Network Device Scanning

Monitor, discover, map, and scan for network devices

Easily accomplish device scanning with automatic network device discovery

Easily accomplish device scanning with automatic network device discovery

Network device scanning is an essential part of network performance monitoring. SolarWinds® Network Performance Monitor (NPM) is built to simplify discovering and scanning devices on your network thanks to its built-in Network Sonar Wizard. The tool’s automatic scanning can be especially beneficial in large and dynamic networks with equipment from multiple vendors. 

To discover devices, provide a list of IP addresses, ranges, or subnets along with SNMP credentials and let the NPM Network Sonar Wizard automatically discover and scan the network for devices. You can choose to run the network discovery tool once or schedule regular discoveries to identify newly added devices.

Map network topology for better visualization

Map network topology for better visualization

Creating a quality, updated network map is important for maintaining visibility into your network and devices. But the larger and more dynamic the network, the more difficult it can be to keep an up-to-date network topology map. 

Using NPM, you can easily create custom dynamic network maps. They can be updated automatically whenever new devices are added, or old ones are removed. NPM also makes it easier to display device performance metrics right on the map to enhance network visualizations.

Monitor device fault, availability, and performance

Monitor device fault, availability, and performance

Once you've discovered and mapped your network with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor, you can begin monitoring fault, availability, and performance for the devices on your network. NPM is designed to automatically scan and poll the MIBs on your network devices to obtain critical performance metrics. The tool then displays this information in easy-to-use, fully customizable dashboards and charts.

If performance metrics exceed set thresholds, NPM can send intelligent, topology-aware network alerts to allow you to quickly act and resolve problems before there are major effects. With NPM, you can more easily ensure the availability and performance of your network to deliver business-critical applications and services to your users.

Elevate network device scanning with automated path mapping

Elevate network device scanning with automated path mapping

Maintaining network performance is about more than just discovering the devices on your network. It involves understanding how they’re functioning and where there might be issues interfering with uptime. 

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor can make maintaining network performance easier with NetPath™, which can help you identify issues with network paths more quickly by creating a map. This map has a hop-by-hop analysis with performance, traffic, and configuration details to help you better understand what infrastructure is responsible for slowdowns and outages.

With NetPath, you can answer the following key performance questions: 

  • Are the paths to users or key applications down? 
  • How well is the network delivering apps to users? 
  • Where is there a network problem, and what’s causing the issue?

Get deeper insight into your devices by using an analysis tool

Get deeper insight into your devices by using an analysis tool

If your scanned and found network devices have problems, you can identify and fix them faster with PerfStack™, a performance analysis dashboard that allows you to chart disparate data metrics into a single interface. You'll improve your troubleshooting capabilities with cross-stack IT data correlation:

  • Unify data types: Drag and drop features allow you to compare performance metrics from multiple sources and data types side-by-side.
  • Combine timelines: See your data from multiple entities on a unified timeline.
  • Achieve collaboration: Collaborate across functional teams and easily share your data analysis among network, application, and storage.
Get More on Network Device Scanners
Do you find yourself asking…
  • What does a network device scanner do and how does it work?
  • What types of network devices can NPM discover and monitor?
  • How can I set a network scan in NPM?
  • What scanning options are available in NPM?
  • What are the benefits of network device scanning?

  • What does a network device scanner do and how does it work?

    A network device scanner uses Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to scan a network for connected devices and help ensure they’re running properly. This capability allows you to conduct discovery and mapping and can help support fault, performance, and availability monitoring. Overall, network device scanning gives you a comprehensive view of your network devices, which can help you more easily ensure the health, security, and performance of your network.

  • What types of network devices can NPM discover and monitor?

    With its Network Insight™ features, NPM helps you ensure comprehensive monitoring for advanced network devices like F5 BIG-IP load balancers, Cisco ASA and Palo Alto Networks firewalls, and Cisco Nexus switches.

    NPM is a network device finder designed to simplify staying on top of devices with the integrated Orion® Platform Discovery Wizard too, which can automatically scan networks for devices and add them to your monitoring database. It uses the network panel to scan devices by IP addresses, subnets, or IP range. You can also scan via Active Directory, which is ideal for a team setting, as you won't need to manually aggregate every IP address on certain sections of the network and can instead scan entire subnets in a matter of seconds.

    Before you begin, you'll want to make sure you've enabled the networking devices you want to monitor for SNMP and Windows devices for WMI.

  • How can I set a network scan in NPM?

    After you have configured SolarWinds NPM, log in to NPM and scan the network for devices to monitor.

    Before discovering your network, take these steps:

    1. If the Discovery Wizard does not start automatically after configuration, click Settings > Network Discovery.
    2. Click Add New Discovery, and then click Start.
    3. If this is your first discovery, add a limited number of IP addresses on the Network panel.
    4. If the Agents panel appears, you’ve enabled the Quality of Experience (QoE) agent during installation. The QoE agent monitors packet-level traffic. If any nodes are using agents, select the Check all existing nodes check box.
      This setting ensures any agents you deploy, including the one on your Orion server, are up to date. If there are no nodes using agents, you can leave this option unchecked.
    5. On the Virtualization panel, to discover VMware vCenter or ESX hosts on your network:
      1. Check Poll for VMware and click Add vCenter or ESX Credential.
      2. Select <new credential> and provide required information.
    6. On the SNMP panel:
      1. If all devices on your network require only the default SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 public and private community strings, click Next.
      2. If any device on your network uses a community string other than public or private, or if you want to use an SNMPv3 credential, click Add Credential and provide the required information.
    7. On the Windows panel, to discover WMI or RPC-enabled Windows devices, click Add New Credential and provide the required information.
    8. On the Monitoring Settings panel, SolarWinds recommends manually setting up monitoring the first time you run discovery. This allows you to review the list of discovered objects and select the ones you want to monitor.
      When you scale monitoring, you can configure discovery to automatically start monitoring objects it finds.
    9. On the Discovery Settings panel, click Next.
    10. Accept the default frequency and run the discovery immediately.

    Scanning for network devices can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the number of network elements the system discovers.

  • What scanning options are available in NPM?

    The following options are available to discover devices on the network and when to use these different options:

    • IP Ranges: Use this option when you want the Orion Platform to scan one or more IP ranges. If you have many IP ranges to scan, consider adding multiple discovery jobs rather than including all ranges in a single job.
    • Subnets: Use this option to scan every IP address in a subnet. It’s recommended to scan at most a /23 subnet (512 addresses max). Scanning a subnet returns everything that responds to ping, so it’s best to only scan subnets where most devices are objects you want to monitor.
    • IP Addresses: Use this option for a limited number of IP addresses that don’t fall in a range. Since a network discovery job can take a long time to complete, it’s recommended to use this option when you are first starting out.
    • Active Directory: Use this option to scan an Active Directory Domain Controller. Using Active Directory for discovery is particularly useful for adding large subnets because the Orion Platform can use the devices specified in Active Directory instead of scanning every IP address.

  • What are the benefits of network device scanning?

    Network device scanning can provide visibility into your network and the devices relying on it. This visibility can make it easier to detect issues when they arise and allows you to dig into the root causes of performance issues more quickly to reduce service interruptions to customers and maintain optimal productivity for end users. Since outages can be costly, quickly detecting and resolving issues can keep outages from occurring and help save money lost due to downtime.

    There are also benefits to using a network device scanning tool instead of attempting to manually scan your network. Without an automated tool, network device scanning is often a manual and cumbersome process. A tool can help automate the discovery of devices on your network and can help you update network maps as the devices change.

What does a network device scanner do and how does it work?

A network device scanner uses Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to scan a network for connected devices and help ensure they’re running properly. This capability allows you to conduct discovery and mapping and can help support fault, performance, and availability monitoring. Overall, network device scanning gives you a comprehensive view of your network devices, which can help you more easily ensure the health, security, and performance of your network.

Close
What types of network devices can NPM discover and monitor?

With its Network Insight™ features, NPM helps you ensure comprehensive monitoring for advanced network devices like F5 BIG-IP load balancers, Cisco ASA and Palo Alto Networks firewalls, and Cisco Nexus switches.

NPM is a network device finder designed to simplify staying on top of devices with the integrated Orion® Platform Discovery Wizard too, which can automatically scan networks for devices and add them to your monitoring database. It uses the network panel to scan devices by IP addresses, subnets, or IP range. You can also scan via Active Directory, which is ideal for a team setting, as you won't need to manually aggregate every IP address on certain sections of the network and can instead scan entire subnets in a matter of seconds.

Before you begin, you'll want to make sure you've enabled the networking devices you want to monitor for SNMP and Windows devices for WMI.

Close
How can I set a network scan in NPM?

After you have configured SolarWinds NPM, log in to NPM and scan the network for devices to monitor.

Before discovering your network, take these steps:

  1. If the Discovery Wizard does not start automatically after configuration, click Settings > Network Discovery.
  2. Click Add New Discovery, and then click Start.
  3. If this is your first discovery, add a limited number of IP addresses on the Network panel.
  4. If the Agents panel appears, you’ve enabled the Quality of Experience (QoE) agent during installation. The QoE agent monitors packet-level traffic. If any nodes are using agents, select the Check all existing nodes check box.
    This setting ensures any agents you deploy, including the one on your Orion server, are up to date. If there are no nodes using agents, you can leave this option unchecked.
  5. On the Virtualization panel, to discover VMware vCenter or ESX hosts on your network:
    1. Check Poll for VMware and click Add vCenter or ESX Credential.
    2. Select <new credential> and provide required information.
  6. On the SNMP panel:
    1. If all devices on your network require only the default SNMPv1 and SNMPv2 public and private community strings, click Next.
    2. If any device on your network uses a community string other than public or private, or if you want to use an SNMPv3 credential, click Add Credential and provide the required information.
  7. On the Windows panel, to discover WMI or RPC-enabled Windows devices, click Add New Credential and provide the required information.
  8. On the Monitoring Settings panel, SolarWinds recommends manually setting up monitoring the first time you run discovery. This allows you to review the list of discovered objects and select the ones you want to monitor.
    When you scale monitoring, you can configure discovery to automatically start monitoring objects it finds.
  9. On the Discovery Settings panel, click Next.
  10. Accept the default frequency and run the discovery immediately.

Scanning for network devices can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the number of network elements the system discovers.

Close
What scanning options are available in NPM?

The following options are available to discover devices on the network and when to use these different options:

  • IP Ranges: Use this option when you want the Orion Platform to scan one or more IP ranges. If you have many IP ranges to scan, consider adding multiple discovery jobs rather than including all ranges in a single job.
  • Subnets: Use this option to scan every IP address in a subnet. It’s recommended to scan at most a /23 subnet (512 addresses max). Scanning a subnet returns everything that responds to ping, so it’s best to only scan subnets where most devices are objects you want to monitor.
  • IP Addresses: Use this option for a limited number of IP addresses that don’t fall in a range. Since a network discovery job can take a long time to complete, it’s recommended to use this option when you are first starting out.
  • Active Directory: Use this option to scan an Active Directory Domain Controller. Using Active Directory for discovery is particularly useful for adding large subnets because the Orion Platform can use the devices specified in Active Directory instead of scanning every IP address.

Close
What are the benefits of network device scanning?

Network device scanning can provide visibility into your network and the devices relying on it. This visibility can make it easier to detect issues when they arise and allows you to dig into the root causes of performance issues more quickly to reduce service interruptions to customers and maintain optimal productivity for end users. Since outages can be costly, quickly detecting and resolving issues can keep outages from occurring and help save money lost due to downtime.

There are also benefits to using a network device scanning tool instead of attempting to manually scan your network. Without an automated tool, network device scanning is often a manual and cumbersome process. A tool can help automate the discovery of devices on your network and can help you update network maps as the devices change.

Close
"SolarWinds greatly helps us ensure that potential network issues are resolved before they affect service delivery which goes a long way to justifying the investment."
Phil Rogers
Head of Networks
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Automatically discover and scan network devices

Network Performance Monitor

  • Comprehensive fault monitoring and performance management for your network.

  • Create custom topology maps to get to the root cause of problems faster

  • Hop-by-hop analysis of cloud or on-prem applications or services.

Starts at {#Product Price#} NPM, an Orion module, is built on the SolarWinds Platform
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