Network and Web site performance monitors focus on different tasks, such as tracking activities or predicting performance. To optimize your network, you might need to select a combination of tools. For example, Cisco's CiscoWorks2000 is a fairly straightforward standalone package for mapping and monitoring devices on small, Microsoft Windows NT and Win 2000 networks, but is specific to Cisco equipment. Program suites with various customizable components may fit some users' requirements best. BMC Software's Patrol 2000 Suite, Computer Associates' ManageIT and Extreme Networks' ExtremeWare all come with monitoring, traffic analysis and tracking components as well as other advanced features.
Some performance monitors tend to emphasize specific functions.
For example, Entuity's Eye of the Storm 2.5 works by drilling down to the network operating center level to predict network performance. When selecting your software, remember that any single product probably won't achieve everything you want it to. Monitoring Web site performance has become a growth industry for organizations involved in electronic commerce and with highly evolved Web sites. Among those functions is real-time monitoring of information about site use and performance with the goal of keeping surfers interested in your Web site. Watching the Web Web performance monitors approach their tasks differently.