Networking Basics
What are the two main Datadog products in the Networking Suite?
Cloud Network Monitoring (CNM) and Network Device Monitoring (NDM)
What does Cloud Network Monitoring visualize?
Traffic between cloud services, hosts, containers, etc.
What protocol does NDM use to collect data?
SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol).
What problem does NetFlow Monitoring solve for customers using Network Device Monitoring?
It explains what’s driving network utilization by showing which endpoints, ports, and protocols generate the traffic — not just how busy a device is.
Which persona benefits most from Datadog Network Monitoring?
DevOps, SREs, and Network Engineers — anyone responsible for performance and uptime.
What is the goal of network monitoring?
To understand how traffic flows between hosts, services, and devices - and identify bottlenecks or failures.
How can CNM help identify latency issues between services?
By showing network flows and round-trip times between IPs, containers, hosts, services, etc.
What kinds of devices can NDM monitor?
Routers, switches, firewalls, wireless controllers, and other SNMP-enabled devices.
How is Network Path Monitoring different from Cloud Network Monitoring?
CNM shows which services or hosts communicate; Path Monitoring shows what happens along the route — hop-by-hop latency, packet loss, and reachability.
How does Datadog’s agent simplify deployment vs. legacy network monitoring tools?
One agent collects all telemetry (infra, app, and network), no separate appliances or pollers.
How does Datadog’s network monitoring differ from traditional network tools?
It correlates network telemetry with metrics, logs, and traces — not just SNMP data — for full-stack visibility.
How can CNM improve cloud cost optimization?
By identifying unnecessary cross-region or traffic that adds cost.
What key metrics does NDM track?
Interface traffic, CPU/memory utilization, error rates, and device uptime.
A customer says their routers look healthy in NDM but WAN (network that connects multiple deices over a large area) performance is degraded. What Datadog feature helps pinpoint the issue?
NetFlow Monitoring — it identifies which applications, users, or IPs are saturating the link or causing spikes.
What’s a key competitive differentiator against SolarWinds or PRTG?
Datadog correlates network data with APM, logs, and infra metrics — a single pane of glass for hybrid environments.
Why is unified network visibility important for modern cloud environments?
Because networks are dynamic and distributed (complicated af twin) — Datadog ties cloud, container, and on-prem traffic into one correlated view.
What makes CNM especially useful for Kubernetes or microservices environments?
It automatically maps east-west and north-south traffic between pods, services, and clusters.
How does Datadog visualize device health in NDM?
Through out-of-the-box dashboards and device topology maps.
How can Network Path Monitoring help a hybrid customer diagnose slow connectivity between cloud and on-prem environments?
It traces every hop between endpoints, revealing where latency or packet loss occurs — for example, an ISP edge router or misconfigured gateway.
What’s one common “land and expand” path with network customers?
Start with NDM for visibility, then expand to CNM or APM for full-stack troubleshooting.
Name four network device vendors that Datadog supports for Network Device Monitoring.
Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, Aruba, Ubiquiti, Meraki, Arista
When Datadog Cloud Network Monitoring shows traffic between “services,” what does that typically represent — and what can it include in cloud environments?
In CNM, “services” usually refer to the customer’s own application components (like frontend, API, or database services) communicating across hosts, containers, or clusters.
How does NDM complement Cloud Network Monitoring?
NDM monitors physical device health and interfaces, while CNM maps traffic flow between cloud or host endpoints — together providing hybrid visibility.
How do NetFlow and Network Path Monitoring together provide complete network insight?
NetFlow shows who and what is generating traffic; Path Monitoring shows where that traffic slows down — combining flow analytics with hop-by-hop visibility for true end-to-end troubleshooting.
How can Datadog’s network monitoring drive business outcomes?
By reducing downtime, optimizing cloud spend, and speeding up incident resolution through unified observability.