Santa Geek to the Rescue: Five Free Tools for the Holidays
The holidays are only a few days away, and you are scrambling to finish-up projects.
Well, don’t let that turn you into Scrooge.
Here are my go-to free tools to help keep you feeling jolly as you wrap up the year and provide peace of mind while you’re away, even if that means you have to do some troubleshooting during commercial breaks of “A Christmas Story” -- my personal fav.
Treat yourself and your IT buddies by spreading holiday cheer with the gift of these super SolarWinds free tools:
TFTP Server is a useful tool for network engineers who are looking to execute outstanding configuration tasks before the New Year. This timesaving solution helps network engineers with projects ranging from file transfers up to 4 GB to network auditing projects. Rather than manually enter network command lines, users can download the free TFTP Server to upload/download executable images and configurations to routers, switches, firewalls, and other network infrastructure devices.
Does your phone light up like a Christmas tree when Exchange fails on you? With Exchange Monitor at your fingertips, you’ll be able to track Microsoft Exchange health at-a-glance and ensure this mission-critical app never fails (or keeps you from your holiday dinner).
The last thing you need is an errant storage array slowing data flow when you are trying to shut down for the long holiday break. With a distributed workforce, that array may be located at a different site, which could be miles away from your cubicle. With SAN Monitor, users get real-time visibility needed to stay steps ahead of infrastructure problems that threaten to slow storage, application and network performance.
Santa Geek has MORE NETWORK TOOLS FOR THE HOLIDAYS -
Are you tired of subnet calculators with major limitations and using tools that don’t offer what you need? Santa Geek says: Not a problem! Instead of spending hours manually creating worksheets for current and future IP addresses, why not save the time and spend it with those you love this holiday season? The free tool comes equipped with four unique functions: address details with forward and reverse DNS resolution, classful subnet creator, CIDR calculator and subnet address list generator.
Real-Time NetFlow Traffic Analyzer
Is the sales team forwarding a video of Tiny Tim’s shenanigans at the holiday party that is spiking the traffic? OR, is there another problem increasing your traffic that you just can’t identify? Real-Time NetFlow Analyzer captures and analyzes NetFlow data in real-time to show you exactly what types of traffic are on your network, where that traffic is coming from, and where it is going. You can view the historical NetFlow data broken out by application, conversation, domain, endpoint, and protocol. That way, you know exactly how your bandwidth is being used and by whom.
Hope y’all have a Happy and Safe Holiday Season and a Wonderful New Year!
Author Profile - Josh Stephens is the Head Geek and VP of technology at SolarWinds, a leading provider of network management software based in Austin Texas.
Josh has extensive experience in network management systems, network engineering, and software development. His 15-plus years of experience in technology include designing and deploying advanced networks and network management systems within organizations including the US Air Force, Sprint, MCI/UUNET, and WalMart. He has received several industry certifications including those from Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and HP.
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