Applies To: WatchGuard Network Management
This feature is only available to participants in the WatchGuard Network Management Beta program.
WatchGuard Network Management provides visibility into the health, performance, availability, and connectivity of devices across your managed network infrastructure.
Network Management discovers assets across configured network ranges, collects inventory and operational data from monitored devices, generates alerts when issues occur, and maps network relationships to help administrators understand and troubleshoot their environment.
Network Management combines asset discovery, inventory management, performance monitoring, topology analysis, alerts, reports, and maintenance schedules in a single solution. Network Management helps administrators discover devices, map network relationships, monitor health and performance, and identify changes that affect network operations. Administrators can use Network Management to understand what devices exist in their environment, monitor the operational status of those devices, and investigate issues that affect network performance or availability.
Key Features
Network Management includes these capabilities:
Asset Discovery
Discovery identifies devices across configured network ranges and adds them to the asset inventory.
Asset Monitoring
Network Management collects health, performance, connectivity, and inventory information from monitored assets.
Network Topology
Topology maps show relationships between locations, networks, and assets and help administrators analyze connectivity issues and identify potential points of failure.
Alert Management
Alert rules generate alerts when monitored assets meet specified conditions.
Maintenance Windows
Maintenance windows suppress alerts for monitored assets during planned maintenance activities.
Reports
Scheduled reports provide summary information about network health, asset inventory, and alert activity.
How Network Management Works
Network Management uses several components that work together to discover, organize, monitor, and report on network assets.
At a high level, Network Management administrator use this workflow:
- Create locations that represent the sites you want to monitor.
- Deploy collectors to gather discovery and monitoring data.
- Configure credentials to authenticate with devices.
- Define network ranges available for discovery.
- Configure discovery settings.
- Discover assets across configured networks.
- Enable monitoring for assets that require operational visibility.
- Configure alert rules and maintenance windows.
- Use topology maps, alerts, dashboards, and reports to monitor network health.
Network Management Components
Locations
Locations represent the physical or logical sites that Network Management monitors.
A location can represent:
- A branch office
- Corporate headquarters
- A campus environment
- A data center
- A retail location
Locations provide the organizational structure for collectors, networks, assets, alerts, dashboards, and topology maps.
For more information, go to Manage Network Management Locations.
Collectors
Collectors gather discovery and monitoring data from assets on the network.
Network Management supports these collector types:
- Remote Collector — A software-based collector that runs on a supported host and gathers discovery and monitoring data from devices on the local network.
- Firebox Collector — A collector that runs on a supported Firebox and gathers discovery and monitoring data from devices on the local network.
Firebox Collectors use an embedded collector agent on supported Fireboxes to perform asset discovery and collect inventory, health, performance, and connectivity data from network devices.
Fireboxes must run Fireware v2026.4 or higher to support Firebox Collectors.
Before Network Management can discover assets at a location, at least one collector must be associated with that location. For more information, go to Manage Network Management Collectors.
Credentials
Credentials enable collectors to authenticate with devices, so they can collect inventory, performance, connectivity, and health information from supported devices.
Network Management supports:
- SNMP credentials
- SSH credentials
- WMI credentials
For more information, go to Manage Network Management Credentials.
Networks
Networks define the network ranges associated with locations and collectors. Collectors use network definitions during discovery to identify assets within those network ranges. For more information, go to Configure Network Management Networks.
Discovery
Discovery identifies assets on configured networks and adds those assets to the asset inventory.
Discovery uses:
- Collectors
- Credentials
- Network definitions
- Discovery settings
Discovery settings determine how frequently Network Management evaluates networks and how many subnets collectors scan during each discovery cycle.
For more information, go to Configure Network Management Discovery.
Assets
After discovery identifies assets, they show on the Configure Assets page.
Network Management differentiates between two asset states:
- Discovery Only
- Monitored
Discovery-Only Assets
Discovery-only assets appear in inventory and topology views but do not provide monitoring data. They do not consume a device in your license.
Monitored Assets
Monitored assets appear in inventory and topology views and provide operational visibility.
Monitored assets provide:
- Health information
- Performance metrics
- Connectivity information
- Polling data
- Alert data
Only monitored assets participate fully in Network Management workflows.
For more information, go to Configure Network Management Assets.
Alert Rules
Alert rules define the conditions that generate alerts. When a monitored asset meets the conditions specified in an alert rule, Network Management generates an alert. Network Management includes default alert rules and supports custom alert rules that align with the requirements of your environment.
For more information, go to Configure Network Management Alert Rules.
Maintenance Windows
Maintenance windows work with alert rules to determine whether Network Management generates alerts during scheduled maintenance periods.
Use maintenance windows for activities such as:
- Firmware upgrades
- Software updates
- Planned reboots
- Device replacement
- Infrastructure maintenance
For more information, go to Configure Network Management Maintenance Windows.
Monitor Your Environment
After configuration is complete, use the Monitor pages to review network health.
Topology
The Topology page provides a location-based view of monitored infrastructure.
Use topology maps to:
- Review location health.
- Review monitored assets.
- Review network relationships.
- Investigate connectivity issues.
- Identify potential points of failure.
For more information, go to Monitor Network Management Topology.
Alerts
The Alerts page provides a centralized view of issues that affect monitored assets and locations.
Use the Alerts page to:
- Review active alerts.
- Prioritize issues by severity.
- Investigate affected assets and locations.
- Manage alert status.
For more information, go to Monitor Network Management Alerts.
Assets
The Assets page provides inventory, health, performance, and connectivity information for monitored assets.
Use the Assets page to:
- Review asset health.
- Analyze performance metrics.
- Review connectivity information.
- Investigate asset-specific issues.
For more information, go to Monitor Network Management Assets.
Dashboard
The Network Dashboard provides a high-level summary of network health across your managed environment.
Dashboard widgets help administrators identify locations, monitored assets, and alerts that require attention.
For more information, go to:
Reports
Network Management includes scheduled reports that help administrators share network health information with stakeholders.
Executive Summary reports can provide information about:
- Network health
- Asset inventory
- Alert activity
- Operational trends
Administrators can schedule reports to run on a recurring basis and distribute reports through WatchGuard Cloud.
For more information, go to Schedule WatchGuard Network Management Reports.
Deployment Considerations
Before you deploy Network Management:
- Determine how you want to organize locations.
- Identify the collector strategy for each site.
- Review credential requirements.
- Define discovery scope.
- Determine which assets require active monitoring.
- Review managed device seat requirements.
- Identify assets that require custom alert coverage.
A well-planned deployment can simplify asset management, topology analysis, alert investigation, network monitoring, and ongoing administration across your environment.
Next Steps
To configure Network Management, go to Get Started with WatchGuard Network Management.
For detailed configuration instructions, go to Configure WatchGuard Network Management.
To review network health and investigate issues, go to Monitor WatchGuard Network Management.