Hey why can’t I access the file server? and why is the network so slow today?” Hmm maybe you should have been paying closer attention to your network environment. This is probably one of the most over looked aspect of network administration. Being able to get a snap shot at what your network looks like and how your systems are performing can be one of the best things you can do for preventative maintenance. Usually only large networks invest in this arena but as a small business owner and a serious computer nut I love to know exactly what’s going on all my systems. And it is all relatively simple to set up and requires very little supervision or maintenance after it is set up.
As I stated before I am very strict about the way my network is being used and when if there are any errors on the connected nodes. And because of this and a few connections and some Googling within the corporate IT world I got my hands on some stuff.
Orion NPM from Solar Winds. This was a pretty good piece of software. It does a very good job of detecting everything on your network even things on different subnets. The layout wasn’t that great but this is probably because I am a visual person and a snazzy UI always peeks my interest. It uses maps to show the general layout of the network but in all honesty the maps are kind of cheesy granted they map is really a layout of the WAN. The Network Summary is a little