Overview
Network visibility is the foundation of both network performance management and security. You cannot manage or secure what you cannot see. It involves collecting data from various sources (taps, span ports, flow logs) and aggregating it for analysis.
Challenges
- Blind Spots: Encrypted traffic, 'East-West' traffic within a data center, and traffic in cloud environments can be difficult to see.
- Data Volume: High-speed networks generate massive amounts of data that must be processed and stored.
- Complexity: Modern networks are highly distributed and use a variety of technologies (SDN, containers, serverless).
Solutions
- Network Packet Brokers (NPBs): Devices that aggregate and filter traffic before sending it to monitoring tools.
- Deep Packet Inspection (DPI): Analyzing the payload of packets to identify applications and threats.