A virtual private network (VPN) is a network that helps establish a connection between remote users and private networks. These connections are secured by data encryption, where data flows between the device and the network via a shielded path called a VPN tunnel.
VPN monitoring is the process of keeping an eye on critical metrics to maintain the integrity of the VPN connection and ensure it's robust. In addition, VPN monitoring ensures sensitive data gets transmitted across VPN tunnels without being exploited by intruders. Some crucial parameters to monitor include:
Compromising on VPN monitoring can have many repercussions for a company, ranging from productivity loss and an adverse impact on revenue, to jeopardizing confidential data and even the loss of loyal customers due to safety breaches.
Here are two prominent issues that could surface in the absence of a VPN monitoring software:
OpManager's built-in VPN monitoring tool helps monitor VPN connections, track the health and performance of all VPN links and monitor data transmission across VPN tunnels to proactively deal with any impending roadblocks. This feature enables you to assign performance monitors, configure thresholds, monitor for violations, and set notification profiles that can broadcast alerts over varied media such as email, SMS, and Slack notifications.
Listed below are supported vendors and the VPN monitor OpManager offers when integrated with them:
After adding the necessary performance monitors to your devices, thresholds of appropriate values can be configured for the respective monitors to check if the metric is under control. Real-time monitoring stats can be obtained on the device snapshot page as shown in the screenshots below. If the thresholds are violated, OpManager generates alerts that can be leveraged for effective troubleshooting.
OpManager offers graphical and tabular representations of data sets to help gauge and visualize data seamlessly, and derive better inferences. With OpManager, drill down into the individual metric’s graphs, or look at all the charts on the same page to gain a holistic view of the current trends.
To study trends over longer intervals, OpManager generates reports that enable you to obtain stats over a longer period of time. You can also schedule or export these reports into other formats like PDF, CSV, and XLS.
Instead of moving between multiple windows to fetch crucial data, OpManager helps you monitor all business critical VPN metrics on one screen. With OpManager, you can create customized dashboards that can accommodate VPN widgets such as VPN tunnel monitoring, VPN traffic monitoring and also other widgets you feel are critical to your business, helping you draw inferences with ease. All you have to do is create a custom dashboard, select the desired performance monitors, add them to your dashboard, and you're good to go.
If you also wish to monitor your VPN connections for bandwidth utilization, get VPN usage trends and block hostile IPs from being accessed from your VPNs, Firewall analyzer's (an add-on of OpManager) VPN monitor would come in handy.
For more information on how OpManager can aid in your VPN network monitoring efforts, try out a 30-day free trial or register for a free demo.
