Network Analysis

[c.chaffee]

Just wondering what tools people use to analyze Cisco Networks. Mosty routers and switches, configurations etc. What utilities do you use? What documents do you follow? How do you present it to the person requesting the information?

And on another type question that doesn't really go here, has anyone had any experience with the BroadBand Service Manager (BBSM)? I inherited one, and it is acting up on me. Is there any decent way to figure out if it has been compromised?

Thanks

[Georg Pauwen]

Hello,

there is a whole myriad of tools available. Depending on what sort of money you are willing to spend, your first choice would be CiscoWorks, which is Cisco-proprietary, and which includes many reporting functions. Go to:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/cscowork/ps2425/index.html

for more info on this network management solution (which is quite expensive)...

Then, there are many freeware or 3rd-party tools. Check the links below:

OpUtils Free Edition

http://manageengine.adventnet.com/products/oputils/download.html

COSI (Cisco-Centric Open Sourec Community) Tools

http://cosi-nms.sourceforge.net/

KIWI Tools

http://www.kiwisyslog.com/

As for the BBSM: can you describe what you are running into ? Have a look at the document below, possibly, your problem is addressed there:

Cisco Building Broadband Service Manager

Level Two Technical Support for Cisco Building Broadband Service Manager

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/netmgtsw/ps533/products_tech_note09186a00800942fa.shtml#ts

Regards,

GP

[ortega-agus]

Puedes consultar una herramienta muy gráfica llamada Orion v.7.8 cuesta alrededor de 2500 USdlls. Esta herramienta es muy gráfica y te presenta muy buenos reportes, Una versiópn de prueba por 30 días la puedes encontrar aqui:

http://solarwinds.net

Saludos.

Agus

[mark.mcsherry]

Hi,

I see Kiwi is mentioned above, but I have found Kiwi Cattools invaluable. It can be scheduled to take a configs at scheduled times, so you always have a copy of the configs and also compares them. This is especially important when you do a planned works and can verify that nothing else has changed other than the config you want.

The other key things you need are a syslog server. Again Kiwi make one, but there are loads out there.

In addition, you want to look at monitoring - can be two types - active and passive. The active type actively polls devices and the passive type receives snmp traps.

Check out sitescope - www.mercury.com. There are loads of SNMP managers, but castlerock is good.

You also want to do some scans to ensure your network is secure - LanGuard is very good for that.

HTH,

Mark