What is the primary purpose of a network monitoring tool?

The primary purpose of a network monitoring tool is to analyze traffic and detect issues. These tools play a critical role in maintaining network health by continuously scanning and assessing the network for any abnormalities, performance bottlenecks, or failures.

By capturing data packets and monitoring various network components, a network monitoring tool allows administrators to gain insights into traffic patterns, identify potential breaches, or pinpoint the sources of network downtime. This information is vital for troubleshooting network problems, optimizing performance, and ensuring overall operational efficiency.

For instance, if there is a spike in traffic that may indicate a denial-of-service (DoS) attack or if certain applications are experiencing latency, the monitoring tool alerts administrators to these issues enabling a quicker response. This proactive approach is essential for maintaining service availability and performance.

Other options, while relevant to network security and management, do not represent the primary functionality of network monitoring tools. Blocking unauthorized access, managing bandwidth, or providing secure connections are tasks that fall under the broader umbrella of network security, access control management, and network management strategies rather than the specific focus of network monitoring.