Network monitoring simply means the use of a system that constantly
monitors a computer network for slow or failing components and that
notifies the network administrator in case of outages via email, SMS or
other alarms.
Many a times the data that is sent from one computer to another over
the wire or wireless network are hacked. So network monitoring becomes
very essential for any network administrator. So network administrators
implements various things and also uses some tools in order to monitor
the network. Many a times network administrator simply fiddle around to
get a best solution which can give all the information whatever he
needs. So here is a small guide providing all the software with a
detail information to monitor your network.
1. Intellipool Network Monitor
Intellipool Network Monitor is a network, server and performance
monitor designed to monitor Windows, Linux, Unix and SNMP enabled
devices. It is commercial software developed and sold by Intellipool
AB, Sweden. It is a system for agentless server monitoring, alerting
and reporting of a large selection of operating systems and SNMP
capable devices. Intellipool Network Monitor is administrated through a
web interface and is installed as a service on a computer running
Windows 2000, XP or 2003.
Intellipool Network Monitor features:
- The best operating system monitoring support in the industry Windows,
Linux, Solaris, BSD to just name a few, in total 14 different operating
system supported out of box. - No agents needed on monitored machines
- Best implemented and most secure distributed testing, monitoring of network islands have never been so easy and secure.
- Everything included, no dependency on external web server or
database. Meaning fewer points of failures and less maintenance. - Less than 10 minutes from installation to start of monitoring.
- Making full use of multi-core CPU machines, easily scale from 2 to 2500 monitored hosts.
- Memory and resource conservative, less than a 10 MB download, less than 20 MB running (base configuration).
- Very flexible reporting system, making it as easy to generate reports for 1 or 100 monitored machines
- Any customer can customize and write their own tests and actions using the _free_ development environment.
- Best in industry support and a dedicated community of users.
Developer: Intellipool AB
Operating system: Windows, Linux, Unix
2. Active Network Monitor
Active Network Monitor is a tool for the day-to-day monitoring of
computers in the network. Active Network Monitor runs under Windows
NT/2000/XP and allows Systems Administrators to gather information from
all the computers (even from the Windows 9x/Me computers) in the
network without installing server-side applications on these computers.
Active Network Monitor provides the powerful technology of storing and
comparing received data. Administrators can make "snapshots" of the
systems for future comparison and notation of changes.
Active Network Monitor has a flexible plug-in based architecture that
allows you to plug in necessary modules on demand. Each module
(plug-in) performs a task and displays retrieved information in its own
window. Active Network Monitor ships with a predefined, constantly
growing list of plug-ins, including plug-ins for monitoring services,
devices, installed applications, disks, shared resources, hardware
resources (IRQs, I/O, DMA and Memory), users, local groups, global
groups and so on. Moreover, the Security Patch Analyzer plug-in
performs security patch assessment for the following operating systems
and applications: Windows NT 4.0/2000/XP/Server 2003, IIS 4.0/5.0, SQL
Server 7.0/2000, MSDE 2000, MDAC 2.5-2.8, MSXML 2.6/3.0/4.0/5.0, IE
5.01 and later, Exchange 5.5/2000/2003, Windows Media Player 6.4 and
later, Microsoft Virtual Machine, DirectX 7.0 and later, Microsoft
Office, and so on.
With ANM you can:
- Use the growing list of plug-ins for gathering important information from the remote computers.
- Scan network computers by types (Server, Workstation, SQL Server, etc.).
- Scan network computers by names (you can select computers either from
the network tree or load a predefined list from the file). - View information immediately from a plug-in, rather than wait for a scan process of all your computers to be completed.
- Save retrieved information into the project in the special folder or into the external file.
- Load previously saved information from the project or from the external file.
- Export retrieved information into the CSV or TXT file.
- Compare two previously saved projects or external files using special simple to use Compare Wizard.
- Save compare results to the external file.
- Easily navigate through the compare results using special buttons.
Developer: DeviceLock
Operating system: Windows
3. Zenoss Enterprise
Zenoss Enterprise is a new class of offering that includes complete
operational and infrastructure coverage in a single product. Through a
combination of business and technology innovation, Zenoss delivers a
solution that uniquely addresses the functional, operational, and
economic requirements of enterprise IT.
Key monitoring and management features:
- Discovery & Configuration Tracking
- Availability & Performance Monitoring
- Fault & Event Management
- Alerting & Remediation
- Reporting & Analysis
Power:
- Full operational visibility of your entire IT infrastructure
- Proven scalability for the enterprise
- Commercial offerings and expert support
Agility:
- Rapid deployment (hours/days vs weeks/months)
- Easier to operate and maintain (one product)
- Adapts to your unique needs
Value:
- Reduce management costs by 50% or more (guaranteed)
- Buy what you need when you need it
-
Risk-free evaluation
Developer: Zenoss
4. ipMonitor
ipMonitor delivers basic up/down monitoring for your network devices,
servers, and apps at a price any IT team can afford! ipMonitor installs
in minutes and is easy to use. See what’s up on your network today!
SolarWinds ipMonitor delivers out-of-the-box, up/down monitoring that
is perfect for keeping up with your network devices, servers, and
applications. Plus, ipMonitor includes a built-in database and Web
server, so you don’t need to install anything but ipMonitor – making it
fast, affordable, and easy to use in any environment by IT
professionals of all levels.
ipMonitor’s network monitoring highlights include:
- Quickly discovers network devices and automatically recommends SmartMonitor settings – making the setup process simple and fast
- Eliminates the need to count devices on your network with a one-size-fits-all license – ipMonitor just works
- Provides an easy-to-use Web interface and network maps for clear, at-a-glance views of your network
- Performs out-of-the-box, up/down monitoring of common applications
such as Active Directory®, Microsoft® Exchange, and SQL Server - Simulates end-user experience for Web and other applications
- Uses standard SNMP and WMI for agentless, up/down monitoring of applications and systems
Developer: SolarWinds
Operating System: Windows
5. NetLimiter
NetLimiter is an ultimate internet traffic control and monitoring tool
designed for Windows. You can use NetLimiter to set download/upload
transfer rate limits for applications or even single connection and
monitor their internet traffic.
Along with this unique feature, Netlimiter offers comprehensive set of
internet statistical tools. It includes real-time traffic measurement
and long-term per-application internet traffic statistics
Feature:
- Grants – Grant is a brand-new feature in NetLimiter 2. It could seem
similar to limits, but it works differently. When you set grant for
application or connection, then it means that you grant specified
bandwidth for it. If other application/connections take too much
bandwidth, then it is taken from them and is given to
application/connection with granted bandwidth. - Network monitor – NetLimiter 2 shows list of all applications communicating over network it’s connections and transfer rates.
- Personal firewall functionality – You can allow or deny certain applications to connect to or from any network or zone.
- Zones – NetLimiter 2 monitors and controls traffic separately on three
predefined zones – My Computer, Local Network and Internet. For
example, you can limit the traffic rate of your browser downloading
from the Internet and let it download from intranet at full speed.
Later we will add tool for defining you cutom zones. - Filters – With filters you can define groups of connections or
applications and then apply rules to them. You can for example set
DL/UL limit only for a specific IP address range or for a group of two
or more applications.
Rule editor and scheduler – Rule editor helps you to create advanced
rules. For example, you can create limit or firewall rule for a group
of applications which is valid only in a given time interval (=you can
schedule limits, grants and fw rules). - Network manager – Using Network manager you can assign networks present
on you computer to NetLimiter zones. It’s also possible to add your own
networks. - Statistics – Similarly to NetLimiter 1.x stats, NetLimiter 2 stats
module is intended for long-term measurement of internet traffic. This
feature lets you to track your internet traffic history since you’ve
installed NetLimiter 2. NetLimiter 2 is able to automatically export
statistical data to disk. - Traffic chart – This feature is known from previous version of
NetLimiter. Traffic chart shows application’s or connection’s real time
activity. - Remote administration – You can control and monitor other computers remotely from one place.
Developer: NetLimiter
6. GFI Network Server Monitor
GFI Network Server Monitor is the software solution you need to scan
your network for failures or irregularities. GFI Network Server Monitor
scans automatically so you can identify issues and fix unexpected
problems before your users (or managers) even know they’ve happened.
Maximize Network and Server Uptime
GFI Network Server Monitor maximizes network availability by monitoring
all aspects of your Windows and Linux servers, plus workstations and
other devices such as routers and more. When a failure is detected,
GFI’s network monitor will alert you by email, pager or SMS, as well as
automatically taking the preconfigured corrective action by, for
example, rebooting the machine, restarting the service or running a
script.
Performs a Real Test
GFI Network Server Monitor actually tests the status of a service,
rather than deducing a service status from generated events as other
products do. It is the only real way to ensure server uptime. GFI
Network Server Monitor is easy to set up and use, and is competitively
priced.
Built in Rules for Several Network Servers and Services
GFI Network Server Monitor’s built in monitoring rules include:
Exchange Server 2000/2003, MS SQL, Oracle and ODBC databases, CPU
usage, FTP & HTTP Servers Group Membership, Active Directory &
NTDS, Disk Drive health, Disk Space, Event Log (with content checking),
File Existence (with content checking), TCP, ICMP/Ping, SMTP & POP3
Mail servers, Printers, Processes, Services, UNIX Shell Scripts (RSH),
SNMP & Terminal Server.
Developer: GFI
Operating System: Windows and Linux
7. Orion Network Performance Monitor
Orion Network Performance Monitor (NPM) delivers award-winning fault
and performance management that is built to affordably manage networks
of all sizes with expandable modules and scalability engines.
Orion NPM enables you to quickly detect, diagnose, and resolve network
outages and performance issues. It offers network-centric views that
are designed to deliver the critical information you need most. And
Orion NPM is the easiest product of its kind to use and maintain,
meaning you will spend more time actually managing networks, not
supporting Orion NPM.
Orion NPM delivers a robust feature set that enables you to increase
network performance and availability, while improving IT efficiency.
Plus, it is incredibly easy to use and is highly scalable and
expandable.
Monitor comprehensive performance, fault management, and network
availability data to ensure that your network is always running at peak
performance. Quickly and easily identify network issues across your
enterprise with a highly intuitive web-based interface that can be
customized to meet the needs of your organization. Download, install,
and deploy Orion NPM in less than an hour using three simple steps that
eliminate the need for consultants and prevent headaches. Quickly
configure alerts for correlated events, sustained conditions, and
complex combinations of device states; escalate alerts automatically to
quickly respond to issues.
Developer: SolarWinds
Operating System: Windows
