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The internet is one of the most important assets for companies today. The increase in the quality of the resource, as well as the reduction of the applied prices, helped companies to evolve their environments and computerize a good part of their processes.
Along with the rise of the internet, increasingly robust applications have emerged and the concept of the cloud has emerged, which has been widely used by companies of all sizes and segments.
Faced with this scenario, the internet becomes one of the great resources to be managed, viewing the maintenance of the company’s operation. The users’ experience regarding the use of the internet and the reflexes on the company’s operation are frequent concerns in the day-to-day life of technology analysts and managers of organizations. This concern is based on the difficulty that normally exists during the process of identifying problems with resource slowness or unavailability.
In this blog post, some tips will be passed on to facilitate the identification of problems associated with the internet resource, going through the identification of the problem to the application of technological resources to minimize it.
Identifying the problem
The first step to be taken to solve the problem of slowness on the internet should be identifying the problem. Sometimes IT professionals who face this situation just take palliative actions, such as acquiring dedicated internet links, expanding the number of circuits contracted or increasing their bandwidth.
However, without identifying the root cause of the problem, the investment in expanding the resource can solve the problem momentarily, or even not generate any improvement in the experience of using the internet in the company.
Therefore, it becomes essential for IT professionals to scan the entire network infrastructure to identify physical failures (cabling, hardware, links, etc.), logical problems (software configurations), or conduct problems, that is, misuse. of the internet by company employees.
There are some technological resources that facilitate the identification of this problem. Using an UTM firewall solution is an excellent option to meet this need. With the use of a UTM it is possible to quickly identify the status of internet links, or to assess the consumption of each user, so it is easier to identify if the slowdown is motivated by access by collaborators or by problems associated with the internet link.
Solutions to be adopted
If the motivation for the slowness of the internet is associated with conduct problems or lack of quality of the link, it is possible to implement measures to improve the experience of users with the use of the internet, without necessarily investing in expanding the resource or in or auxiliary link contraction.
QoS (Quality of services)
QoS acts as a traffic moderator, which organizes the data flow and assigns priority to the most important accesses. When there is no Quality of Service (QoS) all traffic sources compete with each other, thus, for example, the traffic generated by the employee who wants to access the company’s ERP hosted in the cloud, essential for the performance of their functions , competes with traffic from another employee who is watching streaming videos.
Because of that, important and essential operations can be hindered by the non-prioritization of traffic generated by employees.
By using a QoS, professionals can change the way network packets are routed to the internet, allowing existing resources to be used more efficiently. Thus, these packages are marked to distinguish the types of services and the routers are configured to create separate virtual queues for each application, according to their priority.
In this way, a band can be reserved so that certain types of sites or applications have priority access. There are also other protocols and algorithms that can be used to improve the management of the internet resource, enhancing the experience obtained with the application of QoS.
In addition to the low cost of implementation, a QoS service also generates other benefits that guarantee more efficiency and savings:
- Improved user experience;
- More agile response time, according to the priority of access;
- Ease in the management of internet resources by analysts and administrators;
- Ensuring that essential applications always have the necessary resources for their operation;
- Reduces the impact caused by traffic generated by non-work related applications;
- Ensures greater employee productivity.
Web Proxy
Web proxy (also known as content filter and web filter). Web proxy is a service that acts as an intermediary between a device and internet services. The moment a website address is entered into the browser, the request is sent to the proxy, which then makes this request to the server on which the website is hosted and returns the result to the user.
In this way, it is possible to have absolute control over internet traffic and carry out blockages (or releases) according to the policies established by the company.
Web proxy allows you to control the services accessed on the internet through HTTP and is responsible for managing access to websites and other applications based on this protocol. The proxy is widely used by companies of the most varied sizes and segments, contributing to the maintenance of the business security strategy.
The feature also allows the company to manage employee access, based on URLs, times, user groups and other levels of control. By implementing the service, it is possible to have access to detailed navigation reports, including resource consumption, browsing time, most accessed websites, in addition to other functions that help in maintaining the integrity of the internet resource and the corporate network.
Application Control
Application Control is another feature for proactive control of internet use, based on application signatures, facilitating the structure of control rules in the company. It records the actions performed by the applications and manages the activities performed by them according to the security policy established for it. With application control, applications are classified into four groups:
- Reliable: digitally signed applications from trusted vendors;
- Low restriction: applications that do not have a digital signature from a trusted vendor and have received a low threat rating value.
- High restriction: applications that do not have a digital signature and have a high threat rating value.
- Untrusted: applications without a digital signature and that received a very high threat rating value.
The control of the use of applications can also be directly related to episodes of slowness on the company’s internet, so the resource is also in vogue as an alternative for companies’ technology analysts.
Choose the best solution to end the slow internet
After running the diagnosis and identifying where the biggest bottlenecks are, which help to slow down your company’s internet and after knowing what solutions can be implemented, it’s time to evaluate all the variables and decide which one best fits your needs.
If you are still unsure about the best decision to make, speak to our team of experts. They will be able to assess your situation and assist in the implementation of the solution that will guarantee the best performance for your company’s internet and for the development of your business.
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