By bridging the visibility gap between the private cloud and external service dependencies, Network Observability by Broadcom transforms network monitoring from a reactive task into a proactive mechanism for architectural assurance. It provides the empirical data necessary to eliminate finger-pointing, validate complex multi-cloud designs, and ensure that migrated applications meet or exceed performance targets from day one. Ultimately, this solution serves as a cornerstone for proving VCF success by aligning network health directly with reliable user experiences and business outcomes.
Network Observability Use Case Comparison
|
Use Case |
Reported Problems |
How Network Observability Helps |
|
WAN Performance |
End-users report general slowness between offices and data centers. |
Identifies performance issues outside the VCF perimeter and provides hop-by-hop data to hold ISPs accountable. |
|
Configuration Drift |
Post-deployment changes on devices (like switches) cause unmanaged impact. |
Finds errors as they occur and pinpoints the exact device and error within minutes. |
|
App & Service Availability |
Problems logging into VCF services or lack of connectivity to NSX load balancers. |
Uses synthetic monitoring to simulate user workflows and find issues before users do. |
|
Physical Network Faults |
Difficulty proving that issues originate outside the VCF team's domain. |
Provides data-driven proof (MTTI) that VCF is healthy, moving discussions from finger-pointing to analysis. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What specific network metrics does the solution monitor?
The solution tracks crucial performance metrics including latency, jitter, packet loss, and Mean Opinion Score (MOS). It also provides real-time inference of end-to-end bandwidth delivered by ISPs.
How does it help with cloud migrations to VCF?
Network Observability establishes empirical performance baselines for legacy applications before migration. After the move, it runs identical tests to the new VCF environment to provide objective validation that performance targets are met.
What is "synthetic transaction monitoring?"
This capability continuously simulates critical user workflows, such as logging into web applications, navigating pages, and filling out forms. These tests can be performed from within the VCF environment or from external branch offices to identify slowdowns 24/7.
Does it provide visibility into third-party SaaS and Public Clouds?
Yes, it extends visibility to major public clouds like Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud, as well as critical SaaS applications such as ServiceNow, Microsoft Office 365, and Workday.
How does this support collaboration between CloudOps and NetOps teams?
The solution provides a unified view of performance data, which is essential since troubleshooting often begins with network insights. By providing a "single source of truth," it helps teams quickly identify the owner and root domain of a performance issue
