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Network mapping and documentation

BoberFett

BoberFett

Lifer
Does anybody have experience with good network mapping and documentation tools? We could just use Visio, but with the complexity of our network, the requirement for constantly chasing down information, and the rate of change of tracked locations the management of Visio files would become quite a burden.

We have hundreds of locations with a wide variety of environments, from MPLS connected main offices in 14 states, to several smaller VPN connected offices in per state with Sonicwalls, and then hundreds of home based locations which are running Cradlepoint routers off of DSL, cable, or 3G connections. I wish we could just say those home locations are unmanaged and not our problem, unfortunately for us to the business those are just as critical as the MPLS offices.

I'm looking for something that can help map the network in addition to maintain documentation about each device. Software I've looked at so far often doesn't have very configurable fields for documentation. Depending on the type of location, beyond the basic WAN/LAN IPs, device type, etc. we might need to track the name of the carrier, contact information, monthly cost, contract dates, account numbers, etc., and either embedded files or links to external documents with floorplans of the office, etc.

Monitoring isn't an issue, we use PRTG to monitor the sites that have uptime requirements right now, so mostly this is for documentation purposes.
 
try whatsupgold, it lets you document your whole infrastructure and lets everyone in your entire team/workplace know exactly what resources you have on the network. it might let you update the information constantly too, so you know exactly whats going on at every moment.
Source: one of my friends had used this software to document and map his network.
 
I asked the same question 6 months or a year ago, and every seemed to stick with Visio. Visio does become a pain to keep updated, so let us (me 😀 ) know what you think of whatsupgold.
 
Slightly off topic, anyone have recommendations for IT Inventory Management tools?
Something to keep track of hardware and for scheduled system upgrades?
 
dawks said:
Slightly off topic, anyone have recommendations for IT Inventory Management tools?
Something to keep track of hardware and for scheduled system upgrades?
Click to expand...

We use TrackIt, so our inventory is maintained along with help desk tickets.
 
BoberFett said:
We use TrackIt, so our inventory is maintained along with help desk tickets.
Click to expand...

a local hospital uses this, not sure how happy the admin was with it but he has used it for a few years for inventory/ticketing

theres also some inventory information kept with AV clients, if you have managed AV (like SEP, or McAfee EPolicy)

spiceworks has some inventory tools

my consulting company uses visio...i hate it. every customer has a drawing, but its wretched for lots of text information like inventory and passwords. perfect for layouts and the like, but after that, i really get annoyed with it.
 
dawks said:
Slightly off topic, anyone have recommendations for IT Inventory Management tools?
Something to keep track of hardware and for scheduled system upgrades?
Click to expand...

Adminarsenal.com has some free tools, PDQ Inventory comes to mind. It looks like it tracks hardware as well. I don't have a ton of experience with it (we just use it to link AD computers and extract other hw and sw info from them) , but it might be worth a look.

http://www.adminarsenal.com/pdq-inventory/main
 
xSauronx said:
a local hospital uses this, not sure how happy the admin was with it but he has used it for a few years for inventory/ticketing

theres also some inventory information kept with AV clients, if you have managed AV (like SEP, or McAfee EPolicy)

spiceworks has some inventory tools

my consulting company uses visio...i hate it. every customer has a drawing, but its wretched for lots of text information like inventory and passwords. perfect for layouts and the like, but after that, i really get annoyed with it.
Click to expand...

I agree, two different needs. We use tools like NetBrain and others to pull down the 'whole' network, then we go to Visio to make nice diagrams of it. IMHO nothing is better for the poster of your network on the wall.
 
xSauronx said:
my consulting company uses visio...i hate it. every customer has a drawing, but its wretched for lots of text information like inventory and passwords. perfect for layouts and the like, but after that, i really get annoyed with it.
Click to expand...

That's my problem with Visio. Makes pretty pictures for visualization, but it's poor for actually tracking information, and it can't be queried or reported on.
 
Last edited:
alkemyst said:
We use it at my office, many network engineers swear by it.
Click to expand...

i passed the link on to one of the senior techs we have...it would probably work very well for what we do. documentation at customer sites is a huge sticking point for us and its hard to keep things up to date.
 
BoberFett said:
That's my problem with Visio. Makes pretty pictures for visualization, but it's poor for actually tracking information, and it can't be queried or reported on.
Click to expand...

The trick is to keep everything in a db, and query it within Visio.

In the real world, how many companies actually have the resources available to build something like this? 🙄

😉
 
I'm actually getting ready to do a network inventory and update all network diagrams. Not really sure if any auto-mapping software will accomplish everything one may needs, such as how to access a wire closet (badge access or key) onsite contacts, building plans and where at in the building the equipment is located. http://www.netbraintech.com/network-diagram/ does look pretty good though.
 
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