Network toolset: Axence NetTools 3.2.0.3749

Axence NetTools 3.2.0.3749
http://www.axencesoftware.com/index.php?action=FreeNT

I was scouring the 'Net last week and came across this on a freeware download site. Axence NetTools is a name that is new to me, but I wanted to give the software a shot.

Being a network/system administrator is a bundle of fun some days: When things go awry, sometimes it is necessary to break out just about all the utilities you have in your toolbox and unleash them all at once and sift through the results and see which one worked the best.

This NetTools is not to be compared with another, NetTools 5.0 (introduced to me by the Brown Baron - a great blog check it out if you get the chance!), as it has some striking differences. First, this NetTools is more of a cohesive set of management/monitoring tools developed by a single publisher, whereas the other NetTools is more of a collection of various mostly command-line tools compiled into a single interface.

Axence NetTools features the following (from the website):

	NetStat New! Displays all the inbound and outbound connections to your computer and lists all open ports. Additionally, NetStat maps open ports and established connections to the owning application.
	Network scanner New! Would you like to find all the nodes in a network (including remote networks)? No problem. Just enter the IP range to check and you will quickly get a list of nodes and the services running on them. This tool also discovers some Trojans and spyware.
	Service & port scanner New! Allows you to check for all open ports and running services (HTTP, POP3, MS SQL, Oracle and 50 other). It not only checks if the port is open, but also sends a request and checks whether a reply meets specific criteria. It can also discover some Trojans and spyware.
	TCP/IP workshop New! Provides you with the ability to establish low-level TCP and UDP connections to troubleshoot and test different networking services. With this tool, you can send raw data to any port on a remote computer. You can also listen in on any local port to see all incoming data.
	NetCheck New! With this tool you can check the quality of network hardware in your LAN.
	Ping A visual replacement for Windows ping, but with a 5 - minute history. Very easy to use when you just need to check one host quickly.
	Fast Traceroute This tool is much more than just a replacement for Windows tracert. The full traceroute is done in 1 second and it gives you information about every host on the route, its response time, and packets lost , so you can quickly determine where the problems are occurring. It's easy to locate hosts with degraded performance, or ones that are just overloaded.
	Lookup This works like nslookup, but shows you all records at once. You don’t have to worry about syntax or record names. And – of course – you get WHOIS information about the domain you are querying.
	Local info Displays several tables with important information about your local configuration: network statistics for TCP/UDP and ICMP, IP address table, ARP table, IP routing table, and network adapter info.
	Bandwidth measuring Would you like to know how fast your network is? This is the tool for you. The important thing is that it will measure bandwidth without overloading your network.

One tool that is not listed here is the 'WinTools' option, which is basically a remote WMI query tool that picks up system statistics, serial number, shared resources, installed hotfixes, and much, much more.

I really liked the SNMP tool (also not listed above), which allows you to get various settings from any SNMP-enabled device - like a network router, switch or firewall (etc.). I have to say, it was very easy to use. One thing I would like to see here is the ability to bring in your own MIB files to view specialized statistics on other certain devices.

With this said, I still prefer iReasoning's MIB Walker for advanced SNMP walking.

The Network scanner tool scans a subnet for IP hosts - and could use a text input box where you can specify an IP range, as it isn't entirely clear how you would do this with a single box. For example, to scan the entire subnet of 192.168.1.x, I entered 192.168.1.0 as my address to scan. But, I did like the fact that it would bring up a short listing of remote services (ala port scanner) that were running on the scanned results.

All of the tools in this package allow you to run against a remote computer.

Likes:

• Nice set of tools for the casual Network Admin - major
• VERY easy to use with clear results - major
• Network scanner provides a good amount of results - major
• Toolset interface is cohesive and consistent - medium
• Bandwidth monitor can scan multiple hosts at once - medium

Dislikes:

• No print OR export option for WinTools - high
  
• No print option in general, but you can export to HTML (then print) - medium
• SNMP walker could use a MIB import feature - medium
• Left-hand pane should be resizable - low
• Network scanner could be a little more intuitive - low

All in all, this is a nice set of network tools for the casual network administrator - - meaning that it will serve your needs in a day to day basis, even if some features seemed to have been omitted. However, if you want some heavy hitting network tools in times of crisis, you'll want to go with your specialized (and most likely, paid) utilities.

I will say, there will always room in my toolbox for Axence NetTools!