What’s the Big Deal about Using YouTube on Your Network?

Introduction
When you watch things on YouTube, you might not think about the fact that this could affect network performance. Did you know that one video that is only a few minutes can be as large as three hundred megabytes?

One thing that is hard to notice about streaming video is the size of the files you’re viewing on video sites. This is especially true from a user’s perspective. That’s why you can see latency problems as well as jitter issues when a lot of people start looking at online video.

Steps
When you watch things on YouTube, you might not think about the fact that this could affect network performance. Did you know that one video that is only a few minutes can be as large as three hundred megabytes?

One thing that is hard to notice about streaming video is the size of the files you’re viewing on video sites. This is especially true from a user’s perspective. That’s why you can see latency problems as well as jitter issues when a lot of people start looking at online video.

So how can you prevent network traffic bottlenecks when that next action movie trailer or funny video goes viral?

Traffic Filtering Yeah, that’s going to make you unpopular, but many organizations do it, and it’s your determination if you want to be the bad guy. Traffic filtering allows you to set up a customized view of network traffic so you can see who’s using the network and how.

WAN Optimization Get a handle on your network first. Here are some tips on [http://www.solarwinds.com/geek/geekguides/network_monitoring_fundamentals_guide.aspx network monitoring fundamentals. ]

Get a call the internet is down? Here are some steps you should take with your network performance monitor.
 * 1) 	Click on your internet gateway. Check out the router status there to see whether or not it is operational.
 * 2) 	If you do see that there is a problem with a particular router from within your tools, drill down to see what the specific issue is. Most quality network monitoring tools will allow you to dig deep and possibly get user-specific on what the problem really is.
 * 3) 	Is there a configuration management issue? You should check out the networking tools that you use to make sure that your configurations are properly set up.

Going back to having the correct tools to diagnose these issues, it’s always a good idea to use a solution that allows you as a network admin to be able to check out what is going on at remote sites.

If you have more than one location that your traffic routes to (and who doesn’t these days) make sure that you are using tools that are not probe or agent specific. You can always utilize the information that is already in your Cisco devices,  especially when coupled with the right network performance software. Just don’t forget that network management  allows you to make your devices work smarter for you, rather than being a slave to the equipment that you manage.