Baselining and Monitoring

The best method to identify potential bottlenecks in your network is to 'conduct a network performance baseline and monitor critical points'. Creating a performance baseline gives you a standard to compare against which helps in identifying anomalies. Monitoring critical points helps in detecting and troubleshooting issues that may affect network performance. 'Reducing the number of users on the network' is not feasible as it might affect the productivity of the organization. 'Upgrade all network equipment and devices' might not be necessary if the issue is caused by a specific device or link, hence it could potentially waste resources. 'Disconnect non-essential devices during peak hours' could have an adverse effect on the users and isn't a practical solution to address the core issue.

The best tool to monitor network utilization over time would be a 'network monitoring tool with historical analysis capabilities'. This tool can track and store long-term data, allowing you to identify trends, anticipate potential issues, and make informed decisions based on past and present network performance. The other options are not as effective - manually checking network resource usage every few hours is time-consuming and can't capture a comprehensive view of utilization trends. Monitoring the number of active users on the network can provide useful information, but it doesn't directly translate into network utilization data. Using a simple ping tool to ensure network connectivity only tells you whether a host is reachable through the network, but it can't give a detailed picture of network utilization or performance over time.

The best solution to determine when traffic rates exceed typical levels is to 'Establish a baseline and monitor network performance regularly'. This approach allows you to understand normal network activity so you can easily identify when traffic rates are higher than usual. 'Buy additional devices to distribute the traffic load' might not correctly address the problem if the cause is not due to load, but rather to network misconfigurations or issues. 'Reset the network switches to their factory settings' can disrupt network operation and doesn't necessarily identify or solve the actual issue. Lastly, 'Ignoring the issue and hoping it gets resolved on its own' is not a proactive or effective way to manage network issues.