Network Audit Tools

What network audit tools can be used in a company operating a middle-sized network? What software or hardware utilities can be included into that toolkit?

One of the main components of the network audit tools that should be used in any company is a network inventory program. This is a software application that lists all computers and network devices attached to the LAN and reveals those computers and devices settings and configuration. For example, for a Windows PC it would be CPU serial number, speed, vendor and model, PC serial number, memory size installed, HDD information and so on. For network devices like printers, faxes or routers it should be the name of the item, it's IP address and (optionally) SNMP port used to control this device remotelly from the network administrator's workstation, and device type.

After retrieving the information discussed above, the application should record it in a centralized database for the later use by a human. This is a good idea to run a software that will not only save the results of the inventory process, but also compare it to the results of the previous scans and generate the list of changes happened to the device during it's life in the corporate network. These modifications lists will help the IT administrator find the reason for the problems if any will occur in the company network operations.

One of the network audit tools is Asset Tracker for Networks, an application that inventories the network and provides the IT guy with the detailed information on each workstation, server or device attached to the network. Please download the free evaluation version of the program to check if it meets your needs.

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