Network Audit Tools
What kind of the network audit tools should be used in a middle-size company? What software or hardware components should be included into that toolkit?
One of the important parts of the network audit tools that should be used in any organization is a network inventory program. This is a software program that enumerates all computers and network devices atahed to the net and detects those computers and devices sttings and configuration. For example, for a Windows computer it would be processor serial number, speed, manufacturer and model, computer serial number, amount of memory installed, hard disks information and so on. For network equipment like printers, faxes or network infrastructure devices it should be the name of the device, it's IP address and (optionally) TCP port used to control this device remotelly, and device type.
After collecting the information mentioned above, the program should store it in a cetralized database for the later use by a human. It is a good idea to have a program that will not only store the results of the inventory scan, but also compare it to the results of the previous scans and build the list of changes appeared to the device during it's life in the company's network. These changes lists will help the network administrator find the source of the problems if any will appear in the network infrastructure functions.
One of such network audit tools is Asset Tracker for Networks, a software program that scans the network and provides the network administrator with the detailed information on each computer device attached to the LAN. Please download the free trial version of the program to check if it meets yopur requirements.
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