10 Must Have Bookmarklets for Everyone

10 Must Have Bookmarklets for Everyone

1. Video downloader: This on of the most used bookmarklet. While watching a video click this bookmarklet and you will be presented with a list of options to download the video at various resolutions.




2. Readability: While surfing the web you must have encountered a website that has very small font to read or the contrast between text and background colour is is too low. Readability is service that formats such pages to beautiful text for reading. Readability bookmarklet does this in one click.




3. Search this site with Google: Often the integrated site search in many site is not good enough. In that case you can search the site using “site:sitename.com keyword”. But who would type all this when you have a bookmarklet. Click on the goo.gl bookmarklet, type your search term and press Ok.



4. Gmail This: This bookmarklet works in 2 ways – If you select some text and then click it then a
new gmail windows will open with the selected text in body. Otherwise if no text text is selected the URL of current page is used.

5. Show password: This is an old but useful one. It reveal the password in the current page hidden behind dots.



6. Print what you like: When printing something from web you don’t want to print everything. This service lets you remove unwanted parts of a web page and print what you like. This also helps in saving ink.

7. Translate to English: As the name suggest it will translate any page to English. If some text is selected on a page that text will be translated. For other languages goto this page.

8. Goo.gl URL shortener: It will shorten the URL of current page using Google’s Goo.gl service. Just press + to copy the shortened URL and Enter to close the message box.




9. Page zipper: If you have been using the web for sometime you must have encountered pages like “Top 100 movies of all time” or “Top 20 games of 2013″. The problem with these is that each item is listed on a separate page. Clicking next 100 times is very tiresome. To solve this problem Pagezipper automagically loads the next page as you scroll down. The next page attached to the bottom of the current page. You can also use these shortcuts:
Next: +
Previous:         +
To test this bookmarklet visit this page.

10.Download as PDF: This bookmarklet will let you download current page as PDF. Nothing extraordinary but very handy specially  for those browsers that do not have this functionality.

Conclusion:

Here we have listed only 10 bookmarklets. While this is not the complete list but we have listed the 10 most essential ones. What bookmarklets do you use everyday? We would like to hear from you in the comments.

Automatically download and install software

Whenever you do a fresh install of Windows or buy new PC you have to go through one tedious task. Which is to download and install software that are essential to run your PC. Downloading and installing latest version of each software takes a lot of time. Moreover some software installers are like riddles. One wrong move and your home page will be replaced by a shady search engine, computer will be filled with toolbars you  don’t want or other crap-ware.

 

Thankfully there is great software called Ninite which do all the work for you. You just have to visit its homepage. Select your favourite softwares. Download the multi application installer and run it.  Now just sit back and relax. It will install and update everything without any interrupts.
Here is the summary of the steps:

Step 1:

Visit www.Ninite.com and select you favourite applications. (Ubuntu users go here www.ninite.com/linux )

Step 2:

Download the installer and run it.

Step 3:

There  is no step 3. Were you expecting one ? Just relax or do some other work and let the installer install the softwares.

What we liked about it

1. No interrupts, completely automated.
2. If you already have a software it will update it.
3. It parallely downloads one software and installs the other. Hence its fast.
4. No need to worry about unwanted toolbars. It will automatically skip it for you.
5. 64 bit version of the software will be installed if it is available when you are on a 64 bit OS.

What we didn’t like

1. Software setups are deleted after install. Not an ideal solution for people with slow connections.
2. Both 32 and 64 bit Java are installed on a 64 OS. Maybe a pro for some people.
3. Limited selection of softwares. We could not find our favourite PotPlayer.

Bonus

To save you time even more. Here is a link of applications I normally install on a new PC. It will instal chrome, everything, firefox, foobar, imgburn, java, klitecodecs, notepadplusplus, opera, picasa, revo, skype, sumatrapdf, teamviewer, utorrent, windirstat, and winmerge. Download

When to Virtualize Your Servers?

Server virtualization isn't just for big companies. Entry-level virtualization tools are free or low-cost, and there are many benefits to virtualization (including saving money). It’s not a question of “if” you should virtualize your servers; it’s a question of “when.” In this article, I outline five steps you should take to determine when to virtualize your servers.

There are a number of server virtualization solutions available today. However, this article isn’t about which solution to choose. Many virtualization questions are “solution agnostic,” and the question of “when” to virtualize your servers is one of them.

So, if you haven’t started using virtualization or you haven’t fully virtualized your IT environment, I recommend the following five steps to determine when you should make that move.

#1 – Understand the Benefits of going virtual

You don’t want to undertake a virtualization project without understanding why you are making this effort. Most of us have to justify a project like virtualization to a manager, director, VP or CIO. Even if you don’t have to do that, you should be able to answer the “why” question for yourself with an answer that’s more concrete that “because it’s the next big thing.” Below is a list of reasons why most administrators feel compelled to virtualize their server infrastructure:

• Save time – Administering virtualized servers over physical servers can save a huge amount of time.

• Save money – Any way you measure it, virtualization comes out as a cost-saving proposition. Dollars are saved in less administrative time, fewer infrastructure requirements and less energy utilization.

• Simplify management – Virtualization enables the use of advanced features like resource optimization, high availability and point-in-time snapshots of servers.

• Recover from disaster – Having a reliable disaster recovery plan is essential for ensuring business continuity. Virtualization offers hardware independence and decreased recovery time in case of a disaster or failover. Once you and your management team are convinced that virtualization is the right decision for your company, move on to the next step.

#2 – Evaluate a virtualization solution.

There are many virtualization solutions available today. In addition to VMware vSphere 4, you can evaluate Microsoft Hyper-V or Xen/Citrix, to name a few. If you choose to evaluate or analyze all of them, you may be spinning your wheels. To date, VMware has held the dominant position in the virtualization market space, with more than 150,000 customers globally. No one else in the marketplace has come close to matching the maturity, breadth of offerings, reliability, oradoption rate of VMware. Many times, all that the competition can offer is a claim of a lower price tag, but make sure that you’re doing

an apples-to-apples cost comparison – more on that later..

When selecting the right virtualization solution for your company, consider the following:

• Don’t choose the “newest” or “cheapest” solution just because they are new and seemingly inexpensive.

• Look for a solution that has been around for a long period of time to ensure the technology has been tested with a variety of applications

• Look for a solution that has been proven in production IT environments

• Choose a solution that offers flexibility and options to fit the needs of your company

In my opinion, two solutions meet these criteria. They are VMware ESXi Free Edition and the VMware vSphere platform. The first is available for free and is a good way to start your company on the path toward virtualization. The second product can be evaluated for free and purchased as a low-cost package solution for smaller deployments.

While these two solutions each have their own unique fit, they both have been proven by businesses of all sizes over a long period of time and they have the most to offer of any virtualization solution available today.

The only way to truly get comfortable with virtualization is to try it for yourself on your own servers and perform tests in your environment. Download and evaluate any solution before making a purchasing decision.

#3 – Determine if applications are going to work well with virtualization.

One of the concerns I have heard from administrators who haven’t virtualized their servers yet is that they believe their applications might not be “virtualization friendly.” While there may be a few cases in which this is true, the numbers of servers that can’t be virtualized are small compared to the vast majority of all servers that can.

In my experience, if you understand the application, the majority of the time, you won’t have any trouble consolidating a physical server into a virtualized environment. I have successfully virtualized Citrix Server, Exchange 2007 Servers, graphical applications, database servers, and other critical enterprise applications. If you are concerned that your virtual servers won’t offer the performance that your applications demand visit the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace (http://www.vmware.com/appliances/). Virtual appliances are pre-built, preconfigured, ready-to-run enterprise applications packaged with an operating system inside a virtual machine.

#4 – Analyze the cost of virtualizing your server infrastructure.

In Step #1, I mentioned that you can save your company money by virtualizing your servers. As most of us work for businesses, and businesses are in the business of maximizing profits, it only makes sense that before undertaking a virtualization project, you should analyze the cost and potential savings (the ROI). For those companies who value ROI, I anticipate that the ROI of virtualization will always be there, but the question may be how long does it take to achieve that ROI? When I get asked that question, I recommend that you calculate your ROI to virtualize your servers, with the VMware ROI calculator. For example, when I used it, it showed that by consolidating and virtualizing 20 physical servers down to 3, you could save $200,000 in server, related hardware and power, cooling and real estate costs and $85,000 in IT staff operating costs over 3 years1. Plus, if you have more physical servers to start with, the cost savings are even greater. Furthermore, the typical payback period, or amount of time to break even on the investment, for a 20 server consolidation project is 1 month. What other IT projects can you say that about? Even if you don’t use numbers, I believe that the cost savings of virtualization is obvious. Virtualization requires:

• Fewer servers

• Fewer infrastructure costs – cooling, UPS, generator

• Less spent on electricity

• Less space needed for you IT infrastructure

• Less time spent administering servers

• Faster response to business needs

If you can install a product that does all those things, it will eventually (and probably very quickly) pay for itself. That’s what I call “a no-brainer.” One point to note about comparing costs among virtualization vendors. Some vendors like Microsoft and Citrix will position their solutions as “free” compared with VMware. We know that no solution that you rely on to stand up your production infrastructure can really be “free.” Those vendors have made their hypervisors free but shifted the cost to their management tools, which are necessary to use when managing a production environment. VMware has introduced a method for comparing “cost per application,” which they position as the true way to measure cost in an apples-to-apples way. I would encourage you to explore that cost comparison further.

#5 – Analyze the time and skill needed to virtualize

your server infrastructure I don’t want to minimize the time and skill required to create a virtual environment. Depending on the scope of the project, it could be very quick or it could be a more significant undertaking. If I were to estimate the time to learn about VMware vSphere and consolidate 20 physical servers with “typical” applications onto two or three VMware ESX Servers, it would look like this:

• Learn about VMware vSphere – via reading, video training,

or a VMware class – 1 week

• Install and configure VMware vSphere – 1 day

• Perform test server consolidations using VMware

Converter– 1 day

• Convert all 20 physical servers to virtual servers and

consolidate – 3 days

Total time = 2 weeks

Again, this is just a generalization with lots of assumptions made. However, as you can see, being able to learn about virtualization, get your virtual infrastructure installed and configured, and consolidate 20 servers in a matter of 2 weeks is a relatively small investment of time for an effort that yields huge benefits and fast ROI for your company. Keep in mind that VMware ESXi—the company’s free solution that provides basic server optimization functionality—requires even less time. You may even choose to work with a VMware Partner who can assess your requirements and install and configure VMware virtualization software for you. Make the move when you’re ready

Virtualization isn’t just for big companies anymore. There is no doubt that you should virtualize your servers – it’s simply a matter of when. I believe that the time to virtualize is now, but you should make that call for yourself. Be sure to follow the five steps outlined in this article before you make a purchasing decision.

Windows Server Proxy Server Introduction and Setup Steps

I. Brief Introduction on Windows Server Proxy Server

Windows server proxy server is a proxy server which has been located on a Windows operating system, mostly the server version of Windows such as Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. So it's also known as Windows server 2003 proxy server and Windows server 2008 proxy server. A Windows server proxy server can provide proxy service for clients with not only Windows operating system but also others such as Linux, Apple, Mobile OS and so on.
Benifits of Windows server proxy server:

• Keep clients behind it so that they can surf anonymous, it's mostly for security. Fox example, if a client visit yahoo via a Windows server proxy server, yahoo will get a request from this proxy server but not this client which makes it difficult for yahoo to track this client.
• Sharing Internet connection with your friends and colleagues. With a Windows server proxy server, computers can get access to the Internet, it's a good solution for Internet connection sharing and makes saving for Internet connection fees.
• Speed up clients' surfing. All requests from clients will reach the proxy server at first. If the proxy server has cached the resources, clients will get feedback directly from it, this will be more quickly.
• To circumvent regional restrictions. For example, a server using IP-based geolocation to restrict its service to a certain country can be accessed using a Windows server proxy server located in that country to access the service.
• Make you able to access blocked websites. For example, many work offices and schools have blocked facebook, myspace, youtube and some other websites. Fortunately, with the help of a Windows server proxy server you can bypass such restrictions easily.

II. Windows Server Proxy Server Setup Steps

CCProxy is an easy-to-use proxy server software based on Windows, it is compatible with both Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. The recommended Windows version are Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 and Windows Server 2008 R2, both 32 bit and 64 bit are supported by CCProxy.
CCProxy provides 3-user free version for personal users and home users to build their own windows server proxy server efficiently and easily, bellow is a step by step instruction for you.
Before proceeding, let's say that you want to build a Windows server proxy server with LAN. If you want your proxy server available for clients over Internet, please just refer to this article of Internet free proxy server.
Step 1 - Preparation for Windows server proxy server setup

• Install Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 or Windows Server 2008 R2 on a pre-selected computer.
• Make sure this computer is able to access Internet directly.
• If you have enabled the Windows system firewall or have installed some other security software, please make sure the bellow ports are available.

HTTP: 808
FTP(Web): 808
FTP: 2121
Gopher: 808
Secure/SSL/HTTPS/RTSP: 808
SOCKS/MMS: 1080
News(NNTP): 119
SMTP: 25
POP3: 110
Telnet: 23These are the default ports of CCProxy, you can change them as you wish according to the actual needs.

• Make sure that all clients within LAN are able to access the Server.

Step 2 - Install CCProxy on the computer that will run as Windows server proxy server

• Suppose the server IP in the LAN is 192.168.0.1, and then 192.168.0.1 is the proxy server address.
• You can download CCProxy here. Run ccproxysetup.exe and follow the on-screen instructions to install CCProxy.
• Run CCProxy on the server (Figure 1).

(Figure 1)

If you get problem in launch CCProxy, please refer to "CCProxy Start Problem".
Step 3 - Add client's IP into CCProxy on your Windows server proxy server

• Choose one computer in the LAN that needs to access the Internet. Suppose the IP address of the computer is 192.168.0.2.
• Open CCProxy main window, click "Account" button, then popup "Account Manager" dialog box.
• Select "Permit Only" in "Permit Category" and select "IP Address" in "Auth Type" (Figure 2).
• Click "New" button, fill "192.168.0.2" in the "IP Address/IP Range", click "Save" and "OK" button (Figure 3, Figure 4).

(Figure 2)

(Figure 3)

(Figure 4)

Step 4 - Make proxy server settings for IE on client

• Go to client computer and open IE window.
• Open "Tools" menu, select "Internet Options" and open the "Internet Options" dialog box.
• Select "Connections" tab (Figure 5), click "LAN Settings" button and open the "Local Area Network(LAN) Settings" dialog box.
• Check "Use a proxy server for your LAN", Fill "192.168.0.1" in "Address" and "808" in "Port" (Figure 6).
• Click "OK" button in "Local Area Network (LAN) Settings" and "Internet Options" dialog boxes.
• Now you can browser Internet web sites in IE at the client.

(Figure 5)

(Figure 6)

Besides IE, maybe you also need to make proxy server settings for some other network applications such as MSN Messenger, Skype, CuteFTP etc. We also have more instructions for you - how to proxy server for various network applications.

How to set up a proxy server

Corporate networks always have proxy servers, while on home networks they're often an overlooked form of defence. But maybe they shouldn't be.

A local proxy server can help to improve the throughput of your broadband connection, restore order to a troubled network and add another line of defence against malware infections.
What are proxies?
'Proxy' means substitute. To the computers on the local network, a proxy server is a substitute for connecting directly to the web. There are several different types of proxy server. For example, a web proxy server keeps copies of recently accessed web pages on your hard disk.
When you access a page, the proxy serves the cached version if it's up to date. This is faster than downloading static files from the site. All internal computers must use the local web proxy server for it to be effective.
In the settings for your web browser, there's a page to point it at a proxy server rather than the network's default gateway. This gateway is usually a router or the computer attached to your broadband modem. Some proxy servers also block content, especially on corporate networks.
You may be tempted to disable the proxy settings in your browser to view sites your boss would rather you didn't during work hours. However, to ensure that everyone on the network uses the proxy to access the internet, system administrators block all access to the internet at their firewall, except traffic coming from or going to the proxy. So to access anything outside the local network, you must use the proxy.

Forcing everyone to use the proxy gives system administrators great control over what their users can access. The same principle can be used at home by parents and those simply keen to bolster security.
If you find unexpected access attempts in a firewall's log file from inside a proxy-protected network, they're probably coming from malware that doesn't know how to test for a local proxy and has tried to go directly online.
Installing FreeProxy
FreeProxy (or FreeProxy Internet Suite) is a free Windows-based proxy server that can provide web caching for faster access and is able to block banned web domains. It works on Windows 7 and should ideally run on its own computer. The app is available for free from here.
Once downloaded, unzip the file and double-click on the setup application. When the installation wizard appears, click 'Next' to accept the licence agreement, the default the destination folder and Start menu folder, then click 'Install'. When the release notes pop up, click 'Next', then 'Finish'. Click Start and select 'FreeProxy Control Centre'.
Let's begin by configuring and testing FreeProxy for basic use. Open a command line and enter ipconfig. Press [Enter] and one or more blocks of information will appear.
Find the one about the server's Ethernet connection (usually the first one that appears) and note the IP addresses of the default gateway and DNS server. First, we need to stop relying on DHCP to provide IP addresses on demand and use a fixed address instead. This is so other computers on the network can find the proxy server via its address.
In Windows 7 or Vista, open the Control Panel and click 'Network and Internet | Network and Sharing Centre'. In Windows 7, click 'Change Adaptor Settings' in the left-hand pane and double-click the 'Local Area Connection'.
In Vista, click on 'Manage network connections' and double-click on the 'Local Area Connection'.
In XP's Control Panel, double-click 'Network Connections' and then doubleclick the 'Local Area Connection'. Click 'Properties' and a window will appear showing the underlying configuration. Double-click the entry in the protocol list called 'Internet Protocol Version 4 (TVP/Ipv4)'. In XP this is just called 'Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)'.

Another subwindow will appear, giving details on how the computer gets its IP address. Click the radio button marked 'Use the following IP address'. Your default internet gateway (your router) will usually have the address 192.168.0.1, so enter a different number in the fourth position (192.168.0.2, for example).

If you're not sure if this address is already in use, open a command line and enter ping 192.168.0.2. If the command hangs and then returns a set of timeouts, the address isn't in use. Next, enter a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 and the IP address of your default gateway in the appropriate input boxes.
Select the 'Use the following DNS server addresses' radio button and enter the IP address of the DNS server you noted down earlier. This is probably the same device as the default gateway. Click 'OK' and dismiss the parent windows.
Now we need to make a web browser use the proxy server to access the internet. On a different networked machine, open Internet Explorer 8 and click 'Tools | Internet Options'. Click 'LAN settings' in the Connections tab.

In the subwindow, select the tickbox labelled 'Use a proxy server for your LAN'. Enter the address 192.168.0.2 and change the port number to 8080. Now click 'OK' and dismiss the parent window, then try to surf to a page. The proxy isn't running, so the browser will eventually time out.
In the FreeProxy Control Centre, click the 'Start/Stop' button and a window will appear. To start the proxy server, click the 'Start' button in the Console Mode pane at the bottom.
Windows Firewall may pop up to tell you that it's blocked the program. Ensure that the option to allow FreeProxy to communicate on your home network is selected and click 'Allow Access'. Refresh the page in the browser by pressing [F5]. It should now load properly.
Blocking websites
Proxy servers are often used to block content, and FreeProxy does this admirably via ban lists. Click 'Ban Lists' on the FreeProxy Control Centre and the Ban List Manager will appear. Click 'New'.
Ban lists are split into several categories. Click 'Add' to add a category and a window will appear. Enter a name like Do Not Access. You can define an action the proxy must take when a user tries to access one of the URLs in the category, such as redirecting the user to an external URL or showing a custom error page. Select the 'Standard Response' option and click 'Done'.

To add a URL or IP address to the category, click 'Manage Category Details'. Click 'Add URL/IP' and enter the destination in the input box. If you're entering a URL, omit the 'http://www' prefix.
When you've finished, press 'Done'. Confirm that you want to save your changes and enter a filename for the ban list. So that FreeProxy understands the type of traffic to ban (in this case HTTP), double-click the default Proxy entry on the main pane of the user interface. Select your LAN card in the dropdown Local Binding list and then press 'Permissions'. A subwindow will appear.
Click 'Add Resource' , change the type to 'Ban List URL of IP address' and press 'Done' on each subwindow to dismiss it.

On the main interface, click 'Options', then click the 'Activate the Ban List?' tickbox and select the ban list using the file browser below it. Restart the proxy server and try surfing to a banned site. The browser should load nothing, but allow you to surf elsewhere.
Creating error pages
To link an error page you've made to a category in your ban list, open the list again, click the relevant category and change the redirect response to 'Error Page'.
Click the folder icon and select the error page. Click 'Open' to select it and 'Done' to finish. Click 'Done' in the Ban List window and agree to save the list if required. Click 'Done' and restart the proxy.
Now try to access the banned web page. Your custom error page should appear.

To log the domains and IP addresses that any person or program tries to access from your network, click 'Options'. Click 'Log access data' and the relevant options will become active. Enter a path and filename for the log file and leave the report content on 'Forbidden'. This means you'll only record attempts to access banned content.
Select 'Show full URL' to record the full path to the banned page. Click 'Done', try surfing to a banned URL and inspect the content of the log file.

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Five free network monitoring tools

 

Among the wide array of network and system monitors, you'll find several that do what the pricier tools do -- for free.                 

 

     If you're a system or network administrator, you need monitoring tools. You have to know, at all times, the status of your systems so you can optimize performance and head off potential problems. Thankfully, plenty of tools are available to help you stay in the know about your systems. Some of these products are costly and do quite a lot. But others are free and do just as much -- and in some cases, more. That's right. More.
I want to introduce you to five system and/or network monitors that do more than you'd think they could do. From this list of products you will certainly find one or more tools that will serve your needs.


 

1: Observium

Observium (Figure A) is "an autodiscovering PHP/MySQL/SNMP-based network monitoring [tool]." It focuses on Linux, UNIX, Cisco, Juniper, Brocade, Foundry, HP, and more. With Observium, you'll find detailed graphs and an incredibly easy-to-use interface. It can monitor a huge number of processes and systems. The only downside is a lack of auto alerts. But to make up for that, you can set Observium up alongside a tool like Nagios for up/down alerts.

Figure A

 

Observium

2: Ganglia

Ganglia (Figure B) is a "scalable distributed monitoring system" focused on clusters and grids. It gives you a quick and easy-to-read overview of your entire clustered system. This monitor has been ported to many platforms and is used on thousands of clusters around the world. Anyone who employs server clusters should have Ganglia monitoring that system. Ganglia can scale to handle clusters with up to 2,000 nodes.

Figure B

Ganglia

3: Spiceworks

Spiceworks (Figure C) is becoming one of the industry standard free network/system monitoring tools. Although you have to put up with some ads, the features and Web-based interface can't be beat. Spiceworks monitors (and autodiscovers) your systems, alerts you if something is down, and offers outstanding topographical tools. It also allows you to get social with fellow IT pros via the Spiceworks community, which is built right in.

Figure C

Spiceworks

4: Nagios

Nagios (Figure D) is considered by many to be the king of open source network monitoring systems. Although not the easiest tool to set up and configure (you have to manually edit configuration files), Nagios is incredibly powerful. And even though the idea of manual configuration might turn some off, that setup actually makes Nagios one of the most flexible network monitors around. In the end, the vast number of features Nagios offers is simply unmatched. You can even set up email, SMS, and printed paper alerts!

Figure D

Nagios

5: Zabbix

Zabbix (Figure E) is as powerful as any other network monitoring tool, and it also offers user-defined views, zooming, and mapping on its Web-based console. Zabbix offers agent-less monitoring, collects nearly ANY kind of data you want to monitor, does availability and SLA reporting, and can monitor up to 10,000 devices. You can even get commercial support for this outstanding open source product. One unique Zabbix feature is the option to set audible alerts. Should something go down, have Zabbix play a sound file (say, a Star Trek red alert klaxon?).

Figure E

Zabbix

The Top 20 Free Network Monitoring and Analysis Tools for Sys Admins

  

We know how administrators love free tools that make their life easier and, to supplement the list provided on 101 Free Admin Tools, here are 20 of the best free tools for monitoring devices, services, ports or protocols and analysing traffic on your network. Even if you may have heard of some of these tools before, we’re sure you’ll find a gem or two amongst this list – and if you know of any others, leave us a comment below!

1. Microsoft Network Monitor

Microsoft Network Monitor is a packet analyser that allows you to capture, view and analyse network traffic. This tool is handy for troubleshooting network problems and applications on the network. Main features include support for over 300 public and Microsoft proprietary protocols, simultaneous capture sessions, a Wireless Monitor Mode and sniffing of promiscuous mode traffic, amongst others.

When you launch Microsoft Network Monitor, choose which adapter to bind to from the main window and then click “New Capture” to initiate a new capture tab. Within the Capture tab, click “Capture Settings” to change filter options, adapter options, or global settings accordingly and then hit “Start” to initiate the packet capture process.

2. Nagios

Nagios is a powerful network monitoring tool that helps you to ensure that your critical systems, applications and services are always up and running. It provides features such as alerting, event handling and reporting. The Nagios Core is the heart of the application that contains the core monitoring engine and a basic web UI. On top of the Nagios Core, you are able to implement plugins that will allow you to monitor services, applications, and metrics, a chosen frontend as well as add-ons for data visualisation, graphs, load distribution, and MySQL database support, amongst others.

Tip: If you want to try out Nagios without needing to install and configure it from scratch, download Nagios XI from here and enable the free version. Nagios XI is the pre-configured enterprise class version built upon Nagios Core and is backed by a commercial company that offers support and additional features such as more plugins and advanced reporting.

Note: The free version of Nagios XI is ideal for smaller environments and will monitor up to seven nodes.

Once you’ve installed and configured Nagios, launch the Web UI and begin to configure host groups and service groups. Once Nagios has had some time to monitor the status of the specified hosts and services, it can start to paint a picture of what the health of your systems look like.

3. BandwidthD

BandwidthD monitors TCP/IP network usage and displays the data it has gathered in the form of graphs and tables over different time periods. Each protocol (HTTP, UDP, ICMP, etc) is color-coded for easier reading. BandwidthD runs discretely as a background service.

Installation is easy. Download and install Winpcap version 3.0 or above (you’ll already have this installed if you have Wireshark on the same box), unzip BandwidthD to a specified folder, edit the ../etc/bandwidthd.conf file accordingly, double click on the “Install Service” batch file and then start the BandwidthD services from the services.msc console. Once the service is running, give it some time to monitor network traffic and load the index.html page to start viewing bandwidth statistics.

4. EasyNetMonitor

EasyNetMonitor is a super lightweight tool for monitoring local and remote hosts to determine if they are alive or not. It is useful for monitoring critical servers from your desktop, allowing you to get immediate notification (via a balloon popup and/or log file) if a host does not respond to a periodic ping.

Once you launch EasyNetMonitor, it will appear as an icon in the notification area on your desktop where the IP addresses / host names of the machines you want to monitor can be added. Once you’ve added the machines you wish to monitor, be sure to configure the ping delay time and notification setting.

5. CapsaFree

Capsa Free is a network analyzer that allows you to monitor network traffic, troubleshoot network issues and analyze packets. Features include support for over 300 network protocols (including the ability to create and customize protocols), MSN and Yahoo Messenger filters, email monitor and auto-save, and customizable reports and dashboards.

When you launch Capsa, choose the adapter you want it to bind to and click “Start” to initiate the capture process. Use the tabs in the main window to view the dashboard, a summary of the traffic statistics, the TCP/UDP conversations, as well as packet analysis.

6. Fiddler

Fiddler is a web debugging tool that captures HTTP traffic between chosen computers and the Internet. It allows you to analyze incoming and outgoing data to monitor and modify requests and responses before they hit the browser. Fiddler gives you extremely detailed information about HTTP traffic and can be used for testing the performance of your websites or security testing of your web applications (e.g. Fiddler can decrypt HTTPS traffic).

When you launch Fiddler, HTTP traffic will start to be captured automatically. To toggle traffic capturing, hit F12. You can choose which processes you wish to capture HTTP traffic for by clicking on “All Processes” in the bottom status bar, or by dragging the “Any Process” icon from the top menu bar onto an open application.

7. NetworkMiner

NetworkMiner captures network packets and then parses the data to extract files and images, helping you to reconstruct events that a user has taken on the network – it can also do this by parsing a pre-captured PCAP file. You can enter keywords which will be highlighted as network packets are being captured. NetworkMiner is classed as a Network Forensic Analysis Tool (NFAT) that can obtain information such as hostname, operating system and open ports from hosts.

In the example above, I set NetworkMiner to capture packets, opened a web browser and searched for “soccer” as a keyword on Google Images. The images displayed in the Images tab are what I saw during my browser session.

When you load NetworkMiner, choose a network adapter to bind to and hit the “Start” button to initiate the packet capture process.

8. Pandora FMS

Pandora FMS is a performance monitoring, network monitoring and availability management tool that keeps an eye on servers, applications and communications. It has an advanced event correlation system that allows you to create alerts based on events from different sources and notify administrators before an issue escalates.

When you login to the Pandora FMS Web UI, start by going to the ‘Agent detail’ and ‘Services’ node from the left hand navigation pane. From here, you can configure monitoring agents and services.

9. Zenoss Core

Zenoss Core is a powerful open source IT monitoring platform that monitors applications, servers, storage, networking and virtualization to provide availability and performance statistics. It also has a high performance event handling system and an advanced notification system.

Once you login to Zenoss Core Web UI for the first time, you are presented with a two-step wizard that asks you to create user accounts and add your first few devices / hosts to monitor. You are then taken directly to the Dashboard tab. Use the Dashboard, Events, Infrastructure, Reports and Advanced tabs to configure Zenoss Core and review reports and events that need attention.

10. PRTG Network Monitor Freeware

PRTG Network Monitor monitors network availability and network usage using a variety of protocols including SNMP, Netflow and WMI. It is a powerful tool that offers an easy to use web-based interface and apps for iOS and Android. Amongst others, PRTG Network Monitor’s key features include:

(1) Comprehensive Network Monitoring which offers more than 170 sensor types for application monitoring, virtual server monitoring, SLA monitoring, QoS monitoring

(2) Flexible Alerting, including 9 different notification methods, status alerts, limit alerts, threshold alerts, conditional alerts, and alert scheduling

(3) In-Depth Reporting, including the ability to create reports in HTML/PDF format, scheduled reports, as well as pre-defined reports (e.g. Top 100 Ping Times) and report templates.

Note: The Freeware version of PRTG Network Monitor is limited to 10 sensors.

When you launch PRTG Network Monitor, head straight to the configuration wizard to get started. This wizard will run you through the main configuration settings required to get the application up and running, including the adding of servers to monitors and which sensors to use.

11. The Dude

The Dude is a network monitoring tool that monitors devices and alerts you when there is a problem. It can also automatically scan all devices on a given subnet and then draw and layout a map of your network.

When you launch The Dude, you first choose to connect to a local or remote network and specify credentials accordingly. Click ‘Settings’ to configure options for SNMP, Polling, Syslog and Reports.

12. Splunk

Splunk is a data collection and analysis platform that allows you to monitor, gather and analyze data from different sources on your network (e.g. event logs, devices, services, TCP/UDP traffic, etc). You can set up alerts to notify you when something is wrong or use Splunk’s extensive search, reporting and dashboard features to make the most of the collected data. Splunk also allows you to install ‘Apps’ to extend system functionality.

Note: When you first download and install Splunk, it automatically installs the Enterprise version for you to trial for 60 days before switching to the Free version. To switch to the Free version straight away, go to Manager > Licensing.

When you login to the Splunk web UI for the first time, add a data source and configure your indexes to get started. Once you do this you can then create reports, build dashboards, and search and analyze data.

13. Angry IP Scanner

Angry IP Scanner is standalone application that facilitates IP address and port scanning. It is used to scan a range of IP addresses to find hosts that are alive and obtain information about them (including MAC address, open ports, hostname, ping time, NetBios information, etc).

When you execute the application, go to Tools > Preferences to configure Scanning and Port options, then go to Tools > Fetchers to choose what information to gather from each scanned IP address.

14. ntopng

ntopng (‘ng’ meaning ‘next generation’) is the latest version of the popular network traffic analyzer called ntop. ntopng will sit in the background and gather network traffic, then display network usage information and statistics within a Web UI.

Note: Although originally aimed for use on Unix-based systems, there is a Windows version available for a small fee, or a demo version limited to 2000 packets. If you are comfortable running ntopng on a Unix-based box then you can get the full version for free.

The image above shows the ntopng dashboard after a few minutes of network traffic collection. In this example, I am using the Windows version. After installation, I simply executed the redis-server.exe file from ..\Program Files (x86)\Redis and fired up the Web UI (http://127.0.0.1:3000).

15. Total Network Monitor

Total Network Monitor continuously monitors hosts and services on the local network, notifying you of any issues that require attention via a detailed report of the problem. The result of each probe is classified using green, red, or black colors to quickly show whether the probe was successful, had a negative result or wasn’t able to complete.

When you launch Total Network Monitor, go to Tools > Scan Wizard to have the wizard scan a specified network range automatically and assign the discovered hosts to a group. Alternatively, create a new group manually to start adding devices/hosts individually.

16. NetXMS

NetXMS is a multi-platform network management and monitoring system that offers event management, performance monitoring, alerting, reporting and graphing for the entire IT infrastructure model. NetXMS’s main features include support for multiple operating systems and database engines, distributed network monitoring, auto-discovery, and business impact analysis tools, amongst others. NetXMS gives you the option to run a web-based interface or a management console.

Once you login to NetXMS you need to first go to the “Server Configuration” window to change a few settings that are dependent on your network requirements (e.g. changing the number of data collection handlers or enabling network discovery). You can then run the Network Discovery option for NetXMS to automatically discover devices on your network, or add new nodes by right clicking on “Infrastructure Services” and selecting Tools > Create Node.

17. Xymon

Xymon is a web-based system – designed to run on Unix-based systems – that allows you to dive deep into the configuration, performance and real-time statistics of your networking environment. It offers monitoring capabilities with historical data, reporting and performance graphs.

Once you’ve installed Xymon, the first place you need to go is the hosts.cfg file to add the hosts that you are going to monitor. Here, you add information such as the host IP address, the network services to be monitored, what URLs to check, and so on.

When you launch the Xymon Web UI, the main page lists the systems and services being monitored by Xymon. Clicking on each system or service allows you to bring up status information about a particular host and then drill down to view specific information such as CPU utilization, memory consumption, RAID status, etc.

18. WirelessNetView

WirelessNetView is a lightweight utility (available as a standalone executable or installation package) that monitors the activity of reachable wireless networks and displays information related to them, such as SSID, Signal Quality, MAC Address, Channel Number, Cipher Algorithm, etc.

As soon as you execute WirelessNetView, it automatically populates a list of all reachable Wi-Fi networks in the area and displays information relevant to them (all columns are enabled by default).

Note: Wireless Network Watcher is a small utility that goes hand in hand with WirelessNetView. It scans your wireless network and displays a list of all computers and devices that are currently connected, showing information such as IP adddress, MAC address, computer name and NIC card manufacturer – all of which can be exported to a html/xml/csv/txt file.

19. Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector

Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector can be used to search for Wi-Fi networks, manage and troubleshoot connections, verify Wi-Fi coverage, locate Wi-Fi devices and detect rogue Access Points. Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector comes with built-in connection, quality and speed tests.

Once you launch Wi-Fi Inspector and choose an adapter, a list of available Wi-Fi connections is displayed in the “Networks” pane. Details related to your current Wi-Fi connection are displayed in the top right hand corner. Everything pretty much happens from the top ribbon bar – you can run a test, change the layout, edit settings, refresh connections, etc.

20. WireShark

This list wouldn’t be complete without the ever popular WireShark. WireShark is an interactive network protocol analyzer and capture utility. It provides for in-depth inspection of hundreds of protocols and runs on multiple platforms.

When you launch Wireshark, choose which interface you want to bind to and click the green shark fin icon to get going. Packets will immediately start to be captured. Once you’ve collected what you need, you can export the data to a file for analysis in another application or use the in-built filter to drill down and analyze the captured packets at a deeper level from within Wireshark itself.

 

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