Best programs for networking

The notification content can be customized according to the recipient to make sure that the point of contact has everything they need to reopen intelligently. Zabbix is one of the top Linux network monitoring tools on the market. Autodiscovery and templates make the program straightforward to deploy. The software for the package is installed on Linux , macOS , and Unix.

You can download the software for free. Related post: Nagios vs Zabbix. Icinga is an open-source network monitoring tool that monitors the performance of your network, cloud-service, and data center.

Having the choice between the two gives you the power to monitor however you want. You can log in to the GUI and use the dashboard to view an overview of performance management.

The dashboard displays whether there are any problems with performance or availability and color-codes them according to severity. Critical or Down network devices are marked in red.

Extensions or Icinga Modules , allow you to add more functions to the program. For example, the Icinga Module for vSphere allows you to monitor virtual machines and host systems. There is a range of community-created plugins you can download for free from the Icinga Exchange.

Overall, Icinga is a scalable solution that gives you control over how you manage your environment. You can download the free trial version. Spiceworks Connectivity Dashboard is a popular free network monitoring software. Through the web-based GUI, you access the dashboard and monitor the availability of your network infrastructure in real-time.

The software also comes with integrations with Spiceworks Inventory and Cloud Help Desk so that you can monitor your network inventory more effectively. The alerts system lets you know about any performance fluctuations so you receive notifications via emai l. Spiceworks Connectivity Dashboard is ideal for smaller enterprises that are looking for an affordable network performance monitoring solution.

You can download the software for free to install on Windows. It is common in many IT departments to combine the functions of server, application, storage, and network management, because all of these elements are interdependent on ensuring successful delivery of services to end-users. Combined software packages containing monitoring tools can cover all of these elements of company infrastructure.

A network monitoring tool can be a small command-line utility, or a vast suite of services. Networking technology involves many different specialist functions. You also have to ensure that the network is secure and that the environmental conditions in the building are suitable for your equipment.

In all, you need to keep on top of potential problems on the network and head them off. If failure does occur, try to catch it and fix it before it impacts the work of the users of the network. If all measures fail, the help desk enables you to receive alerts from users to identify undetected problems. The tool has all the essential features you need to start monitoring your network including autodiscovery, dashboards, network maps, bandwidth monitoring, and an alerts system.

Network monitoring is concerned with the performance of the devices that operate the network, such as switches and routers. This activity is called network performance monitoring. The other main task of network monitoring examines traffic flow, this is called network traffic analysis. While some network traffic analysis tasks involve identifying the applications that generate or receive traffic, those monitoring functions are not concerned with whether the applications are running properly.

Application performance monitoring watches whether applications are able to get all of the resources they need in order to function properly. One of those resources is access to the network. All of the tools listed in this review are capable of monitoring networks remotely, that is, they can connect over the internet to another site and monitor all aspects of network performance. Remote monitoring can be performed just as easily by software resident on a cloud server as it can by software resident on a server in the same building as the network administrator.

There are two types of network monitors: packet sniffers, which sample network traffic, and network performance monitors, which collect network device reports. There are seven types of network monitoring systems:. Traffic monitoring tools are called traffic analyzers or NetFlow monitors. While network performance monitors query network device statuses, traffic analyzers examine throughput data from network devices and also extract the headers of passing packets to quantify traffic by protocol, source, and destination.

An SNMP agent needs to be resident on each device. All network device manufacturers ship their products with an SNMP agent already installed.

All that is lacking is the SNMP manager and this is the role that the network performance monitoring tool provides. It depends on your needs. Unless I misunderstood, SpiceWorks Network Monitoring has not been under development for several years.

This was from a support person at SpiceWorks. We have been pretty happy with it but are looking for something else due to the lack of development.

Thank you for your comment. Thanks Tim, good list of tools. Thank you, Tim. It is the most complete list I saw.

We actually tried many of the above. Some of them are pretty hard to use. Some become too expensive when your network grows… Some do not have important features we needed.

This one had all the features we needed out-of-box, also was easy to use. Yes, they have real-time monitoring, visualization and user defined alerts. We started using it as simple desktop application for small size network and the same installation gradually grew into multi-user distributed system monitoring thousands of nodes including secure monitoring of our remote sites. The most cost effective solution They have free version as well.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Comparitech uses cookies. More info. Menu Close. We are reader supported and may receive a commission when you make purchases using the links on our site. Network monitoring is something that every connected organization should be doing. However, with such a huge range of network monitoring software and tools, choosing the right one for your environment and budget can be challenging.

In this post, we compare and rank the best network monitoring tools. Tim Keary Network administration expert. Most network security issues arise when configurations are changed and SolarWinds NPM identifies these and can automatically resolve many. Alongside solid vulnerability scanning and advanced options to create and monitor policies, this is by far the top choice for network monitoring systems. Get a day free trial.

Helps you get to the bottom of DNS, app and infrastructure issues. Runs on Linux or a physical appliance. Installs on Windows Server. Nagios Core One of the top open-source network monitoring tools. Includes a dashboard view, alerts system, community plugins, and more. Includes an alerts system and community plugins. Icinga Open source network monitoring system with a DSL. Includes extensions. Spiceworks Connectivity Dashboard Free network monitoring software with a high-quality dashboard and simple alert system.

What should you look for when choosing network monitoring tools and software? We reviewed the network monitoring tools and software market and analyzed the options based on the following criteria: An autodiscovery system to log all network devices A network topology mapper The ability to collect live network devices statuses by using SNMP A facility to analyze network performance over time Graphical interpretation of data, such as charts and graphs A free trial period, a demo, or a money-back guarantee for no-risk assessment A good price that reflects value for money when compared to the functions offered.

Pros: Designed with large and enterprise networks in mind Supports auto-discovery that builds network topology maps and inventory lists in real-time based on devices that enter the network Has some of the best alerting features that balance effectiveness with ease of use Supports both SNMP monitoring as well as packet analysis, giving you more control over monitoring than similar tools Uses drag and drop widgets to customize the look and feel of the dashboard Robust reporting system with pre-configured compliance templates.

Cons: This is a feature-rich enterprise tool, small LANs and operations may find it overwhelming. The model behind LinkedIn is straightforward enough, allowing users to create a profile that then enables others to find and connect with them for business purposes. Protection against unwarranted invites is inbuilt, and users can restrict what information is available about them.

But what most people like is that they can share their trusted business associates with others, creating a community of connected and approved people. The only real criticism is that the default email settings leave you open to a potentially large number of pointless updates and marketing information.

However, while business networking remains LinkedIn's core business, it has since branched out into providing job search listings, as well as business training courses through LinkedIn Learning. It used to be the case that Facebook was arguably the most connected social media website in the world. Although it still is the largest, and continues to grow, a lot of the earlier adopters have moved on. Even still, Facebook is still an amazing way to connect with people, with the caveat that it's less of a professional networking site than LinkedIn.

Although businesses can set up business profiles and pages and interact using these, Facebook is probably best known for making personal connections. In that regard, Facebook has grown into an absolute behemoth when it comes to absolute numbers of users, but it also comes with the cost of privacy. While that hasn't put off most users, it does mean that business users may feel a little more wary about the connections and content they make within the Facebook walled garden.

Overall, though, chances are that there are many business contacts you can make on Facebook, just on a more personal level than dedicated business networking apps. It's not to be overlooked though, and remains a key part of any business presence. This makes the service accessible even for users with older phones, or who would prefer not to download apps. It offers GUI with tab support and an extensive protocol support too. You can also make easy file transfers.

Further, these tools also have advanced emulation terminal capabilities. Download SecureCRT 5. Bitvise: Bitvise is a secure remote access software for Windows. It helps you to encrypt the data during transfer, unlike other tools. It is an ideal tool for remote administration. You can easily have an access to your home machine from the workplace or vice versa.

It also performs other tasks like IP tunneling and securing advanced applications. Download Bitvise 6. Putty: Putty is an open source software that is available with source code. It can be used for designing or amendments without having to write a new code by making use of another programming language. It is an effective SSH and telnet client designed and developed for windows.

It allows you with the easy and speedy work environment. Download Putty 7. WinSCP: The main purpose of this tool is to make a secure file transfer between the remote computer and local servers. Above having all the amazing features, this software is available free of cost.

With the help of these tools, you can make a comprehensive analysis by making performance reports, graphs etc. WhatsUp Gold: With this tool, you can completely look into the status, performance, and functioning of network devices or servers in a cloud.

This tool monitor and describes everything with the help of a map from edge to the cloud. You can make an in-depth analysis of devices, wireless controllers, virtual machines, traffic flows and numerous applications. Download WhatsUp Gold 9. SolarWinds: SolarWinds enables network security and analysis in real time.

It finds its use in cybersecurity, government infrastructures, private security services, and telecom industry. The tool helps to keep the data secure and safe to transfer within the infrastructure. It allows you to monitor the conditions precisely and find an efficient solution.