A network sniffer, or packet sniffer, is a specialized software (or even a hardware device) that listens in over a network and records the IP packets of data that travel through it. Many network administrators use these tools to determine the efficiency of a network, to troubleshoot communication problems, to identify common network bottlenecks etc. […]

Log management and log analysis tools play a vital role in maintaining healthy and secure systems and network infrastructure. Logs provide “visibility” into what is going on in your network and systems, both from the operational perspective but also from the security perspective as well. Comprehensive logging involves the recording of statuses and events from […]

Nagios, Zabbix and Icinga are three of the most popular software tools for network monitoring and management. These tools have a plethora of features and characteristics but their core purpose is to provide visibility into your network and IT systems by monitoring the health, performance, utilization etc of your critical infrastructure components. All three are […]

Companies these days need to deal with and manage vast inventories of network and IT assets. Keeping track of these assets, tagging them, and knowing their status at all times is essential to the operations of any modern company. Image Source As you’d expect, this is a big job but network inventory software makes it […]

WiFi is an incredibly useful communication protocol that is widely used. In fact, it’s the de facto standard used to create wireless networks in homes, businesses, public spaces etc. However, it’s not uncommon for signal strength to degrade due to a variety of factors, including distance from the access point, obstacles, competing WiFi signals, and […]

For businesses, the task of network and IT infrastructure monitoring remains highly important. A company cannot afford to ignore the security and performance of its network and IT resources. Nagios remains one of the most popular solutions for IT infrastructure monitoring today. An entire suite of software allows businesses to take control and have visibility […]

Although I have been a TCP/IP networking professional for decades, in the last 10 years I’m also involved in network security as well. One of the tasks I’m responsible to do in my work environment is to either coordinate or perform network assessment projects on my own. A major part of a network security assessment […]

Throughout my career in TCP/IP networking (mainly with Cisco products) I have learned a very important lesson: Spending some time to create Documentation for your projects will pay dividends down the road. An important part of this Documentation is a network diagram/topology of your Network project. Moreover, another primary task you will need to perform […]

With the rise of distributed networks, finding a secure way to transfer files and data is essential. That’s where software products like Secure File Transfer Protocol, better known as SFTP, comes in. File Transfer Protocol has been around since 1971; the encrypted version was developed in 1994. This popular file transfer communication protocol is able […]

I first got acquainted with TFTP at the beginning of my networking career. The first use-case of TFTP protocol is when I first upgraded the IOS firmware of a Cisco router using a little software utility called “TFTPD32”. Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) software provide a key service to many network and system administrators for […]

PuTTY is a free terminal emulation tool that’s been available for 20 years. Originally released for Microsoft Windows, this versatile remote administration tool can be used to access workstations, servers, network devices etc using various protocols such as secure shell connection (SSH), Telnet, Rlogin etc. While it continues to be popular for accessing network devices […]

In the Networking and IT world we usually design and implement networks and server infrastructure taking for granted that the hardware and applications will withstand any volume of traffic. Stress Testing a network or IT system with high volume of traffic will give us significant insights about the behavior of such systems in abnormal conditions […]