Network loops are a bit of a boogeyman. Loops are necessary for a well designed, resilient network – it’s the way to achieve redundancy with switches. Done right, loops protect your network from outages. Done wrong, a loop causes a major outage.

You can’t monitor, protect, or fix what you don’t know. That simple concept helps explain why IT inventory management is the cornerstone of effective IT and security ops. However, given the highly distributed and dynamic nature of modern networks, maintaining an up-to-date inventory can be challenging. Modern IT assets are everywhere, from corporate data centers to third-party clouds to coffee shops where remote workers stop for a snack.

As a network administrator, having full visibility and control over your network infrastructure is critical. However, managing core network services like DNS, DHCP, and IP addresses can become complex, especially as your network grows. This is where DDI comes in. DDI (DNS, DHCP, IP Address Management) solutions integrate these essential networking functions into a single, centralized management platform.

Despite the headlines return to office (RTO) has been making, remote work and distributed workforces are here to stay. Case in point: a Robert Half report found that almost 9/10 workers considering a job change were interested in remote or hybrid roles1. For IT, that means solving the challenges of providing remote IT support for dispersed teams is a crucial part of the job. Getting remote IT support right takes a combination of strategy, tactics, and tools that can vary significantly from team to team.

Imagine running an IT department without a compass—no clear way to gauge performance, spot problems, or demonstrate value to the rest of the organization. Issues are escalating unnoticed, improvements are relying on guesswork, and when someone asks, “How is IT helping the business?”—it’s tough to give a confident answer. Without IT metrics, this chaos becomes a reality. Tracking the right IT key performance indicators (IT KPIs) transforms chaos into clarity.

If you’ve ever experienced choppy audio or video calls, slow website loading, or laggy gaming sessions, chances are you’ve dealt with either latency or jitter issues – or possibly both. These problems plague networks both large and small, from Fortune 500 companies to neighborhood coffee shops offering free WiFi.

Network discovery is the crucial first step for any IT team looking to manage a modern, dynamic network. As companies embrace flexible work options and adopt complex hybrid environments, taking stock of all connected devices is essential to maintain performance, ensure security, and enable users to stay productive from anywhere. This article will cover everything you need to know about network discovery, from its core purpose to how it works to the tools that make it happen.

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a widely used network monitoring and management protocol. It allows you to keep track of the status and performance of the devices on your network, like routers, switches, servers, and printers. A key component of SNMP are the ports used for communication between the SNMP manager (the monitoring system) and SNMP agents (software on the monitored devices).

Endpoints are a prime target for threat actors. In fact, 68% of the respondents to a Ponenmon study reported experiencing an endpoint attack that successfully compromised data or IT infrastructure. And, with IBM pegging the average cost of a data breach at $4.88 million USD, it’s clear that effective endpoint monitoring and security is a key objective for organizations of all sizes. As the stakes for endpoint security increase, so does the complexity.

Organizations are rapidly adopting endpoint detection and response software to address the challenge and strengthen their overall network infrastructure security. Why? In large part because endpoints are used by the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain (humans!) and therefore create business risk. Endpoint devices typically have internet access, can reach sensitive internal data, and are primarily used by people who aren’t cybersecurity professionals.