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Buying Guide: Network Admin's Toolkit
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Keeping your small-business network healthy means putting together an effective toolkit to keep it running well. You'll need more than a little black bag with screwdrivers and a cable crimper—you'll need smart software and at least a little dedicated hardware. We've rounded up a set of software and hardware tools that will keep your SMB network toolkit up-to-date--even extending to wireless networking. Best of all, these come in a wide range of prices—there's something for everyone's budget, even if you don't have an extra penny to spend.
SMB LAN managers have different priorities than those managing enterprise networks. Tasks like capacity planning, migration scheduling, traffic shaping, and sometimes even traffic prioritization take a back seat to just keeping all the link lights green. Making sure that the critical switch, server, or firewall is running smoothly. Taking care of user complaints immediately; keeping critical server applications running; and making sure you know what's running and where are important, too. These are all far more common small-business networking concerns, and the tools you select for these jobs should reflect that emphasis.
The tools we've collected do just that. Most share an ability to let you focus on doing a few tasks well without undertaking a massive learning curve. Clever front-end design and a Web-based delivery model are other common traits--at least on the software side. We'll cover more SMB network management tools going forward. You should select your tools based less on the general areas they cover than on the specific features that apply to your particular network. That's the SMB way.
But don't forget the screwdrivers.
APC Netbotz
Small businesses looking for an easy way to monitor a server room will like the installation and management simplicity of the NetBotz 420—if they can afford the costly system.
AVTech Room Alert
This aggressively priced SNMP-compliant environmental monitor works with almost any dry-contact sensor, but deployment and ongoing management require some time and effort.
MetaGeek Wi-Spy 2.4x
The MetaGeek Wi-Spy 2.4x is a spectrum analyzer aimed at SMBs not just because of its SMB-friendly low price tag, but also because of its unique ease-of-use features. The combination makes for a highly useful tool that can easily find a home with IT generalists, not just wireless gurus.
pt360 Tools Suite Free (beta)
PacketTrap's pt360 Tools Suite beta looks like a direct competitor to Spiceworks 2.0. Though both are essentially free products, the pt360 Suite concentrates more heavily on network diagnostics and management, whereas Spiceworks is more about asset management. Still, p360's free version is surprisingly feature rich and offers an intuitive, carefully developed user interface.
Smartronix PatchTest and LinkCheck
You won't be doing complex diagnostics with the Smartronix PatchTest or LinkCheck (each is a single-task device), but these supremely easy-to-use, nicely priced gadgets are just right when you only need to know whether to replace a cable or a network card.
Spiceworks 2.0
The Spiceworks networking management software package makes available a powerful combination of hardware monitoring, software inventory, and a help-desk application to a huge swath of SMBs, which often lack these important capabilities. Anyone responsible for a business network of any size should download and try this app right away.
What's Up Gold
This easily deployed, highly customizable program lets you monitor the performance of network-attached devices and receive alerts about them.