Network auditing tools

hello everyone,
I was just wondering that what tools do you people use for network auditing. By this I mean that what different applications do you deploy to gather the information of different equipment ( computers + other equipment with a network interface ) on your network ( both hardware and software). I came across AIDA 32 enterprise and network edition[1] and PSTools suite[2] on sysinternals.

Do not forget to mention the links and your experience with the tool. You can mention both shareware and freeware. This thread would definitly earn me some positive antipoints. Lolz....Besides primary reason for this thread is to share your experiences with a reliable and efficient network auditing tool.

P.S. Soon, I ll be requiring AO valuble input towards drafting my backup and security policy ( i will start a separate thread for this soon )....

[1] http://www.filesclub.com/download/aida32_97972.html
[2] http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr.../pstools.shtml

nmap, snort, ethereal... these three come to mind instantly...

This has been done, ommy, time and time again...

/me points ----> http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=243892

Ok, that list actually has a bunch of various security related tools, but I'm sure you'll find more than plenty network-auditing tools...

Anyway, if you want some APs, how about compiling your own list of useful network auditing tools (complete w/ a review!??)... *That* would merit some APs, my friend... asking everyone else what they use? Bah... hardly... IMHO, anyway... ;)

It's a nice idea, though... :D

-Wiski C.

okie..May be I am not looking for exactly a network auditing tool. I am looking for a tool which could gather the information about computers hardware and softwares on the network. To be more precise, something like AIDA 32 or BeLARC Advisor, i.e. which could give me the ip address, dns information, processor information, memory information, cd rom specs, hard drive specs, network interface type etc. etc. In the software category, I might be requiring the exact version of operating system, what third party softwares are installed on the machine and stuff like this.
Though, if someone requires to monitor the Windows updates, do i need to mention Microsoft Baseline security analyser?
Besides, thanks for such prompt reply...:)

This is a good tool.

LogInventory

ss2chef..FYI...Link is broken

If you're an administrator on the network and don't mind spending a little time setting it up, a Linux Server running Nagios is great for monitoring all kinds of things on a network. The software is free to download from any number of websites

My company uses this software on our network of about 10,000 nodes.

The only disadvantage is the overhead on the setup. you pretty much have to statically assign every individual host or device that you want to monitor so you're probably only going to monitor critical resources.Nagios can monitor disk usage, traffic congestion, just about anything you can think of, plus you can download more scripts or write your own as your needs change.

I guess I should point this out, this software will not help you if you are "probing" or "auditing" someone else's network because you pretty much have to give it all it's information, it's not going to go out and set itself up.

Quote:

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Originally posted here by ommy
ss2chef..FYI...Link is broken

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?? Works fine when I hit it... hmmmm

Hey Hey,

If you're just looking for something that will give you the details you mentioned (IP, Basic Specs, Interface Specs, etc)....Then you'll have a built in command (assuming you're using Windows XP)... Go to your command prompt and type 'systeminfo'. It's quite the handy little command, it'll include uptime and a number of other things.

Another thing you may want to look into is that I believe Aida32 is no longer in development.. It's now called Everest... you should be able to google it quite easily.

Peace,
HT

Quote:

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quote:
Originally posted here by ommy
ss2chef..FYI...Link is broken


?? Works fine when I hit it... hmmmm

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Works fine for me as well.. could be a DNS hiccup.. or ISP FU

Hi ommy

HTRegz is quite right AIDA32 is now distributed by Lavalys as "Everest"

http://www.lavalys.com/

There is a free home edition version and an enterprise one :)

i enjoy using the Dameware client for this type of info gathering. the interface is very similiar to the ms active directory console / sms console. it will allow you to view your entire network, and even administrate remotely... granted that you have sufficient rights on the network of course. you can view ip info, and specific system info, similiar to belarc like you were requesting, and much more.

give it a look here: http://www.dameware.com/

Belarc Advisor has worked well for us.

http://www.belarc.com/

dcongram

I agree that Belarc is a useful tool. It is particularly strong on the software side, so you can check versions. Also it will tell you which MS patches have been applied and whether they WORKED :)

Everest is much better for hardware analysis.

I haven't seen a tool yet that combines the two at the same level of detail.

Another quite nice tool is SiSoftware's "Sandra"

http://www.sisoftware.net/sandra/

:)

The organization I work for uses a number of tools that fit this bill. The first one I can think of off-hand is Hyena Helpdesk ( http://www.amtsoftware.com/Hyena/ ). From the site:

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Hyena is the tool to use instead of the built-in Windows administration tools to manage a medium to large Windows NT or Windows 2000 / 2003 network, which can be a quite challenge. Add multiple domains, hundreds or thousands of servers, workstations, and users, and before you know it, things can get out of hand.

Hyena is designed to both simplify and centralize nearly all of the day-to-day management tasks, while providing new capabilities for system administration.

This functionality is provided in a single, centralized, easy to use product. Used today by more than 300.000 system administrators worldwide, Hyena is the one tool that every administrator cannot afford to be without.

Exporter Pro is included with Hyena and is a standalone component of Hyena that supports creating delimited text output files of computers, users, groups, printers, shares, services, disk space, scheduled tasks, network configuration, registry, and Active Directory information. The registry and Active Directory export options utilize user-definable templates for an unlimited number of possible output configurations.

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We also take advantage of Track-It! which is a nice help desk app that allows you to open work orders, track them and organize them. You can download a fully working demo of the program here:

http://www.itsolutions.intuit.com/landing.asp


Note: my organization is a Microsoft environment so I'm not sure how these programs deal with non-Windows systems. Personally I've been using this system for the past few months (I'm kinda new here) and I've loved it. Track-It! also allows you to audit workstations for hardware and software and from experience I can tell you that its a nice feature to have on-hand and surprisingly thorough.

This is a little off-topic but I use it almost daily and find it extremely useful for network administration and general user troubleshooting. We use Zenbrowser Remote Control along with ZENworks to remote into users PCs for troubleshooting purposes. This tool also allows you to audit a workstation to see what's in it and what's installed.