Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) connections are a popular choice for enterprises due to their reliability, security, and performance in transmitting critical business data. However, MPLS can be expensive, especially for businesses operating across multiple locations. Implementing effective network monitoring can significantly reduce these costs. This article explores how network monitoring with Site24x7 can help you optimize MPLS usage and lower expenses.
What is MPLS?
MPLS is a routing technique used in telecommunications networks to direct data packets based on preassigned labels rather than IP addresses. This method ensures faster, more efficient data transfers by bypassing complex routing table lookups. MPLS is known for its reliability and ability to maintain high-quality service for critical applications like voice, video, and real-time data transfer tools.
Advantages of MPLS
- Reliability: It ensures consistent, dependable performance.
- Security: Data flows within a private network, reducing exposure to external threats.
- Quality of service (QoS) mechanisms: It offers prioritization for critical traffic.
Limitations of MPLS
- Costs: MPLS circuits are expensive, especially as network demands grow.
- Scalability: Adding bandwidth or new locations can be time-consuming and costly.
- Lack of flexibility: It's tied to specific service providers and limited in adaptability.
What is the difference between SD-WANs and MPLS?
SD-WANs
A software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) is a networking technology that uses software to intelligently route traffic over various connection types, such as broadband, LTE, and MPLS. Compared to traditional MPLS networks, it provides greater flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency.
Key differences between MPLS and SD-WANs
| Feature | MPLS | SD-WANs |
|---|---|---|
| Costs | Expensive due to dedicated circuits and premium services | More cost-effective, leveraging cheaper internet connections |
| Flexibility | Limited—tied to specific service providers | Highly flexible, supporting multiple connection types and providers |
| Performance | High performance for critical applications but at a high cost | Optimize performance using intelligent routing and traffic prioritization |
| Scalability | Complex and expensive to scale for new locations or bandwidth needs | Easily scalable with centralized management and automation |
| Security | Inherent security due to the private network architecture | Enhanced security with integrated encryption and firewalls |
| Management | Requires manual intervention and expertise | Simplified, centralized management through software platforms |
When to use MPLS or SD-WANs
- MPLS: Suitable for businesses requiring high performance, low latency, and guaranteed QoS mechanisms for critical applications
- SD-WANs: Ideal for organizations seeking cost-efficiency, scalability, and flexibility, especially those with distributed locations
Key ways network monitoring reduces MPLS costs
1. Identifying underutilized links
Many organizations over-provision MPLS bandwidth to avoid congestion and performance issues. Network monitoring tools help identify underutilized links by providing detailed visibility into bandwidth usage across all MPLS connections. With this data, businesses can:
- Downgrade bandwidth for underused circuits.
- Consolidate traffic to fewer links where feasible.
2. Optimizing and prioritizing traffic
Network monitoring tools analyze traffic patterns and help identify non-critical traffic-consuming MPLS bandwidth by using traffic shaping techniques, such as:
- QoS mechanisms: Prioritize mission-critical traffic over less essential traffic.
- Offloading non-critical traffic: Redirect non-essential traffic, such as large file transfers or backups, to cheaper internet links or SD-WAN connections. This reduces unnecessary MPLS usage and prevents you from overpaying for excess capacity.
3. Identifying performance bottlenecks
Latency, packet loss, or jitter in an MPLS network can indicate inefficient routing or hardware issues. Network monitoring tools pinpoint these bottlenecks, enabling administrators to:
- Resolve issues promptly to maintain SLA compliance.
- Avoid over-allocating bandwidth as a work-around for performance issues.
4. Detecting anomalies and misuse
The unauthorized or excessive use of MPLS bandwidth by certain applications, devices, or users can inflate costs. Network monitoring tools detect such anomalies and provide actionable insights to help you:
- Enforce acceptable use policies.
- Block or throttle unwanted traffic at its source.
5. Capacity planning for future needs
Comprehensive monitoring trends help businesses accurately predict future bandwidth requirements. This prevents over-provisioning and enables the cost-effective scaling of MPLS connections.
6. Supporting hybrid networking
With the rise of SD-WAN technologies, many organizations are moving towards hybrid network architectures, which include traditional on-premises networks alongside SD-WANs and MPLS connections. Monitoring all these with a single tool enables organizations to:
- Identify traffic that can be offloaded to cheaper SD-WAN links.
- Ensure seamless failover between MPLS and broadband internet connections.
7. Reducing downtime costs
Network outages and downtime result in financial losses and additional troubleshooting expenses. Continuous monitoring tools detect potential issues before they escalate, ensuring higher uptime and preventing costly emergency MPLS bandwidth upgrades.
How Site24x7 helps reduce MPLS costs
Site24x7 provides an array of features specifically designed to optimize MPLS network performance and reduce costs. Here’s how it helps:
1. Real-time bandwidth monitoring
- Track bandwidth usage across all MPLS connections in real time.
- Generate reports to identify underutilized or overburdened links.
- Identify opportunities for bandwidth reduction or reallocation.
2. Application-aware traffic analysis
- Gain deep insights into traffic patterns with application-level visibility.
- Detect and prioritize traffic based on business-criticality.
- Optimize traffic flows using QoS insights.
3. Advanced alerts and reporting
- Set up custom thresholds for latency, packet loss, and jitter to identify potential issues.
- Receive instant alerts about performance degradation.
- Use detailed reports to make informed decisions about MPLS management.
4. Historical data and trend analysis
- Leverage historical data to predict future bandwidth needs accurately.
- Avoid overpaying for unnecessary capacity by optimizing based on actual usage trends.
5. Hybrid network monitoring
- Monitor and manage both MPLS and SD-WAN links from a single platform.
- Ensure the optimal performance of hybrid network architectures by intelligently balancing traffic.
6. Root cause analysis
- Quickly identify and resolve issues affecting MPLS performance.
- Prevent prolonged outages or performance degradation that could lead to unnecessary costs.
7. Cost-effective scalability
- With Site24x7’s flexible pricing model, scale your monitoring capabilities in line with your network expansion without incurring prohibitive costs.
Use case: Optimizing MPLS costs with network monitoring
Scenario
A multinational enterprise relies heavily on MPLS connections to ensure reliable communications and data transfers between its global offices and remote facilities. However, rising MPLS costs due to over-provisioned bandwidth and unpredictable traffic patterns are eating into the operational budget.
Challenges
The enterprise faces several issues:
- High MPLS costs due to unused bandwidth.
- Performance bottlenecks during peak traffic times
- Limited visibility into traffic patterns across the network
How Site24x7 can help
- Bandwidth analysis: It identifies underutilized MPLS links in specific locations, allowing the enterprise to downgrade bandwidth for those sites, saving costs without impacting performance.
- Traffic prioritization: Site24x7’s application-aware monitoring helps the enterprise optimize traffic flows by prioritizing business-critical applications and offloading non-essential traffic to cheaper broadband connections.
- Anomaly detection: Viewing unusual spikes in bandwidth usage caused by unauthorized file transfers enables the IT team to address misuse promptly.
- Performance insights: Viewing latency issues caused by inefficient routing allows the network administrators to reconfigure the enterprise's network and improve performance.
Results
The enterprise can typically achieve:
- A reduction in MPLS costs through bandwidth optimization and downgrades.
- Improved network performance with minimal latency and congestion.
- Better resource allocation and planning for future growth based on accurate traffic trend analysis.
Implementation steps
The enterprise can typically achieve:
- Deploy Site24x7: Discover your network using our probe for end-to-end visibility into MPLS connections.
- Set monitoring goals: Define key metrics to track, such as bandwidth utilization, latency, and packet loss.
- Analyze reports: Use Site24x7’s dashboards and reports to identify cost-saving opportunities.
- Take action: Optimize bandwidth, enforce QoS policies, and consider hybrid networking options based on insights.
- Continuously monitor: Regularly review network performance to ensure sustained cost savings.
Conclusion
Effective network monitoring is a critical strategy for reducing MPLS costs. By providing actionable insights into bandwidth usage, traffic patterns, and network performance, monitoring ensures optimal resource allocation and prevents unnecessary expenses. Tools like Site24x7 simplify this process, delivering powerful features for managing MPLS connections efficiently while enabling hybrid networking. Adopting such solutions ensures that businesses can achieve both cost savings and high performance in their network infrastructures.
Tools like Site24x7 simplify this process, delivering powerful features for managing MPLS connections efficiently while enabling hybrid networking. Adopting such solutions ensures that businesses can achieve both cost savings and high performance in their network infrastructures.