Understanding Bandwidth Usage Monitoring: What, Why, And How?

Bandwidth usage monitoring is a way to measure the actual bandwidth available on a local system (LAN or WiFi). It is a process of monitoring, analysing and collecting information like traffic usage by endpoints such as source, destination, ports, protocols and applications. This helps in evaluating the network's performance and bottlenecks to provide the best user experience. Bandwidth monitoring tools display real-time data such as download and upload speed, or latency and thus help prevent network strain and aid in troubleshooting.

Bottlenecks and how to prevent them

Bandwidth bottlenecks can occur due to various factors, such as outdated hardware, network congestion, inadequate internet service plans, or inefficient network configurations. Here are some common causes of bottlenecks and ways to prevent them:

Network Congestion

High traffic during peak hours can overload your connection, slowing down internet speed. To prevent this, you can:

• Analyze and monitor network traffic patterns to identify peak times of user activity.
• Prioritize network traffic by reserving bandwidth for specific users, devices, or platforms during busy times.
• Increase your bandwidth by talking to your service provider to allow for more simultaneous data use.

Too Many Devices

Multiple devices connected to the same network can compete for bandwidth, leading to insufficient capacity for each device. To address this:

• Reduce the number of devices connected to your network.
• Use wired connections whenever possible by connecting devices directly to the router via Ethernet cables to reduce congestion.

Outdated or Inadequate Hardware

Outdated routers, modems, or network switches may not support higher bandwidth levels, causing slower performance. To improve this:

Upgrade or replace outdated hardware with more up-to-date versions that support faster speeds and newer data transfer technologies.

Device Malfunction

A single malfunctioning device can overload your systems with fake traffic and cause bottlenecks. To deal with this:

Identify and fix any malfunctioning devices connected to your network.

Server Overload

Bottlenecks can occur within servers due to excessive contention for internal resources such as CPU power, memory, or Disk I/O. To prevent this:

• Implement load balancing to distribute traffic across multiple servers.
• Utilize autoscaling to automatically scale compute resources up and down depending on the demand.

Network Segmentation

Segmenting your network into smaller sub-networks can help reduce the possibility of bottlenecks by avoiding an overflow of network traffic congestion. This allows for easier monitoring and more strategic insights.

Troubleshooting and fixing low bandwidth

• Monitor your bandwidth usage: To identify the root of the problem, keep a close eye on your bandwidth usage with a network traffic monitoring tool. This will help you determine how much bandwidth your devices and interfaces are using.
• Upgrade your internet plan: If your current broadband connection has a low Mbps rate, consider upgrading to a plan with more bandwidth.
• Reduce the number of connected devices: Too many devices connected to the network can slow down your bandwidth. Limit the number of devices connected to your network, especially when streaming or downloading large files.
• Use a wired connection: A wired Ethernet connection can provide more consistent and faster speeds than Wi-Fi, as it transmits the signal directly to your device without interference from other Wi-Fi sources.
• Reboot your router: Try restarting your router by turning it off and on again, or setting it to automatically reboot during inactive hours.
• Update your router's firmware: Make sure to regularly update your router's software or firmware by accessing the admin console.
• Change your Wi-Fi channel: Try using a different wireless channel with fewer surrounding users to reduce interference and improve your bandwidth speed.
• Get a dual-bandwidth router: A dual-bandwidth router uses two frequencies (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) and can help improve your wireless range and reduce overcrowding on Wi-Fi channels.
• Use a VPN: A VPN can help you avoid bandwidth throttling by hiding your IP address and encrypting your traffic, making it harder for ISPs to limit your speed.
• Close background apps: Many background apps could be running automatically and consuming your bandwidth. Check and change the settings of these apps to improve your connection speed.
• Scan your device for viruses: Viruses and malware can affect your internet speed, so be sure to regularly scan your device for any potential threats and remove any malicious software.
• Update your device's software: Outdated devices may experience slow internet speeds due to their support for older wireless standards. Update your device's software to improve your online experience.

Bandwidth monitoring tools

There are several bandwidth monitoring tools available, including:

• NetFlow Analyzer: This tool helps to monitor bandwidth usage in real time and provides advanced bandwidth analysis. It supports multiple vendors and can be used in both Windows and Linux environments.
• PRTG: This tool offers pre-configured sensors for bandwidth monitoring, allowing users to quickly identify which devices or applications are using the most bandwidth. It also provides custom alerts and data visualisation.
• OpUtils: This tool helps to monitor bandwidth usage on SNMP-enabled devices and provides a graphical representation of bandwidth usage.
• SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA): This tool helps to identify bandwidth bottlenecks and provides real-time alerts when network bandwidth hogs are detected. It also turns usage data into charts, tables and reports for better analysis.

These tools provide network administrators with valuable insights into bandwidth usage, helping them to optimise network performance, troubleshoot issues and ensure a smooth experience for end-users.

The impact of low bandwidth on businesses

Bandwidth usage monitoring is a method to measure the actual bandwidth that is available on a local system (LAN or WiFi). Bandwidth monitoring tools display real-time data such as download and upload speed, or latency, and thus help prevent network strain and aid in troubleshooting.

Low bandwidth can have a significant negative impact on businesses, affecting their productivity, efficiency, and overall operations. Here are some ways in which insufficient bandwidth can hinder a business:

• Sluggish Internet Speed: Slow internet speeds can affect the productivity and efficiency of employees who rely on online applications, cloud services, and data transfers. This can lead to frustration and decreased productivity as employees struggle to complete tasks in a timely manner.
• Communication Issues: Insufficient bandwidth can cause problems with voice and video calls, resulting in poor call quality, dropped calls, and interruptions during important business communications. This can impact collaboration, client interactions, and remote team meetings.
• Limited Access to Cloud Services: Many businesses rely on cloud-based applications, storage, and collaboration tools. Low bandwidth can hinder access to these services, causing delays in accessing important files, data, and software.
• Inefficient Data Transfers: Insufficient bandwidth can slow down data transfers, making it time-consuming to upload or download large files, backups, or software updates. This can delay critical operations and impact data-intensive processes.
• Customer Dissatisfaction: For businesses providing online services or relying on e-commerce, low bandwidth can lead to slow website loading times and checkout processes, resulting in frustrated customers, abandoned carts, and a negative overall customer experience.
• Limited Scalability: Inadequate bandwidth can restrict a business's ability to scale and accommodate increased data demands as the company grows. It may limit the capacity to support additional users, devices, or services.
• Vulnerability to Cybersecurity Threats: Low bandwidth can impact the performance of security measures such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus updates. This leaves businesses more vulnerable to cyber-attacks, data breaches, and other security risks.
• Ineffective Remote Work: With the rise of remote work, insufficient bandwidth can hinder employees' ability to work efficiently from remote locations. Slow connections can impact access to company resources and collaboration tools, reducing overall productivity.
• Missed Business Opportunities: Inadequate bandwidth can cause delays in responding to client inquiries, accessing real-time data, or participating in online conferences. This can result in missed business opportunities and a potential loss of competitive advantage.
• Limited Collaboration: Collaboration tools often require a large bandwidth to function effectively. With limited bandwidth, employees may experience delays or interruptions when using these tools, hindering their ability to work together seamlessly.
• Poor Website Functionality: Today's businesses rely on websites to communicate with customers and provide services. Low bandwidth can lead to slow website loading times, driving away potential customers and affecting the business's ability to retain customers.
• Limited Room for Growth: As technology advances, businesses will need to adopt new technologies to stay competitive. Low bandwidth can hinder a business's ability to adopt new tools and technologies, limiting their room for growth and adaptation.

How to calculate bandwidth requirements

Bandwidth usage monitoring is a method to measure the actual bandwidth that is available on a local system (LAN or WiFi). Bandwidth monitoring tools display real-time data such as download and upload speed, or latency, and thus help prevent network strain and aid in troubleshooting.

To calculate bandwidth requirements, you need to determine the amount of available network bandwidth and the average utilisation required by the specific application. Both of these figures should be expressed in bytes per second. Here is a formula to calculate bandwidth:

> A 1 GbE network has 125 million Bps of available bandwidth. This is computed by taking the amount of bits -- in a 1 GbE network, that would be 1 billion -- and dividing that by eight to determine the bytes: 1,000,000,000 bps / 8 = 125,000,000 Bps

After determining the network's bandwidth, assess how much bandwidth each application is using. You can use a network analyser to detect the number of bytes per second the application sends across the network.

• Enable the cumulative bytes column of your network analyser.
• Capture traffic to and from a test workstation running the application.
• In the decode summary window, mark the packets at the beginning of the file transfer.
• Follow the timestamp down to one second later, and then look at the cumulative bytes field.

If you determine that your application is transferring data at 200,000 Bps, then you can perform the calculation: 125,000,000 Bps / 200,000 Bps = 625 concurrent users. In this case, the network will be fine even with several hundred concurrent users.

However, if you had a 100 Mbps network: 13,102,000 Bps / 200,000 Bps = 65.51 concurrent users. You would then have a network that couldn't support more than approximately 65 users running the application concurrently.

Some final recommendations include capturing the data in 10-second spurts, checking multiple workstations to ensure the number is reflective of the general population, and determining how many concurrent users you will have.

Frequently asked questions