Network Diagnostic Software

[Viper0329]

I need some software that will monitor the network for collisions, and provide other information. Ideally, I'd like a free trial, but cost must be below $1000. Thanks

 

[nweaver]

that's a broad stroke, get a bit more specific and maybe we can help. As far as monitoring for problems, write a perl script to get port statistics from a manged switch and parse it for changes. If thresholds are hit, send an email.

 

[JRock]

Originally posted by: nweaver
that's a broad stroke, get a bit more specific and maybe we can help. As far as monitoring for problems, write a perl script to get port statistics from a manged switch and parse it for changes. If thresholds are hit, send an email.

As stated above this is a broad or grey area if you will. $1000 usually wont get you that much and there is no such thing as the perfect software/hardware solution for this topic. Its basically hit or miss. You have to know EXACTLY what you want to see going on and then prioritize what else you are looking for and see what else is available. Best way to start is write up what your looking for then draw up a web diagram. Once you get a few devices or apps you like then you can see which is more cost effective or fits your budget best.

 

[Tazanator]

find some of the high end routers. (I got some imagestreams...) some have a way to log in and actually see the status in live time. For that matter even get the router that allows SNMP public access and run MRTG. http://rabbit-hole.hopto.org/mrtg for example.

 

[Viper0329]

Yeah, I was just passing the word along from my IT director. I'll see if I can get something more specific.

I like the Perl script idea. I'll have to give myself a crash course in Perl and attempt to do that.

 

[TGHI]

UGH...perl. Wouldn't some sort of packet sniffer work, or is that too intense? Is you hardware SNMP-able?

 

[nweaver]

lol, Perl is the IT force, it make so much happen. And a packet sniffer wouldn't be able to find interface stats, although you could tweak MRTG to do that I think. Perl's net::telnet module make logging into cisco gear and grabbing stuff cake. I use it for a web based configuration change in a wireless lab.

 

[networkman]

Depending on your needs Packeteer might be a viable solution. The link is to a 30-day free trial for their hardware solution for packet-shaping and optimizing your LAN/WAN traffic. They also have evaluation software available as well.

 

[spidey07]

I guess a bigger concern here is a modern network should not have ANY collisions.

 

[jondercik]

If you are using switches, you really shouldnt have any collisions, because of the nature of the devices each port on the switch becomes its own collision domain.

 

[Viper0329]

The problem we are facing is that we're trying to merge 2 separate networks into one single one now. On top of that, the people who ran the Cat5 didn't document it well AT ALL, so it's getting tough to segment the network as we want it. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll look into some of them.

We have 1 Cisco switch, 2 HP smart switches, and an SMC switch.

 

[nweaver]

I would write a telnet script to grab the interfaces stats and plot it into a graph, or dump it into a csv for excel. Shouldn't be too tough. You could also dump info such as cdp and arp tables to get a visual picture of the network. Putting a mrtg helps monitor bandwidth. Might think of NTOP on the gateway, to see what most outbound traffic looks like, but that's not for the faint hearted (or faint hardware).