Topology Mapping

[agermoses]

Hi Guys. I recently joined a firm within their network operations team and on day one quickly identified we are missing a Network topology and I have no logical view of the network.
We have a few tools up and running such as solorwinds but I think the network mapping tool is an extra subscription and not sure if they have purchased that.
Are there any tools you can recomend I can use to scan a large enterprise network to map the core network design.

Thanks

 

[alkemyst]

NetBrain is very good. It's pricey though. It does a lot more than just map as well.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I've used Observium, zabbix, and cacti personally.

Observium is probably the most plug and play, but in order to "discover" your network topology, it has to have certain discovery protocols already enabled.

 

[Railgun]

Cdp/lldp

 

[alkemyst]

Cdp/lldp

Good luck with that on a 1000 node network.

Most of the tools mentioned above do rely on cdp/lldp and SNMP to do this work.

They give you a nice graphic chart with tons of additional information.

Using CDP/LLDP to do this on such a large network would be like walking a floppy disk (1.44MB) today across a mile wide campus instead of just zipping it up (or heck sending it uncompressed) via email.

I am hoping a or was left out.

 

[alkemyst]

With NetBrain, you provide the login and regular + enable password, SNMP info and an address range (optional).

It does the rest.

 

[imagoon]

If you own Solarwinds, you own Network Atlas. It does topology mapping. "NTM" is their stand alone tool.

 

[Railgun]

Good luck with that on a 1000 node network.

Most of the tools mentioned above do rely on cdp/lldp and SNMP to do this work.

They give you a nice graphic chart with tons of additional information.

Using CDP/LLDP to do this on such a large network would be like walking a floppy disk (1.44MB) today across a mile wide campus instead of just zipping it up (or heck sending it uncompressed) via email.

I can't possibly imagine that large of a network either 1) doesn't have anything or 2) needs to be on a single document.