in detail. This allows your NetOps team to react in time and take countermeasures.
- A view that makes everything visible: networks of multiple providers, distributed architectures, on-premise, cloud, edge and hybrid environments.
- Synthetic network monitoring measures the digital experience as close as possible to the application via complex networks.
- Multi-Cloud performance: Provides an overview of the performance of data traffic to and from, between and within hybrid and multi-clouds.
- Automation and alerting: Intelligent automation delivers meaningful insights without unnecessary error messages.
- Understand your data: Understanding of SNMP, traffic flows, VPC protocols, host agents and synthetic monitoring – for a comprehensive performance overview.
- Deep insights into the internet: Display performance, uptime and connectivity status of common public SaaS applications, clouds and services that your network relies on.
net•work ob•servʹa•bilʹi•ty (n) – The ability to answer any question about your network.
Display the entire cross-technology network infrastructure | Collect data | Enrich data with contextual information | Obtain comprehensive insights | Ask any question and filter data | Take tailored measures
3. Requirements Analysis and Business Benefits
Network & Cloud Observability
The requirements:
- Automatic detection and visualization of infrastructures across network technologies and provider boundaries
- Visualization of cloud architecture and interconnectivity
The Benefits:
- Understanding and analysis of the complex network infrastructure across all on-premise, cloud, edge and hybrid environments.
- This enables both stable and efficient network operation, as well as the optimization of a modern and complex network architecture.
Network Performance Monitoring & Capacity Management
The requirements:
- Site-to-Site Network Service Monitoring
- Site-to-Cloud (Multi-Cloud connect) Service Monitoring
- Network Infrastructure Monitoring & Capacity Planning
The Benefits:
- Network Service Monitoring (RTT, Jitter…) via global architectures of the Enterprise Backbone, classic WAN as well as public internet services of the customer.
- Network infrastructure monitoring (interface utilization, CPU…) and network service monitoring as a basis for high network stability and well-founded capacity management.
Network & Cloud IP Traffic Analysis
The requirements:
- IP Flow analysis across technology boundaries (VPCs VNets, Netflow, sFlow…)
The Benefits:
- Technology-spanning IP flow analysis for optimization and troubleshooting of the communication relationships of applications
Network Performance and Management Platform
The requirements:
- SaaS Platform
- Synthetic tests with global agents
- AI-supported analysis
- Integrations & Interfaces
The Benefits:
- Highly available, scalable and future-oriented network observability solution for efficient operation.
- Transformation from classic network monitoring to technology-spanning network observability in modern enterprise networks.
- Use of AI-based analysis methods for monitoring and capacity management.
What does the Kentik Intelligence Platform offer?
Kentik enables detailed insights into the activities of applications/services throughout the network beyond mere data observation, in order to understand the reasons for network and application performance.
Traffic-Map Interconnectivity Backbone*
Health Map by Site-Interconnectivity*
Interconnectivity-, Status- & Traffic-Map Azure and Ashburne Site View*
Backbone Interface Capacity Management
Kentik Network Explorer
Network Telemetry Sources*
*Source of all screenshots shown here: www.kentik.com
What is the Kentik Intelligence Platform?
Complex multi-cloud and data center networks become visible at a glance. This enables proactive monitoring of performance to ensure optimal performance of applications or services. Misdirected data traffic or suboptimal network configurations can be found and corrected. Cost factors of the network can be kept in mind.
With Kentik, DDoS attacks can also be precisely detected and automatically rendered harmless. Continuous DDoS protection means damage limitation for your company. Hosts that have been compromised by botnets are tracked down. Attacks, security breaches, and threats are analyzed in real time and based on historical data. Incident response tools are integrated to send alerts and initiate workflows.
The Kentik Features at a Glance
CORE – Analysis of all network traffic. Capacity planning. Visualization of telemetry data. Spontaneous insights. Setting up workflows
EDGE – Full network visibility. Management of transits and interconnections. Discovering peers. Organization of data traffic and cost optimization.
SYNTHETICS – Management of network and application experience. Automatic configuration based on data traffic, tests, and real-time analysis.
CLOUD – Insights into all clouds and hybrid infrastructures. Migration planning. Security checks. Performance improvement and cloud cost optimization.
PROTECT – Early detection and minimization of DDoS attacks. Detection of botnets. Threat analysis. Prevention of route leaks and BGP hijacking.
SERVICE PROVIDER ANALYTICS – Analysis of subscriber trends. Tracking the digital supply chain. Discovering new sales opportunities and cost management.
+++ NEW! Kentik Kube – The turbo for your Kubernetes performance +++
Kentik Kube provides insight into the network of Kubernetes workloads and shows the K8 traffic routes through a company’s data centers, clouds, and the internet.
Kentik Kube enables you to:
- Troubleshooting Container Network Latency
- Custom Container Network Monitoring and Alerting
- Container Network Security Monitoring Policies
Download the PDF here: Network Observability for Cloud and Internet-Centric Enterprise Backbones
