Network Baseline

Do you know your standard network throughput volume and most types of traffic used in your network? If you have no information about the above questions then you should required baseline your network. The network baseline is one of the most useful tools for monitoring and troubleshooting network performance. For the effective network, performance baseline is required over a period of time. Measuring performance at varying times and loads will help in creating a better image of overall network performance

How to baseline a network

To baseline a network, you need to monitor the network traffic for a long time, because a wider time presents a more realistic picture of a traffic pattern. The use of a network baseline is listed below:

• Evaluate network management policies agreement.
• Understand network pattern and traffic trends.
• Speed up troubleshooting network problems.
• Understand network resources allocation.
• Provide network up-gradation history statistics.
• Provide data for decision making to network and security management.

To baseline a network, network administrators need software Colasoft nChronos and Capsa to baseline their networks. Both software is used to listen to packet data of a wire and generate all kinds of a report on the network.

Another method for starting a baseline is to copy, paste and save the results from an executed ping, trace and other related commands into a text file with time and date. These text files can be used to compare with other results, error messages and the response times from host to host. If there is a huge increase in response times, there may be a latency issue to address. The figures below illustrates the result of the ping command for the same IP address with different timings and the comparison of both. 

The output resulting from network commands can contribute data to the network baseline. Commercial networks should have widespread baselines. Professional-grade software tools are available for storing and maintaining baseline information.