Network Working Group R. Enger Request for Comments: 1470 ANS FYI: 2 J. Reynolds Obsoletes: 1147 ISI Editors June 1993 FYI on a Network Management Tool Catalog: Tools for Monitoring and Debugging TCP/IP Internets and Interconnected Devices Status of this Memo This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Abstract The goal of this FYI memo is to provide an update to FYI 2, RFC 1147 [1], which provided practical information to site administrators and network managers. New and/or updated tools are listed in this RFC. Additonal descriptions are welcome, and should be sent to: noctools- [email protected]. Introduction A static document cannot incorporate references to the latest tools nor recent revisions to the older catalog entries. To provide a more timely and responsive information source, the NOCtools catalog is available on-line via the Internet and Usenet. news comp.networks.noctools ftp wuarchive.wustl.edu:/doc/noctools Because of publication delays and other factors, some of the entries in this catalog may be out of date. The reader is urged to consult the on-line service to obtain the most up-to-date information. The index provided in this document reflects the current contents of the on-line documentation. The NOCtools2 Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has compiled this revised catalog. Future revisions will be incorporated into the on-line NOCtools catalog. The reader is encouraged to submit new or revised entries for (near-immediate) electronic publication. NOCTools2 Working Group [Page 1] RFC 1470 FYI: Network Management Tool Catalog June 1993 The tools described in this catalog are in no way endorsed by the IETF. For the most part, we have neither evaluated the tools in this catalog, nor validated their descriptions. Most of the descriptions of commercial tools have been provided by vendors. Caveat Emptor. Acknowledgements This catalog is the result of work on the part of the NOCTools2 Working Group of the User Services Area of the IETF. The following individuals made especially notable contributions: Chris Myers, Darren Kinley, Gary Malkin, Mohamed Ellozy, and Mike Patton. Current Postings The current contents of the NOCtools catalog may be retrieved via anonymous FTP from wuarchive.wustl.edu. The entries are stored as individual files in the directory /doc/noctools. "No-Writeups" Appendix This section contains references to tools which are known to exist, but which have not been fully cataloged. If anyone wishes to author an entry for one of these tools please contact us at: [email protected] Keep in mind that if these or other tools are included in the future, they will be available in the on-line version of the catalog. Each mention is separated by a <form-feed> for improved readability. If you intend to actually print-out this section of the catalog, then you should probably strip-out the <ff>. How to Submit/Update an Entry 1) review the template included below to determine what information you will need to collect, 2) review the keywords to see what your indexing options are, 3) assemble (update) catalog entry to include results of 1) and 2). 4) Submit your entry using either of the following two methods: a) Post your submission to: comp.internet.noctools.submissions b) Email your submission to: [email protected] New entries will be circulated automatically upon reception. As time permits, the NOCtools editors will review recent submissions and incorporate them into the master indexes. Enquiries regarding the NOCTools2 Working Group [Page 2] RFC 1470 FYI: Network Management Tool Catalog June 1993 status of a submission should be E-Mailed to: [email protected] Those submitting an entry to the catalog should insure that any E- mail addresses provided are correct and functional. Either the catalog editors or prospective users of your tool may wish to reach you. NOCTools2 Working Group [Page 3] RFC 1470 FYI: Network Management Tool Catalog June 1993 TEMPLATE NAME <tool-name> KEYWORDS [<keyword-A1>[,<keyword-A2>[,...,<keyword-An>]]]; [<keyword-B1>[,<keyword-B2>[,...,<keyword-Bn>]]]; [<keyword-C1>[,<keyword-C2>[,...,<keyword-Cn>]]]; [<keyword-D1>[,<keyword-D2>[,...,<keyword-Dn>]]]; [<keyword-E1>[,<keyword-E2>[,...,<keyword-En>]]]. ABSTRACT <summary of the tool> <summary of the tool> <summary of the tool> MECHANISM <high level technical details of how it works> <high level technical details of how it works> <high level technical details of how it works> CAVEATS <any warnings or cautions> <any warnings or cautions> <any warnings or cautions> BUGS <any warnings or cautions> <any warnings or cautions> <any warnings or cautions> LIMITATIONS <any warnings or cautions> <any warnings or cautions> <any warnings or cautions> HARDWARE REQUIRED <list any hardware requirements> <list any hardware requirements> <list any hardware requirements> NOCTools2 Working Group [Page 4] RFC 1470 FYI: Network Management Tool Catalog June 1993 SOFTWARE REQUIRED <list any software requirements> <list any software requirements> <list any software requirements> AVAILABILITY AND CONTACT POINT FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THIS TOOL <How to acquire the tool.> <Location/Contact Info to access/obtain tool> CONTACT POINT FOR CHANGES TO THIS CATALOG ENTRY <Contact info for person responsible for catalog entry> DATE OF MOST RECENT UPDATE TO THIS CATALOG ENTRY <YYMMDD> Keywords This catalog uses "keywords" for terse characterizations of the tools. Keywords are abbreviated attributes of a tool or its use. To allow cross-comparison of tools, uniform keyword definitions have been developed, and are given below. Following the definitions, there is an index of catalog entries by keyword. Keyword Definitions The keywords are always listed in a prefined order, sorted first by the general category into which they fall, and then alphabetically. The categories that have been defined for management tool keywords are: o the general management area to which a tool relates or a tool’s functional role; o the network resources or components that are managed; o the mechanisms or methods a tool uses to perform its functions; o the operating system and hardware environment of a tool; and o the characteristics of a tool as a hardware product or software release. NOCTools2 Working Group [Page 5] RFC 1470 FYI: Network Management Tool Catalog June 1993 The keywords used to describe the general management area or functional role of a tool are: Alarm a reporting/logging tool that can trigger on specific events within a network. Analyzer a traffic monitor that reconstructs and interprets pro- tocol messages that span several packets. Benchmark a tool used to evaluate the performance of network com- ponents. Control a tool that can change the state or status of a remote network resource. Debugger a tool that by generating arbitrary packets and moni- toring traffic, can drive a remote network component to various states and record its responses. Generator a traffic generation tool. Manager a distributed network management system or system com- ponent. Map a tool that can discover and report a system’s topology or configuration. Reference a tool for documenting MIB structure or system confi- guration. Routing a packet route discovery tool. Security a tool for analyzing or reducing threats to security. Status a tool that remotely tracks the status of network com- ponents. NOCTools2 Working Group [Page 6] RFC 1470 FYI: Network Management Tool Catalog June 1993 Traffic a tool that monitors packet flow. The keywords used to identify the network resources or components that a tool manages are: Bridge a tool for controlling or monitoring LAN bridges. CHAOS a tool for controlling or monitoring implementations of the CHAOS protocol suite or network components that use it. DECnet a tool for controlling or monitoring implementations of the DECnet protocol suite or network components that use it. DNS a Domain Name System debugging tool. Ethernet a tool for controlling or monitoring network components on ethernet LANs. FDDI a tool for controlling or monitoring network components on FDDI LANs or WANs. IP a tool for controlling or monitoring implementations of the TCP/IP protocol suite or network components that use it. OSI a tool for controlling or monitoring implementations of the OSI protocol suite or network components that use it. NFS a Network File System debugging tool. Ring a tool for controlling or monitoring network components on Token Ring LANs. NOCTools2 Working Group [Page 7] RFC 1470 FYI: Network Management Tool Catalog June 1993 SMTP an SMTP debugging tool. Star a tool for controlling or monitoring network components on StarLANs. The keywords used to describe a tool’s mechanism are: CMIS a network management system or component based on CMIS/CMIP, the Common Management Information System and Protocol. Curses a tool that uses the "curses" tty interface package. Eavesdrop a tool that silently monitors communications media (e.g., by putting an ethernet interface into "promiscu- ous" mode). NMS the tool is a component of or queries a Network Manage- ment System. Ping a tool that sends packet probes such as ICMP echo mes- sages; to help distinguish tools, we do not consider NMS queries or protocol spoofing (see below) as probes. Proprietary a distributed tool that uses proprietary communications techniques to link its components. RMON a tool which employs the RMON extensions to SNMP. SNMP a network management system or component based on SNMP, the Simple Network Management Protocol. Spoof a tool that tests operation of remote protocol modules by peer-level message exchange. X a tool that uses X-Windows. NOCTools2 Working Group [Page 8] RFC 1470 FYI: Network Management Tool Catalog June 1993 The keywords used to describe a tool’s operating environment are: DOS a tool that runs under MS-DOS. HP a tool that runs on Hewlett-Packard systems. Macintosh a tool that runs on Macintosh personal computers. OS/2 a tool that runs under the OS/2 operating system. Standalone an integrated hardware/software tool that requires only a network interface for operation. Sun a tool that runs on Sun Microsystems platforms. (binary distribution built for use on a Sun.) UNIX a tool that runs under 4.xBSD UNIX or related OS. VMS a tool that runs under DEC’s VMS operating system. The keywords used to describe a tool’s characteristics as a hardware or software acquisition are: Free a tool is available at no charge, though other restric- tions may apply (tools that are part of an OS distribu- tion but not otherwise available are not listed as "free"). Library a tool packaged with either an Application Programming Interface (API) or object-level subroutines that may be loaded with programs. Sourcelib a collection of source code (subroutines) upon which developers may construct other tools. NOCTools2 Working Group [Page 9] RFC 1470 FYI: Network Management Tool Catalog June 1993 Tools Indexed by Keywords Following is an index of the most up-to-date catalog entries sorted by keyword, which is available via: news comp.networks.noctools.tools ftp wuarchive.wustl.edu:/doc/noctool This index can be used to locate the tools with a particular attribute: tools are listed under each keyword that characterizes them. The keywords and the subordinate lists of tools under them are in alphabetical order. Alarm ----- CMIP Library Dual Manager Eagle EMANATE EtherMeter LanProbe LANWatch MONET NetMetrix Load Monitor NetMetrix Protocol Analyzer NETMON for Windows NETscout NOCOL SNMP Libraries and Utilities from Empire Technologies SNMP Libraries and Utilities from SNMP Research snmpd from Empire Technologies SpiderMonitor XNETMON from SNMP Research xnetmon from Wellfleet Analyzer -------- LANVista LANWatch NetMetrix Protocol Analyzer NETscout PacketView Sniffer SpiderMonitor NOCTools2 Working Group [Page 10]