The UDP monitoring check is a part of the ClouDNS motoring service, which scans the chosen UDP port number on the given IP address. If the connection is unsuccessful, the check is marked as DOWN.
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is a communications protocol that is primarily used to establish low-latency and loss tolerating connections between applications on the internet. UDP is an alternative to the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). UDP sends messages, called datagrams, and is considered a best-effort mode of communication . This means UDP doesn't provide any guarantees that the data will be delivered or offer special features to retransmit lost or corrupted messages.
UDP is suitable for time-sensitive applications that can’t afford retransmission delays for dropped packets. Examples include Voice over IP (VoIP), online games, and media streaming. Since high performance is needed, UDP permits packets to be dropped instead of processing delayed packets. It speeds up communications by not formally establishing a connection before data is transferred.
UDP monitoring is an essential part of network management and security, as it provides administrators with the ability to detect and respond to malicious attempts, track traffic patterns and uncover inefficiencies, and stay up-to-date on network activity. It is a proactive approach to network management, as it allows administrators to identify and respond to potential security threats and other issues quickly before they become a significant problem. Additionally, UDP monitoring offers real-time results, ensuring that administrators are always aware of any changes in the network and can take immediate action if needed. In other words, monitoring UDP is essential in maintaining the health and security of networks across all organizations.
Each Monitoring check provides a debugging option which you can use to find out where the problem comes from using Traceroute information - The traceroute command is used to determine the path between two connections. Often a connection to another device will have to go through multiple routers. The option can be found in the Monitoring check settings page on the right side of the "Uptime changes section".
Regarding UDP monitoring, it is crucial to choose the right port for each system to ensure the safety and integrity of the networks. The most popular ports used for UDP monitoring are those that are associated with DNS, DHCP, TFTP, NTP, NetBIOS, SNMP, and IPsec protocols. These specific ports such as 53 (DNS traffic), 67/68 (DHCP traffic), 69 (TFTP traffic), 123 (NTP traffic), 137/138 (NetBIOS traffic), 161/162 (SNMP traffic), and 500 (IPsec traffic) are monitored for any suspicious or malicious activity.
To sum up, the most popular UDP ports are:
Note that there are other ports used to monitor UDP that you can use. It depends on the specific use case.
Question: What is the difference between UDP and TCP monitoring?
Answer: UDP monitoring is used to assess the performance and availability of services operating over the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). TCP monitoring is used to assess the performance and availability of services running over the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).
Question: How frequently should I check my UDP connections?
Answer: It is recommended that you check your UDP connections at least once a day. If your network is critical or has a high volume of traffic, it is recommended to check it multiple times a day. We provide monitoring intervals of 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, and 60 minutes.
Question: What types of attacks can be detected with UDP monitoring?
Answer: UDP monitoring can be used to detect various types of attacks, such as denial of service attacks, buffer overflow attacks, port scans, and malicious software infections.
Question: In which plans can I take advantage of the UDP monitoring check?
Answer: You can benefit from UDP monitoring check in any of our Monitoring service plans. In addition, with Premium DNS, DDoS Protected DNS and GeoDNS plans, you can take advantage of 1 monitoring check.
Question: Can I monitor multiple networks at once with ClouDNS UDP monitoring?
Answer: Yes, in our Monitoring service plans S, M and L, you can benefit from more than 1 monitoring check.