Network Administration

WildPackets IP Subnet Calculator is a utility for computing information about IP addresses. Given an IP class A, B or C address, several pieces of information can be displayed about that address by selecting one of four tabs: the Address Info, Subnet Info, Subnet/Hosts or CIDR tab. The Address Info Tab displays the class of address and range of addresses for that class, a color-coded bit map for that class of address, the binary representation of that address, and the hexadecimal representation of the address. The Subnet Info Tab allows you to enter subnet information in five different ways: by number of subnet bits, number of total mask bits, number of subnets, number of hosts, or just the subnet mask in dotted decimal notation. IP Subnet Calculator generates a color-coded bit map breaking down the network, subnet and host portion, shows you the subnet host address range, the subnet ID and subnet broadcast address.

NTPower enables an administrator to remotly sutdown or restart a workstation. It automatically detects all connected workstations and allows you to include a message and optional timeout. Alternatively, you can load a list of machines from a list or add them manually. NTPower allows you to choose between reboot or shutdown and optionally force applications to close in the process.

Steel Inventory is a network inventory auditing program, that allows you to keep track of software and hardware changes across your network. After an initial scan, you can generate a snapshot that includes the current hardware and software information, and allows you to detect changes that were made later by comparing the snapshot with a current scan. In case of changes, the machines are marked, and the changed items can be viewed. The program is useful to detect newly added or removed software, as well as hardware devices that have been removed or added. In addition, you can also use the program for license tracking and be alerted if software licenses have been exceeded by to many installations. Other features include automatic refresh and reports. Steel Inventory does not require any software installation on the remote machines (admin and remote access privileges are required though).

Qchain gives system administrators the ability to safely chain hotfixes together. Hotfix chaining involves installing multiple hotfixes without rebooting between each installation. Without this tool, the only supported method is to reboot after each hotfix installation.

Hotfix Reporter is a free utility that works in conjunction with the Microsoft Network Security Hotfix Checker (HfNetChk) tool to scan your Windows NT 4 or Windows 2000 server for missing patches. HfNetChk scans your system for missing patches, but is a command line tool and displays the results in a raw, plain-text, unfriendly format. Hotfix Reporter converts the HfNetChk raw output into an HTML page, and displays Microsoft security bulletin numbers and knowledgebase article numbers as clickable links, making it easy to view the appropriate pages on the Microsoft web site, and immediately download the necessary patches. The result report is immediately displayed in your browser. In addition, Hotfix Reporter tells you if a new scan produced different results than the last time, making it easy to quickly tell if any new patches have been released; and displays the most patches first.

EMCO OS License Modifier is a tool for network administrators, that allows you to modify or update the Operating System Product ID ,Registered Owner and Registered Organization information on remote machines. You can specify default information and update all machines with a single click. A great time saver for network administrators..

AccessEnum allows you to efficiently view access permissions for files, folders and registry keys keys. It scans a directory, drive or registry hive of your choice and quickly provides a list with Read, Write and Deny access settings for each of the items. Furthermore, you can set exclusions, and also save a list and then compare it to a recent scan, to see if any of the permissions have changed.

User Notice Creator is a small program that will allow your system to display a message box before a user logs on, just before the log on window is displayed. You can use it to notify users of a legal agreement before logon, or to announce changes. These message boxes are displayed without running a programm (which would use up your memory). It features a message box preview and the ability to change the title caption of the message.

RunasSpc enables you to run programs that require administrator privileges, without the need to enter the administrator password each time. It works similar to the Windows RunAs command, but allows you to store the RunAs login information in an encrypted file, which can then be called via command line to launch a specific program with administrator privileges. This allows you to provide users with access to program that require admin rights, without having to provide them with elevated account privileges. A simple administration interface is provided to generate the cryptfile.

Linux Hardware Scanner is a Windows client program that scans a remote Linux server and provides detailed information on the hardware configuration of the machine. It can report exact memory configuration, firmware version, mainboard configuration, CPU version and speed, cache configuration, bus speed, etc. on DMI-capable x86 or EFI (IA-64) systems and on some PowerPC machines (PowerMac G4 is known to work). Everything is done automatically with just a few clicks. NO command line is required. All you have to provide is the address of the server and administrative login credentials (root). Note: We have not rated this program due to the lack of a Linux test server.

ServersCheck MIB Browser enables to you manage SNMP devices. It allows you to load vendor specific MIB files for SNMP operations and supports GET, GETNEXT, SET and WALK commands for the SNMP v1/2/3 protocols. The program also integrates with the ServerCheck software for monitoring of selected OIDs.

Steel Run-As enables administrators to create standalone executables that allow users to access a specific application with administrator privileges - without having to disclose the administrator credentials to the user. The program can create an easy to deploy, standalone executable that can launch the application, along with optional command-line arguments and a CRC signature to prevent tempering with the file.

KS-Soft MIB Browser allows you to access SNMP devices and view a tree display of MIB variables with their associated values. You can easily load standard and proprietary MIB files, and also manipulate available data. KS-Soft MIB Browser supports SNMP Get as well as Get Next requests.

IntelliAdmin IE7 Blocking Tool enables network administrators to block the automatic installation of IE7 via Windows Updates. It creates the registry key DoNotAllowIE70 that Microsoft provides to prevent the automatic installation of IE7. The program can enables/disable the registry key remotely on selected machines over the network (Admin access required).

Eusing Free IP Switcher enables mobile users to quickly switch between different network settings with the click of a button. You can create up to 5 different profiles that define IP address and DNS configuration, as well as optional settings for proxy server, workgroup/computer name, default printer and more. To switch to a different profile, simply select the tab and click a button - no need to reboot.

NetWrix Bulk Password Reset is a simple tool that enables network administrators to quickly change a user password across multiple network computers. The free version is suitable for small networks as it requires you to type the target machine names by hand and does not support importing of machine names or IP address ranges.