Network discovery tools are an indispensable part of IT environments that continually scale by adding new network devices or components across wired, wireless, and virtual networks. Network discovery solutions create and maintain an inventory of these components by tracking their location and how they're mapped, along with rediscovering existing components for real-time status updates.
With your IT inventory depending on the efficiency of your network discovery tool, it's important to choose an effective network discovery solution that enables you to automatically discover, scan, and map your network environment.
OpManager: The trusted network discovery for enterprise networks
OpManager's network discovery tool offers advanced network discovery capabilities that automate the network device discovery process and also create and maintain a detailed inventory of all your network devices by continually scanning and updating end-to-end network device details. OpManager network discovery software relieves your IT team of redundant network monitoring tasks by automating IT inventory maintenance, network resource mapping, availability monitoring, and more.
OpManager's top 5 network discovery software features
OpManager comes jam-packed with robust features aimed at making the network discovery process simpler, less time-consuming, and much more effective. The features include:
Discovery Profile: Simplify network discovery and keep your inventory periodically updated
OpManager's discovery profiles eliminate the typical woes of network discovery. Its flexible discovery capabilities enable you to detect network devices by scanning across IP address blocks, subnets, or integrated active directories, or by importing them through a CSV file. OpManager's network discovery tool supports multiple authentication credentials including SNMP v1, v2, and v3; WMI; SSH; and Telnet, which enable you to discover a range of network devices including interfaces, servers, VMware, and RAID storage devices. The network device discovery tool also allows you to rediscover a network device after you make changes to it; this process automatically updates the device information without the need for reconfiguration.
Discovery Schedule: Automate the network discovery process and eliminate repetitive manual efforts
When it comes to monitoring network components, one of the most time-consuming tasks is manually triggering a network scan from your network discovery tool every time a new device is added to your network.
OpManager simplifies this process with Discovery Schedule. You can configure a Discovery Schedule by specifying the time interval in which you want the discovery to happen again, upon which OpManager's network discovery software automatically initiates the discovery process in the specified time frequency.
Layer 2 and associated interface discovery:
OpManager's real-time network discovery tool not only discovers devices but can also be configured to discover the interfaces associated with the discovery profile. With Layer-2 discovery, you can configure uplink dependency to the core router or seed device to automatically discover devices and manage the flood of alerts. Layer-2 discovery also helps you automatically generate network maps for the discovered devices and understand network topology for effective network monitoring.
Discovery reports: Gain in-depth insights into your network components
Once a discovery profile is configured, OpManager's network discovery scanning offers a detailed discovery report on the discovered devices based on the time the profile was executed. This report displays the total number of devices found in your network, the number of devices successfully discovered, the number of undiscovered devices, and other important aspects of network discovery and monitoring that will help you drill down into the performance and availability of your network.
Device templates: Automatically classify and associate monitors to devices soon after discovery
Network discovery isn't just about finding new devices in your network anymore. For an uncomplicated network monitoring experience, your network discovery tool should be able to both identify and classify devices, readying them for monitoring by your network monitoring solution.
OpManager comes pre-loaded with more than 11,000 device templates, each preconfigured with a set of properties such as Vendor Name, Category, Device Identifier, and a few pre-configured monitors for a particular device type. Once it detects any new device in the network, OpManager compares the device with its device templates and associates an appropriate one with the newly discovered device. You can allow OpManager to monitor the device with the preconfigured settings in these device templates, or you can edit the settings via the device snapshot page.
Discovery Rule Engine: Automatically associate Business views, notification profiles, or monitors during the discovery
OpManager's network discovery tool features a Discovery Rule Engine to help further leverage the power of automation in the network discovery process. The Discovery Rule Engine automatically associates monitors, notification profiles, or Business Views to a device during discovery if the discovered device satisfies a set of predefined conditions, eliminating the need to perform them manually.
FAQs on Network discovery tool
What is a network discovery tool?
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The size of a network can range from a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of devices. With hybrid networks including wireless, wired, and virtual components, network management is easier said than done. With components continually being added to your IT infrastructure, network discovery tools allow IT admins to enable automatic discovery of these components for network monitoring and maintenance.
With solutions like ManageEngine OpManager, admins can use the network discovery capability in tandem with advanced network monitoring features to make network management simple and effective.
How does a network discovery tool work?
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Network discovery tools often scan your network address space (IPs and subnets) using network protocols such as SNMP. Once any new device is discovered in your network, it's automatically updated in your IT inventory. These tools can also rediscover network devices and update their status in the network inventory.
With advanced network discovery software like OpManager, network discovery is further enhanced by creating a visual representation of how network devices are connected to your network. This network discovery scanner allows you to generate custom maps and views of your network devices, which are kept up to date with continuous network rediscovery.
Why do you need a network discovery tool?
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Continuous monitoring and maintenance: A small network issue can result in millions of dollars worth of business losses; by continuously discovering and monitoring devices in the network, it's easier to prevent and mitigate any issues that may occur.
Reducing repetitive and labor-intensive tasks: Today, networks scale at an exponential rate. It's impossible to manually track every new device added to the network, making these tools crucial to automate the process of device discovery and inventory maintenance.
Keeping the network monitoring tool updated: Whenever changes are made to a network device—for example, a new interface is added or an existing one is removed—it must be reflected in your network monitoring solution. Network discovery tools work together with your network monitoring solution by rediscovering the devices periodically or whenever a change is made and updating them in your network monitoring solution.
"I have a long-standing relationship with ManageEngine. OpManager has always missed one or two features that would make it truly the best tool on the market, but over it is the most comprehensive and easy to use the product on the market."
OpManager
Easy Implementation, Excellent Support & Lower Cost Tool
- Team Lead, IT Service Industry
Review Role: Infrastructure and OperationsCompany Size: 500M - 1B USD
"We have been using OpManager since 2011 and our overall experience has been excellent. The tool plays a vital role in providing the value to our organisation and to the customers we are supporting. The support is excellent and staff takes full responsibilities in resolving the issues. Innovation is never stopping and clearly visible with newer versions"
OpManager
Easy Implementation With A Feature Rich Catalogue, Support Has Some Room For Improvement
- NOC Manager in IT Service Industry
Review Role: Program and Portfolio ManagementCompany Size: 500M - 1B USD
"The vendor has been supporting during the implementation & POC phases providing trial licenses. Feature requests and feedback is usually acted upon swiftly. There was sufficient vendor support during the implementation phase. After deployment, the support is more than adequate, where the vendor could make some improvements."
OpManager
Great Monitoring Tool
- CIO in Finance Industry
Review Role: CIOCompany Size: 1B - 3B USD
"Manage Engine provides a suite of tools that have made improvements to the availability of our internal applications. From monitoring, management and alerting, we have been able to peak performance within our data center."
OpManager
Simple Implementation, Easy To Use. Very Intuitive.
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