LOCAL AREA NETWORK MONITORING FRAMEWORK FOR BANDWIDTH OPTIMIZATION IN UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA

Bandwidth demand in Kenyan universities is at a constant rise. The availability of bandwidth is generally not enough to meet demands and to support optimal usage. The term bandwidth is mostly used to describe traffic limitation in a network, while traffic on the other hand is the amount of data that is sent and received. If Kenyan universities are to participate in high-end quality research, they must invest massively in bandwidth. Institutions have ignored traffic limitations and capitalized on increasing the bandwidth size. Bandwidth management is needed to catch up with the challenges of the day-to-day tasks of networking, communicating, and researching in our Kenyan universities. This study is purposed to develop a local area network monitoring framework for bandwidth optimization in Kenyan Universities. The study was guided by the following objectives: to establish bandwidth monitoring technologies employed in universities in Kenya, to determine the challenges facing bandwidth distribution in Kenyan universities, and to develop the LAN monitoring framework for bandwidth optimization in universities in Kenya. The research adopted an experimental research design approach, where objectives one and two were carried out through data collected from primary data (network monitoring tools). The data was collected and analyzed through both descriptive and inferential statistics. The data collected and analyzed was used to develop a LAN monitoring framework for bandwidth optimization in universities. The findings addressed the major challenges faced by network administrators in monitoring network traffic and allocation of bandwidth. The analysis of bandwidth monitoring tools in university settings identified Nagios and ntopng as the most effective due to their compatibility, security features, and open-source flexibility. These tools complement each other, with Nagios providing broad network monitoring and ntopng offering detailed traffic analysis. Challenges affecting bandwidth optimization in Kenyan universities include ICT infrastructure limitations, hardware constraints, network congestion, outdated routers, and software misconfigurations. Environmental factors, such as signal interference and distance from routers, also impact bandwidth efficiency.