Network Utilities

Network engineers have a vast array of responsibilities to help maintain network performance. They’re often tasked with managing complex computer networks—a job made faster and easier when using network utilities designed to help with making plans for network optimization, measuring current performance levels, or implementing strategies effectively.

Network engineers need tools to help them achieve comprehensive management and optimization of the network infrastructure. The most useful tools are those in the following categories:

• Network configuration management: These network utilities are critical for helping network engineers monitor and keep track of software and hardware changes within the network.
• All-purpose systems management: These tools offer overviews in the form of maps, charts, and graphs to help network engineers manage their systems more effectively.
• Network diagnostics: These network utilities help engineers troubleshoot problems more quickly and accurately. Whether a Mac or Windows network utility, it lets you find key health status data for specific devices on a network and general network connectivity.
• Network monitoring: The network monitoring utility helps engineers monitor potential bottlenecks, device health, and bandwidth in real time. It’s essentially a network traffic utility.
• Network discovery: These tools help engineers discover a network’s assets more quickly.
• SNMP: These network utilities help improve device management by offering SNMP-based capabilities and insights.
• IPAM/DNS/DHCP: These utilities help with functionalities tied to IP addresses, like subnetting.
• Log management: These network utilities help engineers generate insights related to data performance by helping them gather and analyze data logs.
• Network administration: These tools monitor and manage key network and device elements like memory utilization, CPU, response time, and more.
• Security: These utilities help you secure the network against cyberthreats.

Network engineers need the utilities to help them keep the network functioning properly. They need tools to help them detect problems as soon as they occur, pinpoint their origins fast, and begin troubleshooting right away. Engineers also need utilities to help with network analysis, so they can find and address the leading causes of network problems.

Just a few of the utilities network engineers need are:

• Ping Sweep: This tool reveals all available or in-use IP addresses. This utility can send multiple packets at once and perform an ICMP sweep to scan your IP range.
• Switch Port Mapper: This utility lets you remotely discover the devices connected to every port on a hub or switch. It also gives insight into port status, time of failure, and information as well as helping with capacity planning and helping you gain complete endpoint visibility.
• WAN Killer Traffic Generator: This utility lets you study network activities (such as load balancing) without having to use real traffic.
• MAC address scanning utility: Also known as the MAC network utility, this tool lets you search through subnets and construct tables relating MAC addresses to IP addresses, DNS, and manufacturer addresses.

While there are many utilities a network engineer needs to perform successfully, what they need most of all is a toolkit incorporating all these tools within one network utility software solution. For instance, SolarWinds Engineer’s Toolset (ETS) is built to provide engineers with all the must-have and nice-to-have tools they need to perform a wide range of responsibilities quickly and easily.

Network utility toolkits are different from other bundled combinations of network management tools because they’re specifically designed for network engineers and support the measures they must take to keep the network functioning properly.

While an engineer could avoid using a toolkit by piecing together a series of tools from various solutions, this option is less effective, since they would need to find a way to integrate all the separate tools, and more expensive than using network utility software including all the tools they need.

Network utility toolkits give network engineers the ability to automate a variety of technical tasks for faster network insights. For example, the right network utility software can support engineers with processes related to SNMP, ping, MIB, DNS, NetFlow, and other common methodologies and protocols. This translates into faster problem resolution and less downtime, which means better productivity for your employees and faster service delivery for end users.

Troubleshooting problems quickly can also enhance the network’s cybersecurity, since suspicious activity can be addressed as soon as it’s detected. Some network utility software solutions even include tools specifically designed to enhance security, including tools for protecting against SNMP dictionary and brute force attacks, as well as router password decryption.

Finally, network utility tools with analysis can help engineers identify the leading root causes of issues within the network. Instead of spending their time putting out fires after problems have occurred, they can proactively address the root cause and prevent the issues in the first place.

SolarWinds Engineer’s Toolset is network utility software designed specifically for network engineers and their responsibilities. It comes with more than 60 network tools, all built into a single software solution.

ETS helps you perform network discovery and map the entire network. With ETS you can discover relationships between MAC and IP addresses, and you can map your switch ports using tools like Switch Port Mapper, Port Scanner, IP Network Browser, MAC Address Discovery, SNMP Sweep, and Ping Sweep.

ETS also lets you monitor and alert on your network in real time. Engineer’s Toolset comes with a wide variety of built-in monitoring tools including Response Time Monitor, Memory Monitor, CPU Monitor, Interface Monitor, and TraceRoute. These tools can help engineers prevent network issues from impacting end users and affecting either productivity or reliability.

In addition to all these tools, Engineer’s Toolset comes with features designed to help you protect your network security. These include tools to help you engage in router password decryption and protect against SNMP brute force and dictionary attacks.

In short, ETS is a robust software solution that lets engineers access a broad range of utilities from a single centralized location. The tool is user-friendly and effective for everyone from beginners to experts. Once ETS is implemented, it will stay up to date with which utilities you use most, helping customize your toolbox to fit your specific needs while still giving you easy access to any utility you may find yourself needing in the future.