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Troubleshooting's Secret Weapon: Greater Visibility

Jason Baudreau

Today's network engineers have their work cut out for them. Bigger, more complex networks have created an environment where network engineers are forced to adapt and develop more effective ways to manage and troubleshoot their networks. This begins with better visibility, which has presented an issue traditionally as engineers struggle to create an accurate picture due to challenges with static maps.

87 percent of survey respondents primarily rely on manual techniques to create and update their network diagrams

Network engineers typically spend hours or even days at a time manually mapping out network diagrams. In fact, NetBrain's State of the Network Engineer study found that 87 percent of survey respondents primarily rely on manual techniques to create and update their network diagrams. However, by the time these diagrams are complete, they are already out-of-date and therefore useless.

This is where automation comes in. By automating the documentation process, any part of the network can be visualized in seconds with infinite detail. In addition, these maps will update automatically each time there is a change to the network, so engineers can be sure they are always seeing a thorough and accurate picture.

Manual documentation is wrought with inefficiencies. When it comes to a network outage or breach, network engineers are working against the clock to get back online. Manual methods and static documents only add to the frustration and time to repair.

Currently, most network engineers rely on a combination of manual techniques for troubleshooting, including traceroute and the command-line interface (CLI) to gain visibility into a network. However, these are tedious and time-consuming methods that force engineers to work through one device at a time to identify and address an issue. In fact, 43 percent of survey respondents stated that troubleshooting takes too much time using CLI. This can result in an overreliance on tribal knowledge and a slew of other tools to access critical information such as configuration details and performance data. This will hinder a network teams' ability to troubleshoot issues quickly by having to cycle back and forth between applications.

So, what's the alternative to network engineers suffering though hours of manual documentation to find the route of an outage? A Dynamic Map.

Dynamic Maps integrate with network teams' existing ticketing systems, monitoring tools, security and event management systems to create an all-encompassing tool. When an issue arises, a Dynamic Map can be created instantly to target the problem by simply identifying the source and destination IP addresses. Through automation, it can then be used to diagnose the connectivity, performance and configuration of each interface. The ability to immediately identify the source of an issue significantly reduces a network team's mean time to repair (MTTR), which can positively impact a company's bottom line. The longer the network is down, the longer the organization loses out on revenue.

With the abundance of new trends like AI/machine learning, SD-WAN and DevOps, it's unclear what exactly the networking industry will look like in the future. One thing we do know for certain — networks will only become more complex and difficult to manage. Automation will become the secret ingredient to network management, arming engineers with much-needed visibility as day-to-day workflows become nearly impossible to complete manually. Enterprises not prepared for these changes and who are without an accurate picture of their network will ultimately suffer.

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Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

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Troubleshooting's Secret Weapon: Greater Visibility

Jason Baudreau

Today's network engineers have their work cut out for them. Bigger, more complex networks have created an environment where network engineers are forced to adapt and develop more effective ways to manage and troubleshoot their networks. This begins with better visibility, which has presented an issue traditionally as engineers struggle to create an accurate picture due to challenges with static maps.

87 percent of survey respondents primarily rely on manual techniques to create and update their network diagrams

Network engineers typically spend hours or even days at a time manually mapping out network diagrams. In fact, NetBrain's State of the Network Engineer study found that 87 percent of survey respondents primarily rely on manual techniques to create and update their network diagrams. However, by the time these diagrams are complete, they are already out-of-date and therefore useless.

This is where automation comes in. By automating the documentation process, any part of the network can be visualized in seconds with infinite detail. In addition, these maps will update automatically each time there is a change to the network, so engineers can be sure they are always seeing a thorough and accurate picture.

Manual documentation is wrought with inefficiencies. When it comes to a network outage or breach, network engineers are working against the clock to get back online. Manual methods and static documents only add to the frustration and time to repair.

Currently, most network engineers rely on a combination of manual techniques for troubleshooting, including traceroute and the command-line interface (CLI) to gain visibility into a network. However, these are tedious and time-consuming methods that force engineers to work through one device at a time to identify and address an issue. In fact, 43 percent of survey respondents stated that troubleshooting takes too much time using CLI. This can result in an overreliance on tribal knowledge and a slew of other tools to access critical information such as configuration details and performance data. This will hinder a network teams' ability to troubleshoot issues quickly by having to cycle back and forth between applications.

So, what's the alternative to network engineers suffering though hours of manual documentation to find the route of an outage? A Dynamic Map.

Dynamic Maps integrate with network teams' existing ticketing systems, monitoring tools, security and event management systems to create an all-encompassing tool. When an issue arises, a Dynamic Map can be created instantly to target the problem by simply identifying the source and destination IP addresses. Through automation, it can then be used to diagnose the connectivity, performance and configuration of each interface. The ability to immediately identify the source of an issue significantly reduces a network team's mean time to repair (MTTR), which can positively impact a company's bottom line. The longer the network is down, the longer the organization loses out on revenue.

With the abundance of new trends like AI/machine learning, SD-WAN and DevOps, it's unclear what exactly the networking industry will look like in the future. One thing we do know for certain — networks will only become more complex and difficult to manage. Automation will become the secret ingredient to network management, arming engineers with much-needed visibility as day-to-day workflows become nearly impossible to complete manually. Enterprises not prepared for these changes and who are without an accurate picture of their network will ultimately suffer.

Hot Topics

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

Image
Broadcom

From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...