By Teddy Bennett, remote-access-software.net

 

Working as a systems administrator for Windows, I use a lot of software and utilities that make my work easier and I would like to share the information. Here you can find my top 10 tools for network scanning, inventory, monitoring, mapping, layout and designing, port and IP scanning and so on…

Fast, robust and easy-to-use IP scanner for Windows. It easily lets you have various types of information about local network computers in a few seconds. Advanced IP Scanner gives you one-click access to many useful functions - remote shutdown and wake up, Radmin integration and more. Powered with multithread scan technology, this program can scan hundreds computers per second, allowing you to scan 'C' or 'B' class network.

Small, fast, robust and easy-to-use port scanner for Win32 platform. It uses a multithread technique, so on fast machines you can scan ports very fast. Also, it contains descriptions for common ports, and can perform scans on predefined port ranges.

This tiny program checks HTTPS (CONNECT) and SOCKS 4 / SOCKS 5 proxy lists and is able to understand TXT and HTML file formats (you can check proxies in downloaded Web pages). Program supports multi-threading (can check many proxies simultaneously). Checks proxy lists of any sizes. The program has links to fresh SOCKS proxy lists.

Network Asset Tracker allows you to make up a network inventory without installation of software on the user PCs. This program allows you to get quick and complete information about operational systems, service packs, hot fixes, hardware, installed software and running processes on remote PCs. You can also create reports about the hardware, installed software, and running processes on the computers in your local network.

Essential NetTools is a set of network scanning, security, and administrator tools useful in diagnosing networks and monitoring your computer's network connections. The program includes a NetStat utility that shows your computer's network connections and open ports and maps them to the owning application. It also features a fast NetBIOS scanner, a NetBIOS Auditing Tool for checking LAN security, and a monitor of external connections to your computer's shared resources, as well as a process monitor that displays information about all the programs and services running on your computer.

BWMeter is a powerful bandwidth meter, monitor and traffic controller, which measures, displays and controls all traffic to/from your computer or on your network. Unlike other products, it can analyze the data packets (where they come from, where they go, which port and protocol they use). BWMeter creates statistics for all computers in your network, measuring and displaying all LAN traffic as well as download and upload from the internet.Version 4.3.2 includes fixes like minor issues with sending emails using SSL and has various small internal improvements.

NetCrunch 5 offers agentless policy-based availability monitoring of Windows using WMI, Linux using SSH, NetWare and SNMP devices in one package. It centralizes fault management by collecting and alerting on events from SNMP sources, Windows Event Logs and syslog servers. The program contains over 65 built-in Network Service monitors and user experience monitors for services like DNS, FTP, POP3, SMTP and HTTP/HTTPS. Automatic network mapping. Licensed per monitoring station.

LanFlow is a drawing tool for laying out, designing, and documenting a network, LAN, Internet, vector, or other communications system. Drop in components like computers, workstations, routers, and servers and connect them with lines and cables. Choose components from built in symbols and clip art or add commonly available clip art formats. Use lines to connect your components and add dashes, curves, arrows or complex combinations for a custom look. Enter descriptive text anywhere, using a grid that helps you keep your work symmetrical and aligned. Contains features like full zoom, OLE connectivity to add your diagrams to other documents, poster printing, graphics import and Web page export, automatic routing, and flow symbols. Includes simple outline components and a full set of 3D network equipment symbols resembling the standards set by Cisco books and documentation.

VisualRoute combines the tools traceroute, ping, reverse DNS, and Whois into a single graphical interface that analyzes Internet connections to quickly locate where outages or slowdowns occur. An IP location database identifies the geographical location of IP addresses and Web servers, showing the path of an Internet connection on a global map. Domain registration and network provider contact information are reported for each network hop. The ping capabilities provide a good idea of whether or not the site is live, while traceroute will help determine where along the route the problem lies. VisualRoute's traceroute reports include an overall analysis, a data table, and a geographical view of the routing. The analysis is a brief description of the number of hops, where problems occurred, and the type of Web server software running at the site you are trying to reach. The data table lists information for each hop, including the IP address, node name, geographical location and the major Internet backbone where each server resides. The World map gives a graphical representation of the actual path of an Internet connection. A mouse click on a server or network name opens a pop-up Whois window, providing instant contact information for problem reporting..

Tunnelier is a fast, robust, easy to use SSH client for Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003 and 98/Me with flexible TCP/IP tunneling support - providing manual rules as well as an integrated SOCKS and HTTP proxy for dynamic forwarding; forwards Windows file shares; has strong auto-reconnect features; an advanced graphical SFTP file transfer client; a scriptable console-mode SFTP client; an FTP-to-SFTP protocol bridge; support for single-click Remote Desktop forwarding for graphical server access; and support for the vt100, xterm and bvterm terminal console.