Cisco Router Monitoring with PRTG

Cisco router monitoring involves the process of continuously observing, managing, and analyzing the performance and status of Cisco routers within a network. This practice ensures the routers operate efficiently, securely, and with minimal downtime. Key aspects of Cisco router monitoring include:

1. Performance monitoring:

• Bandwidth utilization: Tracking the amount of data being transmitted and received.
• CPU and memory usage: Observing how much of the router's processing power and memory is being used.

2. Availability and uptime:

• Ensuring the router is online and functioning properly. Monitoring tools like PRTG use ping and SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) checks to verify the router's status.

3. Traffic analysis:

• Analyzing the types and volumes of traffic passing through the router to identify patterns, potential bottlenecks, and unusual activity.

4. error detection:

• Detecting and logging errors, such as packet drops, interface errors, and protocol mismatches. This helps in diagnosing and addressing network issues promptly.

5. Security monitoring:

• Monitoring for potential security threats, such as unauthorized access attempts, malware, and unusual traffic patterns indicative of a potential attack.

Monitoring your Cisco routers is essential for several reasons:

1. Network performance

• Traffic analysis: Understand the types of traffic flowing through your network to optimize bandwidth usage.
• Latency and jitter: Detect and troubleshoot issues affecting network performance and application delivery.

2. Security

• Intrusion detection: Identify and respond to potential security threats and unauthorized access attempts.
• Compliance: Ensure your network complies with security policies and regulatory requirements.

3. Reliability and uptime

• Fault detection: Quickly identify and rectify hardware or software failures to minimize downtime.
• Preventive maintenance: Identify trends and patterns that might indicate impending issues, allowing for proactive maintenance.

4. Configuration management

• Change tracking: Keep track of configuration changes to understand their impact and roll back if necessary.
• Backup and recovery: Ensure configurations are backed up regularly for quick recovery in case of failures.

5. Resource management

• Capacity planning: Monitor usage trends to plan for future expansion and ensure adequate resources.
• Load balancing: Distribute network traffic efficiently to prevent overload on any single router.

6. Troubleshooting and diagnostics

• Root cause analysis: Quickly diagnose and resolve issues by correlating data from various metrics.
• Historical data: Use historical data to understand past issues and prevent them from recurring.

Among other things, you can monitor the availability, network traffic, and quality of service of your Cisco routers. With the right monitoring tool, you'll be notified immediately in the event of errors or disruptions.

NetFlow is a protocol developed by Cisco to monitor Cisco routers and other Cisco devices. NetFlow lets you analyze your bandwidth and determine which IP addresses, applications, and protocols are generating the most traffic.

For centralized monitoring, go with a tool that works with the devices of all kinds of different manufacturers. Cisco routers are configured to send NetFlow packets to PRTG. All monitoring data is displayed on a single dashboard. If errors or disruptions occur on a Cisco router (or in your traffic), you'll be notified at once.

In PRTG, “sensors” are the basic monitoring elements. One sensor usually monitors one measured value in your network, for example the traffic of a switch port, the CPU load of a server, or the free space on a disk drive. On average, you need about 5-10 sensors per device or one sensor per switch port.