Mapping a network

Big Jim

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This is something I have never really had to do on a large scale before.
But I am finding more and more that we are helping with network installs so would be handy to have a "go to" software we could use for this.

Having had previous conversations with the more experienced networking gurus on these forums, you have suggested separating a physical and logical network map.
So I am guessing this means creating 2 separate maps.

How detailed do you go ?
Do you do a site map (as in the room layouts) and overlay the network map or just do it network only ?
What software do you use ?
What information should be kept separately from a physical and logical point of view ?
 
Logical map = switches, routers, servers, Cloud servers, site-to-site connections for all locations so you can see how they connect and what server resources are in which location. I just use LibreOffice draw.

Physical Map = mostly just ethernet drop locations and labels. Maybe some extra information for the server room. Networking closet locations and which equipment is there (not a detailed list of everything, that's for the other documentation, just IP/DNS name), WAP locations. And if you want to get fancy, wireless heatmap. I use QGIS, but you probably don't actually need it associated with their actual location in the world.

Would love to heat what others do though.
 
Depends on what you are drawing. A lot of times I don't even put switches into drawings for example when I map subnets, I leave out Layer-2 switches.

When mapping VLANs, I don't really put routers in, etc.
 
Fing is another good one.

But don't forget to check each router for static IPs although if the Static IP is outside DHCP range most lazy techs set it on the device not the router. I'm super guilty of this. Me = lazy, and I pay for it later heh.
 
For a really quick scan/discover....check out Mikrotiks free tool called "The Dude" (yeah, odd name).
https://mikrotik.com/thedude

For details, once we have the client in our N-Able...we put the details there.

So as far as I can tell the dude needs Router OS which appears to be a linux based OS that runs on certain routers.
Or have I missed something ?
 
So as far as I can tell the dude needs Router OS which appears to be a linux based OS that runs on certain routers.
Or have I missed something ?

Nope, you missed nothing. It does require the server to be installed on the router and then the client on a M$ desktop to query the server. Not sure if there is a way to use The Dude with some other *nix based router.

Back to your OP. The reason you want to get in the habit of doing a logical and physical map is the logical map may not match the physical map. Things like VLAN's logically segment the network irrespective of the physical location of the hardware, more or less. That being said most of the networks we support are pretty simple. So the physical map will match the logical map.

One way is to physically go around and check each device. Of course that is time consuming and requires physical access. There are tools out there that facilitate building the logical as well as physical maps that can be run on a client. I'm a OS X user, my favorite is LanScan. Example output below. The information goes a long way to helping understand the LAN.

Screen Shot 2017-03-12 at 9.15.11 PM.png

The tools mentioned above provide that type of information but are not always so easy to interpret.

https://www.google.com/search?q=windows+lan+scan+identify+devices&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

This brought up some names I've heard before, including spiceworks, a top 5 source, that run on M$ OS's.

Once you have the scan in hand it's much easier to complete the assessment.
 
In my original question I wasn't looking for software to scan all of this info for me (but it will most certainly help)

I was coming at it more from the angle of mapping out a network in a way that should you not visit it again for a while when you come back to it you can instantly understand the exact layout (assuming that nothing has been changed)
So do you physically draw a LAN map or just stick with a list of devices and MAC addresses ?
 
So as far as I can tell the dude needs Router OS which appears to be a linux based OS that runs on certain routers.
Or have I missed something ?

Dang they changed in, looks like 3 years ago. I still have the old downloads...it was a full stand alone program. I wouldn't have linked it if you had to virtualize some RouterOS to plug this into. That's a bummer that they removed the stand alone client. I have copies of the older stand along windows install if you want to try it, I'm sure some are available via some Google-Fu too.

It was a quick and efficient little program.
 
In my original question I wasn't looking for software to scan all of this info for me (but it will most certainly help)

I was coming at it more from the angle of mapping out a network in a way that should you not visit it again for a while when you come back to it you can instantly understand the exact layout (assuming that nothing has been changed)
So do you physically draw a LAN map or just stick with a list of devices and MAC addresses ?

I'll just keep the list as it has the names which means I know the locations.
 
Dang they changed in, looks like 3 years ago. I still have the old downloads...it was a full stand alone program. I wouldn't have linked it if you had to virtualize some RouterOS to plug this into. That's a bummer that they removed the stand alone client. I have copies of the older stand along windows install if you want to try it, I'm sure some are available via some Google-Fu too.

It was a quick and efficient little program.

@YeOldeStonecat, that would be great if you could put up the standalone client. TIA
 
So do you physically draw a LAN map or just stick with a list of devices and MAC addresses ?

Just the logical overview. More like a document for quick orientation rather than something to keep referencing. If the network is really basic, then it might not be necessary.
 
Dang they changed in, looks like 3 years ago. I still have the old downloads...it was a full stand alone program. I wouldn't have linked it if you had to virtualize some RouterOS to plug this into. That's a bummer that they removed the stand alone client. I have copies of the older stand along windows install if you want to try it, I'm sure some are available via some Google-Fu too.

It was a quick and efficient little program.

Looks interesting @YeOldeStonecat . Do you happen to have the version number of the standalone?

I need better network mapping tools so thanks for the above suggestions. I stumbled into a network at a large church that was setup as a class A sub-net. I never did track down all the details. Had them call in the original installer to tighten things up.
 
Good find Danny...found the 3.6 at a common download site but was still looking for a safer source...just very side tracked today, prepping for the "big winter storm" that's supposed to shut us down for days in my area.
 
If you are making a network of switches, you can use CDP, LLDP, FDP etc to map the connections between them.

It will mess you up if they mix and match vendors though.
 
Good find Danny...found the 3.6 at a common download site but was still looking for a safer source...just very side tracked today, prepping for the "big winter storm" that's supposed to shut us down for days in my area.
I realize that I am resurrecting a thread that is over a year-old but it is still relevant to me.
I d/l and installed The Dude 3.6 and am trying the program for the first time on Windows 7 PRO and Windows 8.1 computers.
I was hoping to generate a device map that looks like this with links, etc. but my output only displays device names (see attachment).
Googling for answers did not result in any suggestions.
TIA!
 

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