Comments on: Network Mapping Tools: The Best Free and Paid Solutions

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 13:41:38 +0000

Do these tools only use SNMP to detect devices on the network? or are there any other techniques which are used for discovery purpose?

By: Tom Brownie

Tom Brownie — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 10:51:10 +0000

In reply to FrozenFace. Yes these tools are more like network diagram tools. The benefit of using these tools is automation. Automatic network diagram tools can be good but since we have a small one site network, we use Google Sheets to map, administer and even monitor our network configuration. Very easy for our team as all can open and live edit changes in Google Docs.

By: Augusto Santa Cruz

Augusto Santa Cruz — Sun, 12 Aug 2018 02:24:09 +0000

In reply to FrozenFace. Frozenface, you are quite right about the Active Directory Topology Mapper but as you said AD is a reqirement to use that one. About SMBs, I think that to start planning and setting things up is always good to start with paper and maybe Excel. However, as you go further along things can get quite hectic, as tech changes and so does our needs. Moving away from Excel to keep track of things is possible as there are some good free tools to help.

By: FrozenFace

FrozenFace — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 11:30:31 +0000

And if you are looking for a Microsoft solution for network mapping, you may check out Active Directory Topology Mapper which will automatically create Visio diagrams for you. But it only works if you have Active Directory installed in your network

By: FrozenFace

FrozenFace — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 11:25:32 +0000

Device42 looks very interesting otherwise all other software will only create a logical network mapping diagram while Device42 seems to take care of the physical mapping side of things too. For SMBs, an Excel sheet or draw.io would be enough I think?