Network monitoring tools

[andy shutcha]

Hi all,

I am a network engineer at a company with more than 300 Cisco switches to monitor and maintain.

Would someone have a recommendation on a monitoring software providing details such as network topology and links?

Please advise.

Thank you in advance

[jialbert]

Hi Andy,

If you have small number of small business switch [under 10], you can use Cisco Configuration Assistant for simple tasks such as basic discover topology and monitor link.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps7287/index.html

Thanks for tkatsiaounis's reminder that CCA can only support limited number of small bussiness switches.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/netmgtsw/ps7256/ps7287/qa_c67-682272.html

For large number of switches, please use Prime LMS as tkatsiaounis suggested:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/net_mgmt/ciscoworks_lan_management_solution/4.2/device_support/table/lms42sdt_specialnotes.html#Cisco Small Business 300Series Managed Switches

[tkatsiaounis]

Unfortunately you have many switches for an SMB tool to work You could also use Cisco Network Assistant

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5931/index.html

but it works for only up to 50 devices. In your case with 300 switches i would recomend a Cisco LMS like Prime.

Check here it might be of more help

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

[Tom Watts]

You may consider onplus service as well.

-Tom
Please mark answered for helpful posts

[wramos]

Easy answer, Solar Winds! If you are looking for a free product, then you could use MRTG, or NMIS. But, if you are serious about monitoring your network, Solar Winds is the way to go, you can monitor servers, VM's Switches Routers etc. If it has an IP address, you can monitor it with Solar Winds.I have used their products a number of times in the past. They have great support. I use their free tools as well.

Message was edited by: William Ramos

[vikas das]

Hy.can solar winds provide automatically network map ,if we have no any credentials of snmp telnet ssh etc?

[aleister.foaley]

Hello guys,
        
I've read the post and I was wondering if someone have heard about Pandora FMS? I want to monitor several devices (including Cisco routers) and wanted some impresions about this tool. Do you know something about it?

Thanks for the feedback!

[javieronMadrid]

Hey Aleister, I came across with this thread. I have a deep understanding of Pandora FMS. I don't know if you are still checking it out. We have our cisco infraestrcuture fully monitored with Pandora FMS. I strongly recommend you to check it out in case you need network monitoring aid.

Check more information about monitoring cisco with Pandora FMS here http://wiki.pandorafms.com/index.php?title=Pandora:Documentation_en:Remote_Monitoring and here http://library.pandorafms.com/?sec=Library&sec2=repository&lng=es&category=83

For network monitoring you can check this page: https://pandorafms.com/monitoring-solutions/network-monitoring/

Hope it helps

[steverobin]

What about the tool we use: CloudView NMS www.cloudviewnms.com . It can monitor pretty much anything plugged into your network or public Internet, including special GUI for Cisco devices.  Network Monitoring: view of your whole network topology, switches, routers, firewalls, mobile devices, any other network devices, availability (health, up-time, OK status). Unlimited number of free SNMP probes (you can either compile private MIBs or using raw SNMP OIDs). They do not charge per network size! Server Monitoring: websites (uptime, changes patterns) CPU Load, Memory Usage, Disk Usage, Bandwidth, Cloud Services, Web Page/Site, Layer-7 services (SQL,SSH, FTP, HTTP/HTTPS....). Both agent-less and agent-oriented monitoring is available. Applications monitoring,Quality of Service monitoring, Service Level Agreement (SLA) monitoring. Environment monitoring: temperature, humidity, etc..., SCADA devices monitoring. And they do not charge per networks size

[SurendraDhote67115]

Not sure whether these tools will work for you. I found them helpful. Let's give them a try. https://www.theproche.com/2020/05/20/top-5-cisco-network-monitoring-tools/