3 Key Tools in a Network Management Toolbox
Network management companies use a lot of tools to keep a company’s network up and running and safe from threats. What are some of the tools used by Ottawa network support companies? And what do they do?
1. Port Scanner
Think of your computer or your business’s network of computers as a walled city or a castle. The gates of that city are ports. Just as gates allow travel into and out of a city, ports allow communication into and out of your computer network. And, just as you wouldn’t leave a gate open without a guard watching over it, you don’t want ports left open without good reason. That is where a port scanner comes in. It scans all of the ports on your computer or network and tells the network manager which are open and which are closed. An open port could be a security risk, and the network manager will take the necessary precautions to guard against malicious data being passed through that port to your computer or computer network.
2. IP Address Tracker
IP addresses, or internet protocol addresses, are the location indicators of the internet. When police are looking for a criminal, they immediately track down his home address where they go either to observe and gather evidence or arrest him. Likewise, an IP address is an important piece of information in tracking down cyber criminals that can threaten your business. If your website suffers a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack or if you are sent a malicious, virus-bearing attachment, a managed network service provider will seek to find out where and from whom the malicious activity originated in order to identify the attacker and prevent such attacks from happening. If the attacker consistently uses the same IP address, the managed network service provider can have that IP address banned from accessing your network ever again.
3. Network Topology Mapper
When you print a document on a WiFi-enabled printer, the printer might be sitting right across the room from you, and it appears as though your computer has a direct connection to the printer. But, that may not be the case. Between your PC and the printer, there can be any combination of firewalls, routers, switches, servers, or signal boosters. How does a network manager know how devices on the network are connected? He uses a network topology mapper, which is used to do exactly what it sounds like it does: it creates a map of all of the devices on your network and shows how they are connected. This tool helps managed network service providers keep track of which devices are doing what and tells them where they can add or remove devices as necessary.
These are just some of the tools in the network management toolbox. Ottawa network support companies can tell you more about how these tools are used.
