Network Monitoring

Axence NetTools Pro is a set of essential networking tools that includes network monitoring, port scanner, NetStat, TCP/IP Workshop, graphical ping, Traceroute, Bandwidth measuring, SNMP browser and more. You can monitor ping responses from multiple devices or websites and be alerted via email, sound or message dialog when a server becomes unavailable. The TCP/IP Workshop allows you to troubleshoot TCP/IP problems by establishing a manual TCP connection with a host. Other features include statistical history graphs and export to HTML, XML and CSV. Axence NetTools Pro requires free registration after 30 days.

PRTG Network Monitor enables you to monitor network computers and devices including routers, switches, firewalls, database servers and more. The program collects performance data from the remote machines and provides graphical statistics and detailed logs. You can configure different notification options and schedules with support for notification messages via email, messenger, SMS, EventLog entry, file execution and more. PRTG Network Monitor offers more than 40 sensor types that allow you to monitor TCP/IP connectivity, database responses, HTTP content, common Internet protocols, WMI values, custom sensors and more. The program provides a password protected web interface that can be access from any browser on the network or Internet (if configured to allow outside access) as well as a system tray client that notifies you of any problems with monitored devices. The free version can be used with up to 10 sensors for personal and commercial use.

BitMeter 2 is a small bandwidth meter, that allows you to monitor your Internet connection with the help of a real-time graph that shows your upload and download speed over time. It offers long-term upload/download history to track your usage over time, as well as customizable speed and volume alerts. It also includes a download time calculator and a download stopwatch. The small graph can be placed on your desktop as a floating window or in click-through mode.

NetWorx is a network traffic monitor that provides an accurate account of the data which is flowing through your network connection at any given moment. The real-time readout is presented in both numeric and graphical graph format and an additional Speedometer allows you to collect current download speed statistics whenever needed. Additional features include daily, weekly and monthly statistics, customizable graphs, network interface selection and more. You can also export statistical data to various formats, including XLS, HTML, CSV , Text and RTF. The built-in alert options allow you to be notified whenever bandwidth usage drops below a certain limit or alternatively specify actions like running a program or rebooting the machine. NetWorx works with virtually all types of network connections including phone modems, DSL, cable modem, LAN, satellite and more.

EventSentry Light enables system administrators to have eventlog messages sent by email. The free version allows you to specify one filter criteria, to limit notification to selected (or all) events, based on EventID, category and keywords. You have the choice of text or HTML emails, set time and day restrictions and more. An excellent tool for EventLog monitoring, the free version will do great for most small networks.

Remote Process Explorer enables you to manage processes on your local machine as well as on remote computers on the network (remote access rights must be available). It can automatically find all available computers, and allows you to view running processes along with their detailed information including Process ID, Parent PID, Priority, Handles, Threads etc. as well as owner information, CPU time and memory consumption and more. You can choose to terminate processes, set process priorities and also start processes on the remote machine. Other features include an option to look up process information via Google, import/export, remote reboots and more. Remote Process Explorer requires free registration after a trial period (free for non-commercial use).

The Dude is a unique network monitor that incorporates an interactive map of your network layout, that helps you visualize the structure of your network and provides direct access to network functions specific to each item. It can automatically discover your local network and draw a preliminary layout that can be further customized and saved. You can manually add items, customize the icons and captions used for each device and connect nodes with lines and other drawing tools. The program supports various network monitoring tasks from simple ping checks to port probes and service checks. Other features include history logging, outage notifications (email, beep, popup, eventlog), SNMP support, map export to PDF or PNG as well as customizable interface layouts and more.

CurrPorts allows you to view a list of ports that are currently in use, and the application that is using it. You can close a selected connection and also terminate the process using it, and export all or selected items to a HTML or text report. Additional information includes the local port name, local/remote IP address, highlighted status changes and more. Other features include logging of changes, custom filters and more.

ServersCheck Monitoring Free Edition is a tool for monitoring, reporting and alerting on network and systems availability. The standard version can be used for free with up to 15 devices, which is probably more than adequate for personal use. It can monitor any TCP Port (HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, NNTP, POP3, SMTP, VNC, DNS, etc.), check ODBC, Oracle, MySQL databases, trap SNMP values (disk space, free memory, CPU usage,...), verify content served from a web server and check NT services and process availability. In addition, it also can monitor environmental devices like temperature, humidity, flooding. Alerting can be done via email, MSN or network message. ServersCheck Monitoring runs as a local service and is administrated through a browser interface by connecting to the built-in web server. Additional features include alerts and graph output for long-term statistics tracking.

SocketSniff is a small utility for advanced users that enables you to watch the WinSock activity of a selected process in real-time. You can inspect the content of packages in Ascii and Hex dump view, select the socket types to monitor and export the capture list to HTML format. SocketSniff only works with processes that are already loaded in the Winsock library, if you select a process that is not loaded, you will receive an error message.

RouterSyslog is a simple Syslog server that is designed to display the syslog information from your router. It displays new messages as hint from the system tray and can optionally log all messages to a daily text file. Other features include online WHOIS lookup, WAN IP retrieval and DNS queries. RouterSyslog is intended for those that want to monitor their router`s syslog messages from time to time without the need to install a full featured Syslog server. Standalone program, no installation needed.

TCPView will show you a detailed listings of all TCP and UDP endpoints on your system in real-time, including the remote address and state of TCP connections as well as the application or process that is using the connection. The program highlights connection entries that are new or about to be closed, making it easy to spot what you are looking for. In addition, you can terminate selected processes or close connections and perform a Whois lookup.

Interface Traffic Indicator enables you to measure incoming and outgoing traffic for SNMP-capable (MIB-2) interfaces, including compatible network cards, switches, routers, and other devices. You can customize the polling interval from 1-120 seconds, and optionally write a log file. The current traffic is displayed in a bytes or bit/sec graph display.

Bandwidth Monitor Lite is a simple network monitor to keep track of your upload and download bandwidth statistics. It also displays a real-time graph of your current bandwidth usage and maintains a long-term log of daily statistics. The monitoring features are very basic and limited to a graph display and basic log, however if that is all you need, you may want to give it a try. The interface is modern and fully customizable. Bandwidth Monitor Lite offer a graphical design mode that allows you to completely alter the looks and choose the data to be displayed in the monitor.

Karen`s Net Monitor periodically tests web servers of your choice and attempts to download a specific page, with the option to check for a specified signature or keyword to be present in the source code of the page. It reports any errors that occur, so you can take corrective action. The program can also check the availability of mail servers and ping a list of computers. The testing interval can be adjusted.

NetGraph is a small network connection monitoring tool, that shows a real-time graph of your download and upload activity for the selected interface. In addition to the graph display, it also comes with a dynamic tray icon and an option to auto-hide the graph when there is no activity. Additional features include a handy move-out-of-the-way feature that automatically moves the graph display if your mouse comes near it, as well as customizable graph and support for transparency.

EtherSnoop is a basic network sniffer, that can capture all packets going through the network, including dial-up connection or network Ethernet card. It lists the captured data in real-time, using an easy-to-understand interface with a hex and text display of the packet content. EtherSnoop also offers basic filtering by protocol type and a tree-style packet explorer. The output can be saved to file and reloaded later if needed.

Morten s HostAlive is a multi-ping tool to easily check the online status of computers in a TCP/IP network like the Internet. It pings those hosts in a configurable time interval and reports the online status. Reports can also be exported to HTML or sent by email. The program can also take a list of server names or IP addresses for bulk processing.

PortPeeker is a standalone port listener, that uses whatever TCP/UDP port you specify and logs all incoming requests in detail. It provides a simple text log overview of all connections that have taken place, as well as their details. In addition, a handy drop-down box on top lists all the IP addresses that have connected, and selecting on will let you jump to the associate log entries. Useful for application testing (errors can be logged as well) and security monitoring for vulnerable ports. No install neeeded, just run the EXE file.

MZL & Novatech TrafficStatistic allows you to monitor and log your Ethernet traffic statistics, and provides a detailed breakdown on daily usage, as well as per service and target host. If your Internet connection has a bandwidth limit, you can also configure the program to provide you with details and remaining bandwidth for the current billing period. The program works on the IP packet level, therefore it can report on all the traffic, regardless whether this traffic was made by a browser, a files haring software. email or any other connection. Additional features include optional exclusion of LAN traffic, user-friendly report interface and more.

LinkMonitor is a simple host monitor that allows you to monitor a single host and alerts you if it becomes unavailable. The program can run in the system tray, changes icon color on failure and can also alert you via sound.

Huge Brother is an easy to use server monitoring utility that runs in the system tray and changes the tray icon color if a server goes down. Just enter the server addresses and the port, then choose the check interval (e.g every 20 minutes) and you`re done. The tray icon will change color, and sound alert is triggered if there are connection problems with any of the monitored servers.

ShareWatch allows you to monitor your network shares and see who is connected and what files they are accessing. It allows you to disconnect any file, user, computer, or share and supports detailed user lookup via address book. You can limit the display to active shares and choose to automatically resolve domains. ShareWatch can run in the system tray from where it shows the number of currently connected users as a tooltip. Very small, standalone executable. Great tool for network administrators.

PingLog can be used as a server or connection monitor. It allows you to specify an IP address and will then ping the given IP every X seconds. IN addition, it keeps detailed statistics about availability, downtime, total downtime and more. Great for keeping an eye on your web site or internet connection, while gathering statistics and proof of failures at the same time, which can be useful when complaining to your ISP or web host.

Look4 is a handy networking tool that allows you to watch for people or machines that sign on or off the LAN. Simply enter the username, IP or computer name you want to monitor and the program will alert you when the user logs on with an option to send a message. In addition, you can also be notified on log, allowing you to catch them before they leave the office. Does not require any client installs, just run it on your machine and start looking. Very handy!