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A local area network (LAN) refers to a group of computers that is made up of multiple computers connected to each other in a defined area. Usually within a radius of several kilometers. Functions such as file management, application software sharing, printer sharing, workgroup scheduling, e-mail and fax services can be implemented on LAN. The local network is closed and can consist of two computers in an office or thousands of computers in a company. The following are recommendations for LAN monitoring tools collected and organized by Xiaobian. Welcome to learn from them.

Recommended LAN Monitoring Tools (1)

1. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

Solarwinds is now a major player in LAN technology market. The company produces a line of products for network administrators that can be purchased individually or combined to create a complete network management system.

You don't have to buy all other modules to use network performance monitoring, but once you get used to LAN monitoring tools, you might be tempted to try other Solarwinds utilities. The key feature of this tool that makes it biggest winner on this list is powerful toolbar. Get a complete view of performance of your entire network at a glance. Instantly view real-time network activity metrics with graphical views, including pie and line charts.

If you're responsible for multiple sites, you can extend Network Performance Monitor with its remote monitoring capabilities. Thus, you can manage all devices on your WAN from one central location.

One of four overview panels contains a list of critical events that occurred that day. The real-time data presented on this overview page comes from methods of SNMP. Most new network devices come with SNMP capabilities pre-installed in firmware, and Network Performance Monitor automatically discovers and communicates with device agents to keep abreast of device status.

These real-time status alerts are at core of your monitoring system, but you don't want to be overwhelmed by every status message that hits your monitoring platform. The interface can be configured to filter status alerts and notify different group members based on various network activity conditions that may occur. This can help you manage your time more effectively if you are in charge of a large network supported by a team of experts.V. This tool is especially useful if most of your hardware support is outsourced. The service provider is notified directly, so you don't have to waste time contacting support.

Monitor packet control for wired and wireless networks. You can navigate to detailed information about each node on network to check for issues and monitor usage. Likewise, node details screen has a graphical display that gives you an overview of performance.

The Network Performance Monitor is designed for large enterprise networks and costs $2,895 for an entry-level system. The price will increase depending on number of nodes in your network. So, if you have a small network and a very limited budget, this comprehensive LAN monitoring tool might not be right for you.

2.WhatsUp Gold

WhatsUp Gold by Ipswitch is so simple that you don't have to spend too much time learning how to get most out of your monitoring system. This is an advantage for small network administrators who do not need detailed information about events occurring at remote sites. The software will set up its database itself through auto-discovery module. This will match all hosts and their assigned IP addresses.

Continuous real-time monitoring is carried out using SNMP technology. SNMP traps allow device agents to notify central management console of failure conditions. Server and storage performance metrics are included in this monitoring system. The network traffic analysis tool in this software is compatible with NetFlow, sFlow, J-Flow, NSEL and IPFIX.

The dashboard contains red/green status coding to make it easier to spot warnings and performance issues. You can receive alerts sent to you via text message or email, allowing you to move on to other tasks without ignoring network status. With Report tool, you can customize reports by specifying which columns of data to display and in what order.

Monitoring extends to cloud services. This allows your management team to track usage of cloud system. This helps you evaluate value and also helps you validate cloud providers.

You can use WhatsUp Gold to monitor performance of your web applications. Typical metrics generated by system include number of requests, response time, and throughput. Another feature of WhatsUp Gold is configuration management module, which goes beyond network monitoring. This allows you to back up configuration of your network devices. It will track version changes and software installations. This allows you to track alle software on your network, including unauthorized installations.

If you are using a virtual terminal, WhatsUP Gold will help you. The monitoring system can interact with Hyper-V/VMWare and display your virtual environment. Usage and load on virtual machines can be logged and traffic serving virtual environment can be identified.

A small business can have a network with only one site. However, as your business grows, you may be interested in WhatsUp Gold remote monitoring and management tools. These capabilities allow you to centralize all network management tasks in one place, reducing cost of running NetworkOps at each site.

3. Paessler PRTG

The Paessler PRTG system provides server monitoring as well as LAN and WAN monitoring. This monitoring utility is based on NetFlow technology. This monitors packet rate over network in real time. The packet sniffer utility provides a drill down utility to view protocol level. However, monitoring is not just task of observing traffic. The Paessler PRTG LAN monitoring features rely on SNMP to provide alerts about health of equipment. The alerts provided by SNMP keep network administrators one step ahead of crises. If you can stay ahead of hardware failures and fix them before user calls start to spiral out of control, you can save a lot of money on your help desk.

One of great advantages of SNMP is that it uses very little bandwidth, so monitoring with this package will not slow down your network. The Paessler system dashboard includes graphs, charts and provides you with instant information about overall network status. You can query various nodes on network for instant status reports with real-time data. These device-specific pages contain clear graphics, and entire dashboard is accessible from any computer on network, as well as tablets and smartphones.

PRTG is particularly useful for multi-site operations, including Internet connectivity and cloud services. Thanks to Paessler remote sensing technology, you can centralize all network management functions in one place and get remote access to local network of each site.

Most of Paessler PRTG installation process is automated, and built-in network discovery feature automatically maps topology. The LAN monitoring tool includes templates for collecting status information for each device. This provides a standardized monitoring format, allowing equal attention to be given to all devices on network. Many aspects of PRTG monitoring system can be configured to provide you with notifications and status information that are critical to success of yournetworks.

Paessler's free PRTG trial allows you to use an unlimited number of sensors, but is only valid for 30 days. There is also a free version designed to help small businesses grow, which currently allows unlimited use of up to 100 sensors.

4.OpManager

OpManager is developed by ManageEngine, another major player in web software industry. You can get a free version of OpManager to familiarize yourself with its features and properly manage your small business network.

You can control up to 10 devices with free OpManager. However, you still get same level of system notifications as users of paid version. The engine monitoring method uses SNMP. It's built into all new hard network compatibility software, so you can automatically get real-time feedback on network activity from all devices connected to your network. Another common technology that supports OpManager systems is NetFlow traffic monitoring method.

Whether you're using a free system or a paid system, software can be downloaded on Linux or Windows. It includes features for interacting with SQL based databases as well as MySQL, Active Directory and event logging.

If you plan to purchase an OpManager system, you can choose from two plans: Essential and Enterprise. Manage up to 1,000 nodes with Essential plan and up to 10,000 nodes with Enterprise plan. Both options extend their monitoring to WAN and voice systems with remote monitoring and QoS features.

An auto-discovery feature not available in free version of OpManager. This will display your network and display it as a nice graph in toolbar. The topology displayed on screen is based on real situation, so you can get a visualization of entire network, even if it is global. The top of Dashboard home page contains thumbnail graphs, charts, and watch faces. Although each of them will be displayed in full screen mode if you click on them, color coding that these icons show makes it easy to quickly view status of network.

The control panel provides detailed information about devices, apps for tablets and smartphones, and access to network status information wherever you are. The existence of a free OpManager is great news for small businesses. However, switching to paid version will be a small leap. It would be nice if company offered an entry-level package that could cover 400 or 500 nodes to help small businesses break into mid-sized business space.

5. Nagios Core and Nagios XI

Nagios software from openThe source code for network management and monitoring is completely free to use. The interface of this free system is called Nagios Core, which is not very clear. You'll get a basic web interface for main download, and then you can search Nagios Core community page to find plugins and interfaces that others have developed for themselves and are willing to share.

If you don't have funds for a LAN monitoring tool, Nagios Core is a great option. The free version of Nagios XI is free but limited, you can only use it to monitor seven nodes. However, this offer, along with two paid usage tiers, means that Nagios XI is suitable for networks of any size.

The standard paid version costs $1,995 with at least 100 nodes online, while Enterprise version starts at $3,495. This is a one-time purchase price that includes access to email support and community forums. Additional phone support may incur charges.

With Nagios XI, you get real-time monitoring capabilities of Nagios Core, but collected data is managed, presented, and filtered in a more understandable format. The graphics on dashboard will do all work for you. You can immediately see where problems are in network. The interface pages contain charts and graphs to help you quickly get performance data.

The Nagios XI system is easy to set up as software includes auto-discovery so it can display network itself. This feature is useful when adding devices to network. The setup wizard will help you customize interface to your liking. User groups and individual accounts can be created to delegate partial access to data to team members.

Nagios can monitor devices at remote sites and can extend remote server physical state monitoring by installing remote program execution agents on those servers.

A wide range of subscription options, including Nagios Core and a free version of Nagios XI for small networks, means system is truly scalable. Nagios Core can be upgraded to Nagios XI by simply installing software. You won't lose any settings when you upgrade from free version of Nagios XI to standard version and then to Enterprise package. This is a very good feature for a fast growing company.

6. Pandora NMS

Installing Pandora NMS starts with a network scan, which allows system to map topology. The network topology is just one of graphs included in dashboard to help you track your systems at a glance.

The Pandora NMS monitoring feature is based on SNMP. Your central network management node will constantly poll system to monitor status of device. Standard alertsSNMP modules report critical conditions as they occur, without waiting for status requests from network administrators. The Pandora engine can communicate with devices using SNMPv1, v2c and v3.

Pandora provides more than just real-time network monitoring. The broader system, called Pandora FMS, includes address management as well as built-in IPAM. IP Address Manager can work with IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

The third element of Pandora FMS is a configuration management system that monitors your company's software patch status and detects rogue software on your system.

Whether you're interested in this combination depends on whether you already have a satisfactory DDI package and configuration management system. However, if you're looking for a new set of web tools, this option might come in handy.

If you have a multi-site network, you can centralize all corporate WAN management in one place with remote monitoring. However, responsibilities and access rights to system can be separated into toolbars to limit access to sites to only their subnets - content of toolbar is fully customizable. Roles can also be defined in console to provide partial access to dashboard controls, allowing junior staff to securely participate and loading administrators to access reporting functionality.

Pandora NMS is a Spanish product and its prices are in Euros. The basic network monitoring package offers a free and open source version of software for community. A full-featured network management system starts at 2625 euros, and price increases as network nodes are added. This price includes an annual service and support package. Enterprise solutions for large networks include cloud service tracking. The plan starts at €3,750 for first year, including one year of support and maintenance.

Some additional features are available as add-ons but are included in Enterprise plan. These include remote access systems and SAP monitoring. If necessary, consider upgrading to Enterprise plan, which includes additional features included in price.

7. Zenoss

Zenoss Core is an open source network monitoring system that can be installed for free. There are two paid versions of this real-time network monitoring and analysis software. You can get a local version called Zenoss Service Dynamics or you can host a cloud service called Zenoss-as-a-service.

Whichever way you choose, you'll get auto-discovered modules. This automatically displays your network topology and keeps track of all devices connected to system. You can use up to 1000 network devices, but with both paidand services you can have an unlimited number of devices.

Monitoring is not limited to standard network devices, terminals and printers. It will also monitor power supplies, server racks, ports, fans, and more.

The network monitoring system is based on SNMP. It is automatically compatible with all new devices currently using network connections. SNMP alerts provide device failure notifications that are directly returned to dashboard. NetFlow monitors traffic on network.

Whether you choose to use local system or cloud version of Zenoss LAN Monitoring Service, toolbar is web-enabled, meaning it can be accessed from any operating system. Zenoss functionality can be extended to cover multiple sites and provide remote monitoring by installing collectors on each site.

ZenPacks can extend standard monitoring software. These are notification add-ons designed for specific hardware from a number of well-known device manufacturers. There is no need to install all available Zenpacks. However, knowing that a device-specific ZenPack exists will make it easier for you to purchase new devices for a multi-vendor environment.

All types of Zenoss network monitoring software include server and storage monitoring functions, as well as IP address management functions.

8. Dynatrace

Dynatrace is different from all other network monitoring systems on this list. It focuses on network connection performance rather than state of devices connected to network. The graphical representation of network is stunning and it can highlight places where physical wiring is difficult and give you an idea of ​​how best to lay out network.

Extend real-time network monitoring to virtual environments. Just like a physical network, Dynatrace will detect your connections and match them. The virtual environment layout shows how much bandwidth each virtual machine is consuming, making it more likely that you can throttle capacity. Nodes mapped as part of a virtual environment can also include any cloud services your enterprise uses.

Dynatrace analyzes network traffic at process level. You will be able to see which processes are using most resources and which areas of your infrastructure are overloaded. In addition to network resources, Dynatrace also provides server usage metrics, including memory, disk, and CPU usage.

The Dynatrace system is ideal for online businesses. You can monitor application performance and understand how each user's actions affect software activation, network activity, etc.processes and resource use. The representation of network activity is highly dependent on mappings. This is a unique approach to performance monitoring and is very effective. Focusing on process flow rather than hardware performance makes it more like a network analyzer than a simple monitoring tool.

If you've looked at other network monitoring tools on this list and come to conclusion that they don't give you details of traffic flow you're looking for, Dynatrace might be answer.

9. ConnectWise Automation

ConnectWise provides a number of network services and its network monitoring system is called Automate. This cloud solution is aimed at small and medium businesses. The company does not publish prices on its website. Instead, you must contact a sales representative to negotiate a price. For businesses, stealthy pricing methods can be a little off-putting.

Dashboards provide several formats for presenting your data, so just view a simple list of events or get a graphical display of your data in real time.

The name Automate explains how package works. The idea is that this monitoring system will do all work for you, including network discovery and user tracking. Several advanced features allow you to automate many network management tasks. For example, version control is often not an expected feature of a network monitoring system. However, Automate includes a patch management tool that keeps track of all software versions on your system and allows you to update all software versions from one central location.

ConnectWise Automate is not limited to one site. The software is capable of serving multiple MSP clients and its multiple networks. Automation can track multiple locations based on IP address ranges and subnet those client networks.

Remote management tools such as ConnectWise Control are included with ConnectWise Automate. This can be a great solution for software or IT service providers as it provides your IT department with a complete user support function, not just network monitoring software.

10. Zabbix

Zabbix is ​​another open source system. One advantage of open source software is that anyone can create add-ons. The main program is available for free, as are most add-ons.

Although toolbar is free, it looks very professional. Dashboard elements can be toggled so that most important information is displayed in most visible area of ​​the screen. Dashboard features include real-time event data, graphs, andcolor-coded lists for instant identification of important information.

The real-time Zabbix network monitoring module uses SNMP, so you can take advantage of device agent already installed on device. The Zabbix system can monitor cloud services, application performance, hardware such as racks and UPSs, and servers. If you have other sites that need to be managed centrally, system can also monitor remotely.

Zabbix does not have pre-written report modules, but you can create your own custom reports and find report formats written by others on community forum of Zabbix website.

The disadvantage of many network protocols is that they operate at lower layers of protocol stack, making encryption difficult. Zabbix includes an encryption layer that blocks eavesdroppers and spies and ensures secure transmission of surveillance data over network. The encryption system makes authentication process available, so you can create different levels of permissions to access data available on network dashboard.

Zabbix is ​​aimed at small and medium businesses, so if you are just starting out, this free network monitoring solution is perfect for you.

Recommended LAN Monitoring Tools (2)

Ganglia

Ganglia is a cluster monitoring software developed by Berkeley. It can monitor and display various information about status of nodes in cluster, such as: CPU, memory, hard disk usage, I/O load, network traffic conditions, etc. The data can be displayed in form of a curve. Rendered via php page. Ganglia monitoring software is mainly used to monitor system performance, such as: CPU, memory, hard disk usage, I/O load, network traffic conditions, etc. It is easy to see working status of each node through curve and make reasonable adjustments. The distribution of system resources plays an important role in improving overall performance of system. Browser access is supported, but technical indicators of host hardware cannot be monitored.

Cacti

Cacti is a graphical analysis toolkit for network traffic monitoring based on PHP, MySQL, SNMP and RRDTool.

Cacti fetches data via snmpget, uses RRDtool to render graphics, and you don't need to understand RRDtool's complex options at all. It provides very powerful data and user management functions. You can specify that each user can view tree structure, host, and any image. It can also be combined with LDAP to authenticate user. At same time, you can also add templates yourself. Funktion is very powerful and perfect. Friendly interface. Cacti's software development is based on making software easy for RRDTool users to use. In addition to basic monitoring of Snmp traffic and system information, Cacti can also include scripts and add templates to create various monitoring schedules.

Cacti is software implemented in php. Its main function is to use snmp service to get data and then use rrdtool to store and update data. When users need to view data, use rrdtool to create charts and present them to user. users. Hence snmp and rrdtool are keys to cacti. Snmp is about collecting data and rrdtool is about storing data and creating charts.

Zenos

Zenoss Core is an open source, enterprise-grade IT infrastructure management software and intelligent monitoring software that allows IT administrators to monitor health and health of a network architecture from a single web console. Zenoss Core is also open source network and system management software.

Zenoss offers a multifunctional product for monitoring entire IT infrastructure:

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Network - routers, switches, firewalls, access points

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Servers - Microsoft Windows, Linux, Unix, HP, NetApp, Dell

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Virtualization - complete management of virtual machine virtualization infrastructure (VI3), XenSource monitoring

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Application field - process (program), port, network application service, web service, database, middleware, commercial enterprise application solution

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The Zenoss system centrally displays various monitoring and management information to users through a standard web browser, and various system functions can be accessed through a web interface without writing any configuration files. At a high level, Zenoss has four main parts.

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Argus

Argus is a network connection monitor that you can use to set up monitoring of computers on your network that meet certain conditions, such as network idle, disconnected, etc.

Monitoring

Monit is a feature rich process, file, directory and device monitoring software for Unix platforms. It can automatically restore those programs that have stopped working, and is suitable for dealing with software errors caused by various reasons.

Monit is a magical tool for administrators. They say that NAGIOS monitors cattle, and Monit monitors not only locally, but also remotely. Moreover, while you are working hard, your service can always be "resurrected".

Nagios

Nagios is a monitoring system that keeps track of system operation status and network information. Nagios can monitor specified local or remote hosts and services, as well as provide exception notification features, etc.

Nagios can run on Linux/Unix platform and provides an optional browser-based web interface that makes it easy for system administrators to view network status, various system problems, logs, etc.

Main features of Nagios:

- Monitoring network services (SMTP, POP3, HTTP, NNTP, PING, etc.)

- Monitor host resources (processes, disks, etc.)

- Simple plug-in design can easily extend Nagios monitoring function

- parallel processing of monitoring services, etc. - error notification function (by e-mail, pager or other user-defined method)

- you can specify your own event controller,

- Optional browser-based web interface that allows system administrators to view network status, various system problems, logs, etc.

- You can view system monitoring information through your mobile phone.

Network miner

Network Sniffer/Packet Capture A Network Forensic Analysis Tool (NFAT) that can detect network traffic, sessions, hostnames, operating system open ports, etc. NetworkMiner can also parse PCAP files for offline analysis.At same time NetworkMiner can also extract network traffic transfer files.

Observium

Observium is a network monitoring tool that can automatically detect Cisco devices and Linux systems on a network, but includes extended support for major network hardware and operating systems. According to official website, "The goals of its development include: collecting as much historical data about device as possible, requiring minimal human intervention in discovery work, and software interface is very intuitive." and Memory status. Superficial interaction and verbose error messages. BGP and OSPF information MPLS settings. Sensors for temperature, fan speed, voltage, current, power, humidity and frequency. IPv4, IPv6, TCP and UDP data, users, processes, load average and update times, etc. Observium is free software, which means you can use and modify it without permission and for free.

Without caps

Colasoft Capsa Free is a powerful network analysis program that provides you with troubleshooting and monitoring information. It provides a great experience for users to learn how to monitor network activity, identify network problems, improve network security, and much more.e another.

Recommended LAN Monitoring Tools (3)

If you need to understand what's happening on your network, these tools can help.

Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics (NPMD) software, whether operating as a stand-alone device or built into network equipment, can help reduce unproductive problems for users within enterprise and when interacting with external network.

However, as enterprise network traffic continues to increase, cloud-connected users and new IoT devices skyrocket, enterprises and network performance monitoring vendors face growing challenges.

Gartner analysts Sanjit Ganguly and Vivek Bhalla wrote in a recent Magic Quadrant report that goal of NPMD products is not only to monitor network traffic and infrastructure, but also to identify performance optimization opportunities. Gartner estimates that NPMD market is worth $1.6 billion and is growing at 20% per year.

Gartner evaluated 17 vendors based on quality of their NPMD offerings, marketing, sales and product strategy, and overall size, market viability, and financial performance. NetScout, Viavi and Riverbed are MQ leaders.

Listed below are 10 NPMD vendors featured in Gartner Magic Quadrant (in alphabetical order).

1. CA Technologies

Large IT companies have long been players in field of performance management and network transparency. CA has created a range of products in this area for various use cases, relying on acquisitions to expand its product portfolio in recent years. Its main products include CA Performance Management and CA Virtual Infrastructure for Infrastructure Manager, which provide visibility into SDN and NFV environments. Related products include unified communications, traffic analysis, application delivery monitoring, and other visualization tools.

2.Cisco

Cisco dominates enterprise data center routing and switching market, and Cisco offers an integrated appliance portfolio for network monitoring and visualization.

The main product provided by Cisco is Prime Infrastructure, which provides traffic monitoring and network device configuration management. Also included are other products for packet sniffing, collaborative service monitoring, and network packet broker capabilities.

Cisco's latest product, Tetration, is an agent-based analytics platform that uses data from latest Cisco Nexus switching device chip to provide in-depth analysis of application environment and network activity. Cisco offers many products under traditional licensing model and new subscription-based modelCisco One.

3. Corvil

The Irish company positions its products for large financial services companies. The Gartner report states that one of strengths of product is short-term network monitoring, which is ideal for monitoring a large amount of traffic at same time. This appeals to financial services customers, but is also ideal for Internet of Things. Gartner also noted that Corvil software platform is a relatively unique model in industry.

4. Additional jumps

Seattle-based ExtraHop specializes in providing tools to help customers analyze IT operations and overall IT environment.Health, including products designed to monitor and analyze network behavior. Gartner says ExtraHop was among first to bring network visibility to public cloud service providers such as AWS and Azure. Gartner notes that ExtraHop NPMD product is often purchased in conjunction with other IT operations tools, but is rarely used as a standalone NPMD product.

5. Live Action

Founded in 2007, startup is a close partner of Cisco and has built a full-featured network visualization and analysis product called LiveNX in recent years. Cisco resells and supports joint customers with LiveNX. LiveAction has another end user experience monitoring product called LiveUX. LiveAction products are tightly integrated with Cisco Nexus and Catalyst product lines. It also supports SD-WAN deployments and public cloud environments such as AWS and Azure. LiveAction raised $36 million in Series B funding in 2016.

6. NetScout

According to Gartner, NetScout is market leader in network performance and visibility, placing it among "Leaders" in Magic Quadrant. The company offers a wide range of network monitoring products, including nGeniusONE, Infinistream and UC performance management products. NetScout is one of leading providers of hyperscale data center monitoring tools with products supporting 40G and 100G Ethernet data rates.

7. Pessler

The German infrastructure monitoring software company has been actively promoting international expansion in recent years. Gartner says company is primarily targeting mid-market and SMBs as it prioritizes simplified ease of use of its products. It has also released a number of new features on platform, including most recently monitoring of public cloud networks and Docker containers.

8. River bed

Riverbed focuses on WAN optimization, but has built network performance monitoring capabilities in recent years, including its Centra product linel Network Performance Management. Many of Riverbed's network monitoring products are tightly integrated with company's related application performance management products. Riverbed also acquired Ocedo last year to expand into SD-WAN market.

9. Solar winds

According to Gartner, SolarWinds' core competitiveness lies in infrastructure monitoring, and its customers are mostly small and medium enterprises. SolarWinds NPMD products include Network Performance Monitor and NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. The company combines this with its line of application performance management products. NPMD products run in hybrid cloud environments and support end user monitoring. Last year, SolarWinds was acquired by a private equity firm, which Gartner said could create business management uncertainty in short to medium term.

10. Viavi

Viavi was recognized as a Leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant, but Gartner considered company's name change from JDSU to Viavi relatively unfortunate. The company's Observer performance management platform is a suite of NPMD products that provide visualization and analysis of network and server traffic. It is a team tool with some Cisco products and has recently partnered with ScienceLogic to monitor hybrid cloud environments. Recently, Viavi has been building a network of sales partners to expand its presence.