What is network latency?
Network latency is the time it takes for a packet of data to be transmitted and received from source to destination. This is often termed the round-trip time (RTT), or network delay, and is measured in milliseconds.
Network latency is different to throughput and bandwidth. These are sometimes used as interchangeable terms which is not accurate, but they are related in terms of the impact they can have on network performance. One thing is clear however, high network latency will result in poor network and application performance and responsiveness.
What are the symptoms and main causes of network latency?
If you have a network connection or connections experiencing high latency measurements, this usually is a sign that there is poor or slow network performance. The logic is simple. If it takes longer for the data packets to reach their destination, this will have a notable effect on the user experience and will result in a noticeable lag in network response. In some instances, slow network performance may not be related directly to high latency; other factors that can influence network latency include, issues with a server database, a web server failure in a cluster, a misconfigured load balancer, or network devices discarding packets due to congestion.
There are several key factors that influence RTT; physical distance from the source to the destination (number of hops), the quality of network connection and infrastructure that underpins the network, the routing architecture, and the responsiveness of the end destination.
How can latency affect your business?
We have all been victims of network latency issues at some time or another! Network latency can affect how we transact or interact with customers. High latency can negatively impact our ability to interact with critical business applications, websites, communication platforms and systems. This could lead to a drop in staff productivity and a lot of wasted time if they are unable to successfully transact with customers or not able to use systems that they depend on. Network latency can also have an impact on your reputation and, in some instances, lead to a loss of revenue.
How to monitor latency proactively?
If you have deployed a network performance monitor solution such as Techniche Statseeker NPM and have performed a discovery of your network infrastructure, the collection of latency data metrics is automated, performed at a very high frequency and measured with precision. This provides two major benefits; one, you are collecting data samples at frequent intervals which provides an excellent baseline for measurements, and two, the ability to capture the metrics at a high precision level means you can gain additional visibility into networks that are designed or performing at sub millisecond level.
Another important feature of an NPM tool is the ability to store the data at a granularity or resolution that enables you to analysis the data for clear trends and anomalies. Establishing a regular baseline pattern of what is classed as normal business activity will enable you to visualize and respond to out-of-the-norm patterns when there are periods of unusual high latency compared to the baseline.
The high-resolution data capability will also allow you to implement more proactive latency thresholds when using the comparative baseline against the current latency measurement and then using that proactive threshold to alert you of this unusual activity. When you combine these key capabilities together into a single solution, this is defined as implementing a proactive latency monitoring solution. Proactive predictive monitoring should always be a focus of attention or a discipline of any monitoring solution to help detect problems before they become major issues.
Next steps…
Techniche Statseeker NPM helps MSPs, businesses and government organizations meet their real-time network performance requirements.
If you’d like to try Techniche Statseeker NPM for 45 days at no cost, request a trial here.