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monitoring network
- Thread starter proudusa
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jimbopalmer
Programmer
Network Management software is often sold by the hardware vendors, I use Optivity from Nortel as most of my equipment is from Nortel, (Optivity Switch Manager is a free version for customers on support) Spectrum from Cabletron was well thought of, HP Openview is a more general product. Almost all of these use SMNP as the method of sharing information. (if your hubs switches and routers do not do SNMP, then finding bottlenecks may be entirely by listening to users whine)
I was amused to down load a 60 day trial of 3com's viewbuilder only to discover it is a free product, I had never encountered a trial version of free software before. The one thing you can't give for your heart's desire is your heart. - Lois McMaster Bujold
I was amused to down load a 60 day trial of 3com's viewbuilder only to discover it is a free product, I had never encountered a trial version of free software before. The one thing you can't give for your heart's desire is your heart. - Lois McMaster Bujold
Network management is more of an art than a science. There are many, many tools but it takes craftmanship to create a monitoring system that will watch your system.
While all of the software listed in the privious post are good, I suggest starting with MRTG. ( It will run on Unix or NT, it is FREE, it gives pretty cool graphs, and there is a huge support community for it.
Try MRTG, you'll like it.
While all of the software listed in the privious post are good, I suggest starting with MRTG. ( It will run on Unix or NT, it is FREE, it gives pretty cool graphs, and there is a huge support community for it.
Try MRTG, you'll like it.
PAGEME1000
Technical User
Hi Proud....
Take a step back....everyone can recommend tools to use what what are you trying to achieve? You obviously have a specification and a budget...How is you network built and how many workstations and servers are you trying to manage.... You can then decide which manufacturer you require and where to implement the product. Then you can decide which links you want to manage and scan for bottlenecks......
Feel free to provide more information and I will help provide as much help as possible...
Page....
Take a step back....everyone can recommend tools to use what what are you trying to achieve? You obviously have a specification and a budget...How is you network built and how many workstations and servers are you trying to manage.... You can then decide which manufacturer you require and where to implement the product. Then you can decide which links you want to manage and scan for bottlenecks......
Feel free to provide more information and I will help provide as much help as possible...
Page....
this brings up a good point. If you are new at IT then you probably do not know which questions to ask yet 
Network Management is in fact a mix of voodoo, black magic and some spell casting (too much Potter with the kids) There are all kinds of tools for helping but you will find that NM really cuts across many fronts. You need to understand the network, the applications, the server hardware, the infrastructure, the type of PC being used etc..etc. For example, you could have people complaining that the *network is slow*... you dont see anything wrong with the network but if you play with Perfmon(NT), you see that the CPU is overutilized. Guess what.. it's not the network but the server is the bottleneck. It can be as difficult as finding bad cabling in a new run that the vendor cut a corner on testing. "gee.. the cabling is new, it can not possibly be the problem".. un-huh..
None.. and I mean NONE should be suggesting any tools without more information about the network, your skill level, what is it that you want to accomplish, what type of reporting is needed, what staffing is doing the NM task etc.
I will say that a basic tool kit *should* be issued to every network geek..
1: some knowledge of various builtin tools of the NOS.. things like ping, traceroute, perfmon, debug on the routers etc. You can do ALOT with the built in tools with just a bit of knowledge.
2: Cheap sniffer.. Etherpeek, Ethereal, IPTraf etc... again.. learn how to use it. And MS has a a "freebie" included in WIn2Kserver and SMS if I remember right.
3: A free SNMP monitoring tool.. again.. something like MRTG.. not simple to use but free. Or pay a bit for something like Solarwinds ( basic is 400 ish)
4: Books!!!! you can never have too many books In fact, I would suggest a CDR that has PDF files of your best reference .. either Ebooks, cisco papers, web pages converted to PDF( converter is free to 25 bucks). I live and die by my cd collection. You may not always have your internet connection so dont bank on it.
MikeS
Find me at
"The trouble with giving up civil rights is that you never get them back"
Network Management is in fact a mix of voodoo, black magic and some spell casting (too much Potter with the kids) There are all kinds of tools for helping but you will find that NM really cuts across many fronts. You need to understand the network, the applications, the server hardware, the infrastructure, the type of PC being used etc..etc. For example, you could have people complaining that the *network is slow*... you dont see anything wrong with the network but if you play with Perfmon(NT), you see that the CPU is overutilized. Guess what.. it's not the network but the server is the bottleneck. It can be as difficult as finding bad cabling in a new run that the vendor cut a corner on testing. "gee.. the cabling is new, it can not possibly be the problem".. un-huh..None.. and I mean NONE should be suggesting any tools without more information about the network, your skill level, what is it that you want to accomplish, what type of reporting is needed, what staffing is doing the NM task etc.
I will say that a basic tool kit *should* be issued to every network geek..
1: some knowledge of various builtin tools of the NOS.. things like ping, traceroute, perfmon, debug on the routers etc. You can do ALOT with the built in tools with just a bit of knowledge.
2: Cheap sniffer.. Etherpeek, Ethereal, IPTraf etc... again.. learn how to use it. And MS has a a "freebie" included in WIn2Kserver and SMS if I remember right.
3: A free SNMP monitoring tool.. again.. something like MRTG.. not simple to use but free. Or pay a bit for something like Solarwinds ( basic is 400 ish)
4: Books!!!! you can never have too many books
In fact, I would suggest a CDR that has PDF files of your best reference .. either Ebooks, cisco papers, web pages converted to PDF( converter is free to 25 bucks). I live and die by my cd collection. You may not always have your internet connection so dont bank on it.MikeS
Find me at
"The trouble with giving up civil rights is that you never get them back"
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