All Business networks run using IP Addresses and what better way to understand what's going on in your network than to Deploy an IP Monitoring Software Tool to understand it!
Networks need to be monitored constantly in order to ensure that systems stay online and that businesses can operate without any downtime for as long as possible.
It isn’t practical to sit and watch a screen all day, so companies have created monitoring tools that check connectivity for us.
Here is our list of the top IP Monitoring Tools:
- SolarWinds ipMonitor – FREE TRIAL This availability monitor identifies all devices on a network and then constantly tests for connections to them. Runs on Windows Server. Download a 30-day free trial.
- ManageEngine OpUtils – FREE TRIAL A package of network and server monitoring tools that maps the network after an autodiscovery phase. Available for Windows Server, Linux, and AWS. Access the 30-day free trial.
- Paessler PRTG – FREE TRIAL A bundle of monitors for networks, servers, and applications that includes network discovery and topology mapping. Runs on Windows Server. Download a 30-day free trial.
- Nagios Network Analyzer A bandwidth monitor that provides traffic shaping measures to get extra value out of network infrastructure. Runs on Linux or on Windows over a hypervisor.
- Zabbix This free package is a fork of Nagios and can take Nagios plug-ins. It includes network monitoring and it runs on Linux, Unix, and macOS.
- PowerAdmin Network and server monitoring that includes Ping availability tests and SNMP device status checks. Available for Windows Server.
When a server or vital network device goes offline, an automated response from one of these applications alerts the relevant staff when any problems arise.
IP Monitoring can also let you know if there are any potential issues that could cause issues further down the line. These issues can be picked up and dealt with before they become a serious issue.
Here's the Best IP Monitor Tools & Software of 2023:
Below you'll find a quick description of each software and tool, along with some quick screenshots of how they look and their dashboards!
Related Post: Best Network Troubleshooting Tools
1. SolarWinds ipMonitor – FREE TRIAL
SolarWinds ipMonitor is an application that shows details about network devices, servers and applications from one single console. The application allows IT staff to receive alerts on offline units as well as performance issues.
The map overlay feature lets your team look at the logical connectivity of your network and WAN, allowing them to trace out any faults when they pop up from time to time.
Alerts can be automated, and so can basic remedial actions.
This has the effect of fixing system issues before they become a problem for the users on your network in many cases. There is a wealth of reports and dashboards at hand, so that you can compile reports and data so that you can visually interpret the statistics from your environment.
SolarWinds offers a 30-day trial with a fully functioning program so that users can experience all of the features and capabilities that ipMonitor has to offer. This is a great way to get familiar with the app before you commit to buying the full version.
The main highlights that ipMonitor has to offer are:
- The ability to quickly discover devices, then have automatic recommendations for settings fed straight to the interface
- An easy to use web interface that provides all of the features that you need to start monitoring your network, including network maps
- Common applications such as Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange all have ‘out-of-the-box’ up/down monitoring, which requires no further configuration
- SNMP and WMI protocols for accurate agentless up/down monitoring
Pros:
- Supports monitoring across the entire infrastructure, supporting multiple networks and sites
- Uses autodiscovery to add new devices and keep an accurate live list of monitored devices
- Automatically builds a network topology map based on collected devices, great for a general overview
- Supports numerous preconfigured temples, reports, and dashboards
Cons:
- Would like to see a longer trial time for the paid version
Pricing: You can access a 30-day Free Trial!
Download: https://www.solarwinds.com/ip-monitor/registration
2. ManageEngine OpUtils – FREE TRIAL
ManageEngine OpUtils has an IP Monitor module that gives you the flexibility to manage and monitor IP resources on your network from a single location.
They do a great job at helping you monitor a range of different devices that are connected to your network as well as give you visibility into your network and performance issues and bottlenecks.
Some notable features of OpUtils include the following:
- Agentless Monitoring for easy Collection, analysis and processing of data.
- Granular details of network devices and hosts
- Monitor, Manage and Troubleshoot IP Issues
Pros:
- Offers a suite of tools that provide WoL, IP address management, and physical switch port mapping
- Gathers hostname, device status, and MAC address alongside IP address scans
- Identifies new machines via autodiscovery, great for large networks and continuous monitoring
- Available for both Windows server and nix operating systems
- Free version is great for smaller networks
Cons:
- ManageEngine is a large monitoring platform that offers a host of tools and features that may take time to fully explore
Download: Download the 30-day free trial.
https://www.manageengine.com/products/oputils/download.html
3. Paessler PRTG – FREE TRIAL
Paessler PRTG offers users the ability to monitor and track changes to the network via its wide range of functions.
It is available in English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Japanese and Simplified Chinese, making it a truly worldwide product.
There are powerful reporting features that are available with the program, and things such as historic data reports can be exported in PDF, HTML, SCV or XML format.
Scripting is another area where PRTG shines, and its powerful API has functionality for Python, EXE, DLL, Powershell, Visual Basic and Batch Scripting as well. B
ecause of the web interface and scalable interface, PRTG can be viewed and used on many mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones.
This is great for system admins that are away from their primary workstations but still need to monitor network activity.
Setup and configuration is a breeze, thanks to the straight forward installer and user interface.
After you launch the application for the first time, you will be met by suggestions and tips within the interface which will give you a good idea of how to get started with setting up the application to start monitoring your environment.
PRTG can be used to monitor many big names in Information Technology, including applications by the likes of: Oracle, Amazon, Buffalo, Microsoft SQL, Exchange, Sonicwall, VMWare and Citrix.
LANs, WANs, servers and network devices are all easy to monitor with PRTG, and there are many different metrics that it is able to monitor. These include:
- Cloud Service Monitoring
- Quality of Service (QoS)
- Bandwidth Analysis & Monitoring
- Web Page access
- Uptime Monitoring
- Traffic Monitoring
- LAN Analyzer
- Server Monitoring
- Database Requests
Pros:
- Uses a combination of packet sniffing, WMI, and SNMP to scan IP addresses as well as measure device performance
- Fully customizable dashboard is great for both lone administrators as well as NOC teams
- Drag and drop editor makes it easy to build custom views and reports
- Supports a wide range of alert integrations such as SMS, email, and integrations into platforms like Slack
- Supports a freeware version
Cons:
- Is a very detailed platform with many features that require time to learn
Pricing: First 10 Sensors FREE and Pricing starts at $1600 for 500 sensors. You can assess your network requirements with a 30-day free trial.
Download: https://www.paessler.com/download/prtg-download?download=1
4. Nagios Network Analyzer
Nagios Network Analyzer offers detailed and comprehensive insight into all of your network’s traffic, such as potential security threats and vulnerabilities.
This allows IT administrators to act quickly and ascertain exactly what the current state of their network is at any time.
This information is highly detailed, and allows for items to be drilled down into and further analyzed.
The design of the application has been structured in such a way so that users can navigate its many options through an intuitive and easy to use interface.
Network Analyzer seamlessly integrates with Nagios, giving your team an invaluable IP based monitoring tool.
Network Analyzer allows system administrators to look at their entire network from a central location and view exactly what is going on within the network.
There are alerts and triggers that allow for mail and warnings to be sent through whenever a certain event takes place on your network so that you are always made aware of any issues on the network as they occur.
The adaptable design of Network Analyzer lets you customize the way that it displays its data to you, with Source Groups allowing administrators to organize specific groups of items that are similar to one another within a larger nested hierarchy.
This allows Network Analyzer to send through SNMP requests which allows your team to get a true idea of what is happening within your operating environment.
One of the biggest selling points with this application is the stellar bandwidth monitoring capabilities that it has built into it.
It is more than just a total data usage meter, and it allows you to see exactly how much data is consumed on your network from each individual IP address.
Network Analyzer keeps records of ALL of your internet traffic, so you can find out exactly what is causing your internet usage woes on your network, saving you money and network capacity.
Other key features include:
- Comprehensive Dashboard
- Security and Reliability
- Advanced Visualizations
- Custom Application Monitoring
- Specialized Views
- Automated Alert System
- Nagios XI Integration
Pros:
- Offers a free open-source version alongside a paid version
- Pricing is based on the number of flow exports, making it a flexible option
- Detailed reports and alerting options
- Can record live J-Flow traffic and replay it for further analysis.
Cons:
- Better suited for smaller networks
Pricing: The single licensing price is $1,995 and must be used in conjunction with Nagios XI.
Download: https://www.nagios.com/products/nagios-network-analyzer/
5. Zabbix
Zabbix is a monitoring system that provides your networking team with all of the tools and information that that could ever need. It uses a range of different technologies, including SNMP Scanner Functionality, IPMI, Active and Passive modes, and it has IPv6 support as well.
The way in which Zabbix collects data is both flexible and extendable, giving you both a calculated and aggregated set of metrics.
Which can give you fine details such as data between two ports on the same switch, or total data connecting to your internet connection.
Auto-discovery is on point, which lets your network devices be detected on the fly, as they are added, with no additional configuration required.
It is also able to detect if networking equipment such as network switches are added, replaced, or swapped out with a different unit.
It is also able to detect device configuration changes such as software and firmware changes to devices.
This is all made easier by using the included template feature, which starts monitoring specific devices straight out of the box.
This means that you can apply templates to multiple devices that share the same data collection requirements, which takes out the manual element from configuring your network monitoring system.
On the support side of the spectrum, there are many tools that Zabbix offers to its users to allow them to effectively manage specific states on the network.
This is done through the use of Flexible Problem Definitions, which create complex logical expressions of statistics on the network. This can lead to better fault detection, and less false positives. Other features from Zabbix include:
- WAN and LAN Network Bandwidth Usage
- Packet Loss Rate
- Interface Error Rates
- Link Statuses
- System Statuses
- Configuration Changes
Pros:
- Open-source transparent tool
- Uses both SNMP and ICMP for broader monitoring ranges
- Offers useful templates for quick insights
Cons:
- No paid support option – not ideal for large enterprise environments
Pricing: Zabbix is open source and is essentially free to download and configure for yourself.
Download: https://www.zabbix.com/network_monitoring
6. PowerAdmin.com
PowerAdmin manages to cram in all of the functionality of a server monitoring suite, with a network monitoring system, and a remote desktop system as well.
This means that the system can monitor all of your network devices, as well as Windows and Linux servers.
In addition to this, network devices such as routers and switches are monitored via ping and SNMP, which provides a wide view of your network environment.
This product has been designed with enterprise clients in mind, and this is good news if you plan on rolling this out on your very own network. It uses a distributed server monitoring model, which means that it is agentless and requires no installation on target devices.
If your main monitoring server should fail for any reason, then a standby server can be configured to take over automatically. This is very important for organizations that cannot have their logs and monitoring go offline at all.
There is a built-in hierarchical permissions structure that limits who can see what, depending on the access levels. This means that you can create specific roles that have certain permissions, and then assign each user a specific role.
SNMP and traps, in conjunction with a syslog server means that you can monitor a whole range of devices all at the same time.
Email alerts can be configured to warn you when any devices on your network happen to go offline, so you can always be kept in the loop if anything happens when you are not expecting it.
Other features that PowerAdmin brings to the table include:
- Central Monitoring
- No incoming port configs required
- Connect to servers and network devices
- Local install only – No Cloud-based services
- Attractive Reporting systems
- Web-based access
Pros:
- A lightweight tool, takes up very little space and system resources
- Supports testing multiple hosts at the same time
- Uses threshold-based alerting to keep repeat alarms to a minimum
Cons:
- Lacks advanced features found in higher-end tools
Pricing: Pricing starts at $125 per seat for the Ultra edition, and discounts apply when you purchase over 9.
Download: https://www.poweradmin.com/products/server-monitoring/
Conclusion
Keeping tabs on your network via IP Monitoring is the number one method of ensuring that you know exactly what is happening on your network. Finding the right application to help you make the most of your environment is crucial, so be sure to look over all of the features for each product when you are making a decision to see which one is best for your environment.
IP monitoring gives you a full picture of what has been occurring within your systems, and when you introduce IP logging systems to a network you can really take control of both user behavior as well as application and network resources.
IP based monitoring is also the best way to monitor the up-time of any of your critical network infrastructure equipment, so you can’t go wrong with implementing one of these systems within your organization.
