create network map

[wog]

hey guys its me again... (a big headache)

so, im looking for a network map (to place my monitoring pc as i wanna do full monitoring of all network traffic)

as this network is a HUGE MESS is there any software, that will show me a network map (like a visio created one)?

as once that is done, ill be able to visually see whats going on, and hopefully make sence out of it when i redo the whole network (server's getting moved to new building)

sorry about all these questions, i jsut started a traineeship, and im only with another tech for half a day a week, rest of the time, im doing everything on my own, and i am loving bieng a network admin, actually puts a smile on my face all day every day.

[tristen]

Do some research and you will learn a great deal in the process - ask Mr Google using search criteria the same as your query here.

You'll be surprised how much relevant information is freely available.

[SystemRat]

When you say you want to do full network monitoring are you talking about traffic to the internet or all traffic to local servers and the internet. There are some very good packages around that will discover networks and devices that cost a mint. Depends what you’re trying to do. If you’re simply trying to see traffic there are a number of free options to do that and snoop on packets. Net shark is one which will give you real-time capture plus over a period of time.

[crypto7]

Dending on the network equipment in use, something that uses SNMP would be the best bet.

With switched networks, (as a rule) data only goes where it needs to go. eg: A PC and Printer on the same switch, wont send any data to the rest of the network.

If you where to look at network data that is all over your network, I would recommend a monitoring station on each switch, else sending all traffic back to the core switch will increase network traffic and will slow things down.

SNMP will reqire community names be set (defaults lile public and privite show be changed). If people know the community names (or username/password for V3) then they can change your network settings. Some equipment will have SNMP on with the default being V2c and public and priviate for read and read/write. Some equipment will require you to connect to the device and turn on etc.

If the equipment/switchs are un-managed then things get hard.

Have a look at cisco's web site. They have a basic tool to discover. It works OK and gets fair results if your network has CDP turned on.

My advise is really think about what you want to monitor. What is importent to you. You will find that there will be way too much information if you monitor everything.

Things like, uplink ports are a good place to start. Then monitor port stats.
eg: throughput and errors.

Then say, once a day/week check "every" port for errors. When checking for errors, this will need a base to work from as the numbers accumulate.

I find that any system where I need to look at, is of no real value. It aways looks nice and can help solve a problem i have "now". But a system where it tells me when things happen is much better. Most techs are too busy to look at a screen all day.

More info about exeactly what you want to see while help with adivce.

The network I look after atm has about 150 switchs over 8 locations, so to monitor ALL traffic is not even an option. I have a set of notebooks that I place at a site/location when trying to collect data for debuging a problem, then remote connect to look at the data. I don't leave anything in place unless looking into a problem. After looking at alot of software that was within my budgets, I found no one product meet all my needs.

One option woudl be to learn about SNMP and use PHP scripts; this can give you a web page with "current" stats. Then writting that back to a database will show you change over time.

Good Luck.