Cloud Network Traffic Collection and Analysis White Paper (2022)

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IDC's recent study forecasts that in the upcoming two years, a majority of companies will lean towards hybrid and multi-cloud strategies to develop their cloud-native platforms. As businesses expand their cloud-based activities, the internal (east-west) traffic has unexpectedly skyrocketed, posing a significant challenge: how to precisely collect and manage this data flow. In light of this, Gartner advises: "IT leaders should revamp their traffic management strategies, enhancing visibility within hybrid environments to bolster future performance tracking and control."

Netis posits that analyzing cloud network traffic observability is a key strategy for improving performance management in both cloud-native and hybrid settings. Utilizing advanced, comprehensive, and non-invasive techniques for data collection and processing, organizations can achieve a detailed view of their cloud network traffic across various setups and frameworks, leading to total network transparency. To aid companies in navigating these hurdles, Netis presents the "Cloud Network Traffic Collection and Analysis White Paper (2022)." This guide is organized into six main sections: the challenges presented by the cloud era, the benefits of cloud network traffic observability, frameworks and technologies for data collection and analysis, practical deployment strategies, examples from typical scenarios, and best practices across industries. This comprehensive approach aims to furnish every sector with the most effective cloud migration strategies.

The white paper highlights the following key insights:

1. Key Capabilities

• Versatility Across Environments:

Comprehensive support for various settings: compatible with leading operating systems, chipsets, and both virtualized and containerized frameworks.

Microservice Compatibility: Adaptable to a range of deployment models within a microservice architecture, alongside support for diverse container runtimes.

• Broad Skill Set:

Packet Handling: Facilitates key operations on data packets, including collection, filtering, distribution, trimming, and eliminating duplicates.

Flow and Telemetry: Essential for cloud network traffic visualization, this involves preprocessing collected raw data packets, generating Flow logs, and enabling Telemetry functionalities.

Data Packet Tagging: Allows for the tagging of collected raw data packets, integrating details from business, network, and security contexts directly into the data.

Reliable TCP Transfers: Utilizes TCP protocol for the secure and dependable transmission of collected data packets.

• Non-intrusive Operations: Designed to be minimally invasive, it requires no alterations to existing business processes.

• Autonomy in Management: Encompasses integration with management platforms, real-time status updates on collectors, self-monitoring, automatic problem resolution, and comprehensive visualization capabilities.

• Scalable Architecture: Supports seamless scaling to adapt to changing demands.

2. Key Technologies

• Collection Technologies:

Application Scenarios: Classified into major categories such as public and private clouds from the application standpoint; from a technical angle, broken down into VMs and container technologies.

Capabilities: Initially, traffic collection must span diverse scenarios with specific collection strategies tailored for each. Furthermore, in mixed environments, layered traffic collection requires integration into a singular management platform.

• Layered Approach/vTAP: Netis advocates for a comprehensive approach in cloud traffic management, encapsulating layered collection, processing, refinement, and management. This strategy is vital to maintain granularity and overall observability amidst vast arrays of managed objects and substantial traffic.

• Fundamental Collection Techniques: Given the cloud's intricate and varied base layer, selecting the ideal collection technology tailored to distinct environments is crucial for maximizing performance and efficiency.

• Support for Autonomous Environments: Cloud network traffic and observability analysis should cater to self-sufficient servers, including those running on ARM architecture or bespoke operating systems.

• Enhanced Flow Support: Implementing detailed Flow analytics tailored to specific consumer scenarios across networks, applications, and security can significantly address the balance between value and cloud network expenditures.

• Advanced Telemetry: Integrating Open Telemetry features enhances observability capabilities while concurrently minimizing the resource footprint on cloud network traffic.

3. Deployment Strategies

This section outlines five key strategies: comprehensive collector setup, host-based traffic gathering, virtual machine traffic monitoring, containerized environment data collection, and vTAP segmentation. The white paper provides a thorough breakdown of each strategy.

4. Key Use Cases

• Security Monitoring: Effective cloud network traffic systems are crucial for precise, real-time monitoring of internal cloud service traffic.

Situational Awareness: In the era of cloud integration, understanding the security landscape within business processes is critical. This demands accurate cloud traffic analyses supported by foundational security mechanisms.

Enhanced Security Compliance (Level Protection 2.0): Ensuring high-level security standards such as Level Protection 2.0 necessitates comprehensive cloud network traffic oversight.

• Business and Application Monitoring (BPM/APM): Netis highlights how BPM, aided by network traffic insights, swiftly pinpoints user experience issues. Coupled with APM’s in-depth application analysis, this offers a holistic approach to cloud observability.

• Network Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics (NPMD): Cloud monitoring diverges from traditional methods, incorporating elements like Availability Zones (AZ), Virtual Private Clouds (VPC), and services. This entails advanced capabilities in cloud structure analysis and in-depth, multi-tiered session tracking.

Cloud Structure Insights: Understanding cloud network architecture requires robust monitoring, supported by specialized cloud traffic collection and tagging techniques, to navigate the cloud's dynamic nature and prevent data bottlenecks.

In-depth Network Tracking: Detailed session tracking in cloud networks demands sophisticated collection and tagging techniques to follow traffic through multiple layers.

• Database Management and Security: The advent of distributed architectures necessitates a new approach to database monitoring. Frequent interactions between data and access nodes heighten the risk of issues. Opting for cloud traffic observability for distributed database oversight offers a superior solution.

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Netis specializes in Business Performance Analysis (BPC) and Network Performance Monitoring (NPM). Each day, our transaction monitoring solutions ensure the smooth completion of over 30 billion transactions. We prioritize the security and autonomy of systems and data. Utilizing real-time analysis through network traffic mirroring, we ensure zero intrusion into business operations, without the need for any agent installations. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, Netis is a global software company renowned for its high-performance, cost-effective products. If you're interested in our offerings, please don't hesitate to reach out. We eagerly await your trial and partnership.

For further details, visit: www.netis.com/en/

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