MG-SOFT Net Inspector About the Software

Net Inspector employs advanced network discovery methods and algorithms that let it automatically discover network devices supporting SNMP or ICMP Ping protocol and graphically depict the layer 2 (physical) and layer 3 (logical) topology of the discovered network.

Discovered devices are represented by icons that are automatically linked with connection lines and mapped onto layered maps that reveal how devices are logically arranged into networks and subnets on the IP level. The integrated scheduler can automatically run the network discovery operation in regular intervals in order to detect new network devices and changes in the network topology and adapt the Net Inspector configuration accordingly. Due to this automatism and its user-friendly interface, Net Inspector lets you start monitoring your network almost instantly, without any special training.

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An example of MG-SOFT Net Inspector Java Client desktop displaying the topology of the monitored network (central window), list of active alarms (bottom window) and resource utilization of a monitored device (center-right window).

Net Inspector is a client/server application. The server module continually monitors supported services and important SNMP variables on your network devices and triggers alarms when there is a problem (e.g., if a device or service stops responding, if SNMP variable crosses the threshold value, etc.). Besides actively polling devices, Net Inspector also receives SNMP Trap and Inform notifications, which are sent to it by managed devices when important events occur. The server module translates received SNMP notifications to ITU X.733 alarms, stores alarms in the SQL database and dispatches information about alarms to connected clients. Net Inspector Client, on the other hand, is a pure Java (TM) application that connects to the server and provides a graphical user interface that lets you view and manage alarms on managed objects, monitor the status of managed objects, as well as configure the client and certain parameters of the server application.

The included HTTP server enables users to download and launch Net Inspector Client via the Java Web Start method from anywhere in the network by clicking the relevant link in a Web browser. This mechanism significantly simplifies the deployment process, as the software only needs to be installed and maintained on the server computer.

Net Inspector can perform various actions when network events occur. In addition to sending e-mails and executing arbitrary commands (e.g., to fix specific network problems in an automated fashion), Net Inspector can notify users of important alarms also by sending SMS (Short Message Service) text messages through the attached mobile phones.

In addition to the standard user-based authentication mechanism and associated access rights, Net Inspector now lets you configure and assign different user views to users. User views differ in respect to what managed objects they contain. This principle enables effective delegation of the network supervision activities to different staff members and even end-users.

Net Inspector is available in several editions. The LITE edition is a fault management platform suitable for small networks, while the WorkGroup and the Enterprise editions let you efficiently monitor the status and health of medium- and large-sized networks.

Net Inspector Server is available for 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems (Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008), as well as for Red Hat Linux operating systems (RHEL 3, RHEL 4 and RHEL 5 for x86 and x86_64 architectures), while the Client runs on all operating systems with the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), version 5.0 (a.k.a. 1.5) or later. Currently supported database management systems include MS SQL Server and MySQL.