One of the keys to optimal operation of a small, medium or large network is good administration, or rather, good management of it. With the right tools, we can be in control of what happens to our network in time and in shape. On this occasion, we talk about IP Tracker tools, how they work and we will quote some free recommendations. Keep in mind that the use of tools like these prevent frequent problems such as IP address conflict.
An IP Tracker (or IP monitoring tool) allows you to detect all devices that have configured IP addresses. It is very important to have this type of tools because they have the ability to compare what the devices have configured and what is documented on the network that you are managing. The direct advantage is that it will allow you to have more consistent data regarding the IP configuration of the devices and the documentation that supports them. Also, general technical or audit problems can be prevented.
There are some IP Trackers that also allow correcting errors detected in IP address management systems. Many of these monitoring tools are highly configurable. With this feature, error detection and correction activities can be performed periodically. The latter facilitates control against unauthorized changes in the configuration of your devices.
An IP Tracker is the ally of networks and subnets. Network administrators have, at a glance, all the IP addresses available in their environment, plus information regarding device status. A frequent problem that can be avoided is the addressing conflict, for example, that more than one device has the same IP address or that there are devices unknown to the network environment. Network administration activity is known to involve many processes and many responsibilities. So thanks to facilities such as panels that show the status of the devices, it is possible to facilitate the activity itself. Then, it is possible to achieve greater productivity on a day-to-day basis.
Free IP Tracker Tools
If you’re in charge of managing a small or medium network, a free solution does a lot. Here are some tools. Virtually all are available for the Windows operating system and there are some that have the possibility of being installed in other operating systems.
SolarWinds IP Address Tracker
SolarWinds is one of the companies that appears the most when it comes to recommending tools of this type, whether at the level of small / medium or very large networks, which are applied at the corporate level. The free IP Tracker that it offers allows you to perform essential tasks for every network administrator. Up to 254 IP addresses can be monitored. It also performs an automatic scan for IP conflicts and if it finds one, it makes the corresponding notification.
Since it is a free product and specially designed for smaller networks, it does not have more advanced functions. Like interaction with DHCP and DNS servers . If you need to deal with these types of servers, you will have to carry out the maintenance and correction tasks manually. However, you will always have a panel that displays informative graphics and with reference colors for a better understanding of the state of the devices. You can download the tool here .
Angry IP Scanner
It is an open source, multi-platform solution that scans an entire network or specific subnets or ranges. To facilitate the scanning of the IP addresses that interest us, we can import a text file (.txt format) that simply contains the IPs. On the other hand, this IP address scanner can resolve host names and the manufacturers of the different MAC addresses, in addition to the ability to integrate with NetBIOS data.
If you need to perform port scanning, you can also count on this tool. Thus, you will know what are the open ports corresponding to each host that responds to ping scans. The data regarding the ports will be of great help in determining if you really need to open / close certain ports for greater security. You can download the tool here .
Advanced IP Scanner
This IP Tracker is designed for the Windows operating system and allows the bulk import of all the IP addresses that we need to scan. Said scanning and the generation of the result is given in a few minutes. Some of the data that we can locate are: the host name, MAC address, the manufacturer of the network card and others. If you need to have remote control of the devices, Advanced IP Scanner enables RDP and Radmin functionalities. You can download the tool here .
