Questions and answers for category network

Slow-loading apps, pages that won’t load, dropped online meetings, devices disconnecting from the network – these are problems everyone knows, and while most of us are used to calling them “internet problems”, they are rarely actually related to our internet provider.

Much more often, they stem from how our local network functions — all the devices along the way to the provider’s network: access points (wireless transmitters/receivers), switches (wired connection aggregators), and routers within our building. Each of these devices plays an important role in transmitting data and requires proper configuration to ensure stability and continuity. To eliminate these problems, a few key aspects need attention:

1. Physical layer

For a signal to be transmitted without interference, a stable medium is needed. For wireless networks, it’s essential to adapt the radio channels used to the surrounding environment, since using channels that are heavily congested by other devices exposes you to increased transmission interference. For wired connections, it’s worth performing cable measurements with professional testers to make sure the cable isn’t damaged and the signal reaches the other end unchanged.

2. Device monitoring

Electronics are prone to failure, sometimes due to a manufacturing defect, and network devices are no exception to this rule. Moreover, even a working device may not function correctly if its components become overloaded in some way. The only way to protect against this is proactive device monitoring, which can tell us, for example, whether a device is active, how high its CPU usage is, whether it’s overheating, and whether its throughput is sufficient for users. This kind of monitoring can be done in real time and used to generate alerts that make it easier and faster to resolve a problem, often before it starts affecting your work.

3. Data flow path

The vast majority of modern devices communicating over a network use Ethernet technology. Since this technology assumes only one physical connection between devices, creating additional connections can lead to what’s known as a “loop” — a situation where data circulates on the network indefinitely instead of reaching its destination, clogging device buffers and blocking further data flow.

Nevertheless, backup connections are useful, which is why local networks commonly use the Spanning Tree protocol, which calculates the best routes and blocks redundant ones until the main ones would be damaged. Every network device should use this protocol and have its position in the hierarchy defined through it. It’s important to ensure that the main aggregation points are also the default points traffic is sent toward, and that backup connections are unblocked only at the appropriate moments.

4. Security

Cybersecurity is an extremely important topic, not only for the continuity of system operation. Here we’ll focus only on examples of potential network disruptions, but we also encourage you to read other articles on security and expand your knowledge in this area.
On a network with no protection in place, incidents such as the following can occur:

• Traffic being redirected to a worse internet connection by introducing another router into the network
• The network hierarchy being changed by introducing a switch with a high Spanning Tree priority into the network, resulting in reduced overall
  throughput or the creation of a loop
• Access to a given internet service being blocked if someone on a guest network sharing the same public IP address as the company network engages in illegal activity
• A device containing malicious or unwanted software being introduced into the network, generating unnecessary traffic and consuming
  available bandwidth
  Such situations can be prevented through the correct and thoughtful implementation of the security features built into the operating
  systems of network devices.

Addressing these aspects effectively requires specialist knowledge and experience. We offer to carry out an audit and implement suitable solutions.

Get in touch — the BOIT team.