Understand your network so you can defend it better 10 Free Or Low-Cost Network Discovery And Mapping Tools 10 Free Or Low-Cost Network Discovery And Mapping Tools Understand your network so you. Use our network monitoring software, Intermapper, to map and monitor any device with an IP address. Get real-time performance alerts and spot issues faster. Start a free 30-day trial today! Most routers will map out this stuff for you - logon to the router (usually at IP 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1) and display Network map (or status or connections) = depends on the router Then on the device you are interested in there's a drop down which will show characteristics / properties such as IP address / mac address etc.
Network discovery applications are useful even to those administrators who already know what is on their network. Such applications can detect rogue hardware and software license violations and may even be able to detect outages or performance problems.
Here are five network discovery applications that can come in handy. I chose them with diversity in mind. Some are designed for small networks, while others are for large networks. Some are free, while others cost thousands of dollars.
Network mapping is the study of the physical connectivity of networks e.g. The Internet.Network mapping discovers the devices on the network and their connectivity. It is not to be confused with network discovery or network enumerating which discovers devices on the network and their characteristics such as (operating system, open ports, listening network services, etc.). 1: Network View Network View (Figure A) is a Windows-based network discovery tool. It has two main functions. First, you can use it to create a map of your network.
1: Network View
Network View (Figure A) is a Windows-based network discovery tool. It has two main functions. First, you can use it to create a map of your network. Network View uses TCP/IP for node detection but gathers extra information using things like DNS, WMI, SNMP, and NetBIOS. The latest version (3.62) can even identify tablets that are connected to your network.
Figure A
In addition to its network discovery capabilities, Network View can also serve as a low-end monitoring tool. You can configure Network View to send you an email alert if certain network nodes become unreachable.
You can download a 30-day trial of Network View; the full version sells for $79.00.
2: Alloy Discovery
Another handy tool for network discovery is Alloy Discovery (Figure B). Unlike Network View, which focuses primarily on discovery, this tool's main focus is hardware and software auditing. Designed for small and midsize businesses, Alloy Discovery can perform full hardware and software audits without the need for agents. However, agents can be used in organizations that need to audit external networks or stand-alone computers.
Figure B
Alloy Discovery is designed to run on Windows, but it's capable of discovering/auditing computers running Windows, Mac OS, and even Linux. You can download a free 30-day trial of Alloy Discovery. It sells for $495.
3: WhatsUp Gold
WhatsUp Gold (Figure C) is a higher end network discovery and monitoring application. Like Network View, WhatsUp Gold performs network discovery and SNMP and WMI monitoring. What sets it apart (besides the price) is the degree to which networks can be monitored and the fact that the software is capable of producing more than 200 types of reports.
Figure C
WhatsUp Gold is designed for Windows, but it also supports agentless monitoring of Linux and UNIX systems. The software is also virtualization aware. WhatsUp Gold is available as a free 30-day trial. It sells for $2,695.
4: LogInventory
LogInventory (Figure D)is a decent tool for network discovery/inventory. It's designed for use by small businesses, large enterprises, and anything in between. In fact, LogInventory seems to have all the basics covered. It is designed to run on Windows but supports detection on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux machines. It also detects hardware devices, such as network printers.
Figure D
You can download a free trial of LogInventory; the trial supports the discovery of up to 20 assets. The full version costs $6.40 per license.
5: NetSurveyor
NetSurveyor is a network discovery tool whose sole emphasis is on WiFi. It's designed to collect information about any nearby wireless access points. Not only can you use this tool to detect rogue wireless access points, but you can also use it to fine tune or diagnose problems with your wireless hardware.
Figure E
NetSurveyor is a completely free utility.
Other good options?
What network discovery apps have worked the best for you? Share your recommendations with other TechRepublic members.
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Nmap 7.80 was released for DEFCON 27! [release notes | download]
Nmap 7.70 is now available! [release notes | download]
Nmap turned 20 years old on September 1, 2017! Celebrate by reading the original Phrack #51 article. #Nmap20!
Nmap 7.60 is now available! [release notes | download]
Nmap 7.50 is now available! [release notes | download]
Nmap 7 is now available! [release notes | download]
We're pleased to release our new and Improved Icons of the Web project—a 5-gigapixel interactive collage of the top million sites on the Internet!
Nmap has been discovered in two new movies! It's used to hack Matt Damon's brain in Elysium and also to launch nuclear missiles in G.I. Joe: Retaliation!
We're delighted to announce Nmap 6.40 with 14 new NSE scripts, hundreds of new OS and version detection signatures, and many great new features! [Announcement/Details], [Download Site]
We just released Nmap 6.25 with 85 new NSE scripts, performance improvements, better OS/version detection, and more! [Announcement/Details], [Download Site]
Any release as big as Nmap 6 is bound to uncover a few bugs. We've now fixed them with Nmap 6.01!
Nmap 6 is now available! [release notes | download]
The security community has spoken! 3,000 of you shared favorite security tools for our relaunched SecTools.Org. It is sort of like Yelp for security tools. Are you familiar with all of the 49 new tools in this edition?
Nmap 5.50 Released: Now with Gopher protocol support! Our first stable release in a year includes 177 NSE scripts, 2,982 OS fingerprints, and 7,319 version detection signatures. Release focuses were the Nmap Scripting Engine, performance, Zenmap GUI, and the Nping packet analysis tool. [Download page | Release notes]
Those who missed Defcon can now watch Fyodor and David Fifield demonstrate the power of the Nmap Scripting Engine. They give an overview of NSE, use it to explore Microsoft's global network, write an NSE script from scratch, and hack a webcam--all in 38 minutes! (Presentation video)
Icons of the Web: explore favicons for the top million web sites with our new poster and online viewer.
We're delighted to announce the immediate, free availability of the Nmap Security Scanner version 5.00. Don't miss the top 5 improvements in Nmap 5.
After years of effort, we are delighted to release Nmap Network Scanning: The Official Nmap Project Guide to Network Discovery and Security Scanning!
We now have an active Nmap Facebook page and Twitter feed to augment the mailing lists. All of these options offer RSS feeds as well.
Nmap ('Network Mapper') is a free and open source(license) utility fornetwork discovery and security auditing. Many systems and networkadministrators also find it useful for tasks such as networkinventory, managing service upgrade schedules, and monitoring host orservice uptime. Nmap uses raw IP packets in novel ways to determinewhat hosts are available on the network, what services (applicationname and version) those hosts are offering, what operating systems(and OS versions) they are running, what type of packetfilters/firewalls are in use, and dozens of other characteristics. Itwas designed to rapidly scan large networks, but works fine againstsingle hosts. Nmap runs on all major computer operating systems, andofficial binary packages are available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OSX. In addition to the classic command-line Nmap executable, the Nmapsuite includes an advanced GUI and results viewer(Zenmap), a flexible datatransfer, redirection, and debugging tool(Ncat), a utility forcomparing scan results (Ndiff), and a packet generation and response analysis tool (Nping).
Nmap was named “Security Product of the Year” by LinuxJournal, Info World, LinuxQuestions.Org, and Codetalker Digest. Itwas even featured in twelvemovies, includingThe Matrix Reloaded,Die Hard 4,Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, andThe Bourne Ultimatum.
Nmap is ...
Flexible: Supports dozens of advanced techniques formapping out networks filled with IP filters, firewalls, routers, andother obstacles. This includes many port scanning mechanisms (both TCP &UDP), OSdetection, version detection, ping sweeps, and more. See the documentation page.
Powerful: Nmap has been used to scan huge networks ofliterally hundreds of thousands of machines.
Portable: Most operating systems are supported, includingLinux,Microsoft Windows,FreeBSD,OpenBSD,Solaris,IRIX,Mac OS X,HP-UX,NetBSD,Sun OS,Amiga,and more.
Easy: While Nmap offers a rich set of advanced features forpower users, you can start out as simply as 'nmap -v -A targethost'. Both traditional command line and graphical (GUI)versions are available to suit your preference. Binaries areavailable for those who do not wish to compile Nmap from source.
Free: The primary goals of the Nmap Project is to help makethe Internet a little more secure and to provideadministrators/auditors/hackers with an advanced tool for exploringtheir networks. Nmap is available for free download, and also comes with fullsource code that you may modify and redistribute under the terms ofthe license.
Well Documented: Significant effort has been put intocomprehensive and up-to-date man pages, whitepapers, tutorials, andeven a whole book! Find them in multiplelanguages here.
Supported: While Nmap comes with no warranty, it is well supported by a vibrant community of developers and users. Most of this interaction occurs on the Nmap mailing lists. Most bug reports and questions should be sent to the nmap-dev list, but only after you read the guidelines. We recommend that all users subscribe to the low-traffic nmap-hackers announcement list. You can also find Nmap on Facebook and Twitter. For real-time chat, join the #nmap channel on Freenode or EFNet.
Acclaimed: Nmap has won numerous awards, including'Information Security Product of the Year' by Linux Journal, InfoWorld and Codetalker Digest. It has been featured in hundreds ofmagazine articles, several movies, dozens of books, and one comic bookseries. Visit the press pagefor further details.
Popular: Thousands of people download Nmap every day, andit is included with many operating systems (Redhat Linux, DebianLinux, Gentoo, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, etc). It is among the top ten (out of30,000) programs at the Freshmeat.Net repository. This is importantbecause it lends Nmap its vibrant development and user supportcommunities.
Nmap users are encouraged to subscribe to the Nmap-hackersmailing list. It is a low volume (6 posts in 2017), moderated listfor the most important announcements about Nmap, Insecure.org, andrelated projects. You can join more than 128,000 current subscribersby submitting your email address here:
Network Device Mapping
We also have a development list for more hardcore members(especially programmers) who are interested in helping the project byhelping with coding, testing, feature ideas, etc. New (test/beta)versions of Nmap are sometimes released here prior to generalavailability for QA purposes. You can subscribe at the Nmap-dev listinfo page.
Online Network Mapper
Both lists are archived (along with many other security lists) at Seclists.org.
Free Network Mapper
Though it isn't nearly as active as the mailing lists, the official IRC channel is #nmap on Freenode (irc.freenode.net).