What is Packet Loss & How Can it Affect Your Network?

At Pandora FMS, we know that even the most minor of network issues can quickly throw a wrench in your company’s daily operations. One of the most common network issues many experience is known as packet loss.
Here, our team of network monitoring experts goes into detail about what packet loss is, as well as how to measure it and resolve it when necessary, so read on!

What is Packet Loss?

In the simplest terms, packet loss is when one or more “packets” fail to meet their destination. In most cases, it can be a minor issue that crops up in the background of your network from time to time. In fact, many applications are designed to manage package loss by relying on the built-in retransmission solutions available from transmission control protocols or by having a monitored acceptable level of packet loss.

Is there Acceptable Packet Loss?

As mentioned previously, packet loss can often be a minor issue, but that doesn’t mean it should go unaddressed. In terms of network monitoring, there is an acceptable level of packet loss (around %1 or so) that can happen and your operations will remain unaffected. This is because things like SIP or VoIP systems are designed to tolerate a small amount.

How is Packet Loss Caused?

One of the most common causes of packet loss is having links close to maximum throughput that start dropping packets, in other words, congestion. However, there are other causes as well, like general radio-based issues, faulty hardware and in some cases, a device will purposefully drop packets for routing purposes or to limit traffic throughput.

What are the Effects of Packet Loss?

Minimal packet loss isn’t likely to affect your network too much. However, extensive packet loss will greatly reduce the speed of any throughput connection, reducing the quality of applications like streaming video and voice-over IP services, as well as other latency-sensitive protocols. Since packet loss can increase the CPU load needed to process additional network overhead there may be some delays and issues.

How Do I Check for Packet Loss?

You can determine whether your network is experiencing packet loss by first performing a ping to identify the issue; you’ll then be able to determine the percentage of packet loss your network is experiencing. Often, there’s no single cause for packet loss, meaning you’ll need to monitor your system’s different processes, like port errors and congestion, to check it for packet loss symptoms.

• Testing: To test for packet loss inside your network, you can provide extra capacity for links that are receiving more than 90% congestion. Additionally, check your router and CPU’s resources to ensure it’s not an issue with those components within your system. For issues occurring outside of your network, it can often be due to your ISP or another ISP between your path and your destination. In this case, you’ll need to provide your ISP provider with detailed information via a ping/MPR output to resolve the issue.

Reducing Packet Loss

One of the best ways to reduce packet loss is to employ network monitoring software that will monitor capacity and hardware failures throughout your network, alerting you as soon as an issue is perceived. Providing proper network maintenance is another good way to avoid packet loss issues and keep your system running at peak performance levels.

Our Network Monitoring Solutions

As one of today’s leading network and server monitoring companies, Pandora FMS ensures your network is functioning properly.

Remote Network Monitoring: Pandora FMS delivers remote network monitoring without external access via our cutting-edge satellite servers.

Our basic network monitoring features include:

• Advanced Availability Reports
• Remote Software & License Inventory
• Polling SNMP v3 & Complete SNMP Trap Management
• NetFlow for Network Capacity Management & Low-Level Performance
• Integrated MIB Explorer, with Custom MIB Loading
• Auto-Discovery of Networks at Levels 2 & 3
• Integrated SSH & Telnet Console
• Historical Graphs for Up to 3Years Back
• High Availability
• Integrated IPAM for IP Addressing Management (IPv4/IPv6)
• Linux & Windows Monitoring
• & More!

We’re Experts in Complex Networks & Environments

When it comes to working with complicated networks and environments, the team from Pandora FMS are proven experts. Since 2004, we’ve helped clients overcome complex network issues by offering a comprehensive tool and obtaining key insight into their systems.

Our monitoring software is designed to offer users high scalability, adapting as the needs of your business grow. Thanks to our satellite servers and Metaconsole, we enable horizontal growth that is designed to handle thousands of network queries and duties per second. In some cases, our clients operate thousands of network devices and our monitoring solutions help them manage any issue that’s thrown at them.

Contact Pandora FMS for comprehensive monitoring solutions and technology!

If you want to get a handle on your company’s daily operations and improve and secure your network, the team from Pandora FMS would love to tell you more about our offerings. In addition to our network and server monitoring solutions, we offer SAP monitoring capabilities, log collection, and many more services designed to improve your capabilities.

Pandora FMS is committed to helping companies implement horizontal and integrated monitoring, combining key insight from different departments and sources to provide companies with a single dashboard to supervise their technology. We work with clients located in more than 40 countries around the world and have experience working with businesses in any industry, of any size.

We also offer support and training services to ensure a seamless implementation at every level of your business. To learn more about how we can help you improve efficiency and gain greater control of your network, contact us online.