LANsurveyor 9.0 for Windows is an intuitive and easy-to-use program that allows network administrators to help safeguard and monitor their networks by incorporating network documentation, asset management, network monitoring, and vulnerability management features. The software's primary objective is to identify and report what's on your network, but you can also use it to enforce regulatory requirements such as Gramm-Leach Bliley, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, and Basel II. Smaller companies can simply use it to monitor their bandwidth, map a network, detect network intruders, manage assets, as well as view TCP-based applications. LANsurveyor 9.0 is a powerful, effective and highly recommended program that can grow with your company.

Pros: Powerful; intrusion detection; excellent reporting
Cons: Can get expensive; basic network diagrams; IDS is extra


Neon Software's LANsurveyor 9 is a powerful yet easy-to-use network management and security product, which in its simplest form presents your company's network using visual diagrams and reports. Anybody from IT Managers through to designers can see how their network is presented visually, thus helping your company to view, plan and manage its network resources more effectively. The latest version of the software contains several new features, improved mapping, enhanced monitoring, more reports, newer alerts, better integration and intrusion detection methods.

Similar to how a building surveyor would look at a site to produce drawings and recommendations, LANsurveyor's role is primarily the same. You start off by installing the main software and then deploying the client agent (Neon Responder) to any PCs on your network. You can do this manually or by using Active Directory, allowing you to deploy the software remotely. The client software then sits on the client machine transparently so you can gather information without disrupting the user.

When you first launch LANsurveyor you tell the software a start IP address and an end IP address. The software will then scan every address it finds on the network, including Windows, Mac and Unix/Linux systems, routers, tape libraries, printers, network attached storage (NAS), telephones, video conferencing systems and other SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) devices. If you want, you can then directly manage these assets using third-party software such as AT&T's VNC, Netopia's Timbuktu (both remote control software), or even Dantz's Retrospect backup software.

LANsurveyor also supports both IP and AppleTalk networks and includes integration features that allow you to easily map and manage computers running both protocols. It uses Ping/ICMP, SIP-based VoIP, and SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) community strings (a technology which can respond to queries, thus returning information about itself) to discover the devices on your network.

It reports back its findings by drawing a Microsoft Visio map of your entire network, which you can then import and edit in this program if you have unit installed on your system - just think how much time could save! However, the maps themselves can be manipulated to a certain degree within LANsurveyor, so you can zoom in and out of a map to gain further detail and you can customise the icons.

Further detailed information can then be gleamed by selecting several easy-to-use but detailed reports, such as software and hardware. The reports are created from the information generated by LANsurveyor and can be run manually or at scheduled times. The reports can include more than 100 computer details, such as memory, CPU, hard disk space, software applications, PCI devices installed, IP addresses in-use and fonts - to name but a few.

The accuracy of the information brought back is extremely detailed, but in cases where are component is not identified correctly - such as the wrong CPU on one of our test systems - you can attach notes to the inaccurate system. So, when the network is scanned again, the correct information will appear. Whilst a lot of information is returned, thankfully you can customise your reports and export them into Microsoft's Excel for further clarification. The reports can also be used for asset management purposes, so you can keep track of each computer's inventory and use this to plan future projects within your company.

Continuous Scan Intrusion Detection System (from £275 ex. VAT) is an optional LANsurveyor module that provides a intrusion detection system. The software uses the mapped network diagrams created by LANsurveyor as a focal point for detecting any unlawful entry into your network system. This is a a really useful feature and will be extremely useful for any company whose focus is on the protection of their network. Much like a firewall blocks any incoming threats from the Internet and the outside world, LANsurveyor and Continuous Scan IDS can protect your network from the inside.

Continuous Scan IDS works by scanning the appropriate network ranges created by LANsurveyor and looks for nodes that appear on the network (nodes could be computers, routers/hubs or devices such as printers). If any new nodes are found on the network, Continuous Scan IDS will then give you the option of authenticating them.

One of the methods Continuous Scan IDS uses to authenticate is Microsoft's Baseline Security Analyser, a tool designed for security management but also allows your company to meet regulatory requirements. If the new node fails authentication, Continuous Scan IDS identifies the node as unauthenticated and will then take action according to the parameters that you set up within the software.

These parameters can be e-mail alerts, informing you that a new device is on the network but has failed authentication, SMS messages, or even a trigger to a specific application. As well as the alerts you can get the software to disable network access for any new node, disable access for any unauthenticated nodes, disable access for nodes that do not meet your requirements, or even disable any devices which do not contain an IP address. Another extremely useful feature of Continuous Scan IDS is that it can detect masked IP addresses by scanning your network for any rogue device trying to mask its identity.

BIOS, Mar 21, 05 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Networking