Ping Connectivity Testing
Tools for testing basic network reachability, latency, and packet loss.
- Ping – Sends ICMP echo requests to measure reachability and round-trip delay.
- TCPing – Tests reachability of TCP ports via TCP-based echo when ICMP blocked.
- arping – Sends ARP request to check if host or device is operational on local subnet.
- Ping.pe – Web-based ping reachability and latency testing from global locations.
- Globalping.io – Similar to ping.pe, offers worldwide ping and traceroute diagnostics.
- MTR – Combines traceroute and ping for continuous path and latency analysis.
- WinMTR – Windows GUI version of MTR for real-time path and latency diagnostics.
- PingPlotter – Display latency, packet loss, and jitter over time with graphical traceroute.
Traceroute and MTU Tools
For understanding network routing paths and Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) issues.
- Traceroute – Display each routing hop and latency from source to destination.
- Tracert – Windows equivalent of traceroute using ICMP packets only.
- TCPtraceroute – Uses TCP SYN packets to trace network path via specific TCP port.
- TraceTCP – Windows tool for TCP port-based traceroute diagnostics.
- Paris Traceroute – Show routing via multi-path load balancing topologies.
- Ping -f -l – Sends unfragmented packets to estimate MTU size (Windows syntax).
- mturoute – Probes network path to discover hop-by-hop MTU.
- Tracepath – Linux tool to trace path and estimate MTU.
Packet Capture and Traffic Analysis
Capture, inspect, and analyze traffic for security and performance analysis.
- Wireshark – GUI-based, full-feature packet capture and protocol analyzer.
- tcpdump – Command-line network packet sniffer and filter.
- TShark – CLI version of Wireshark.
- CloudShark – Browser-based tool for analyzing packet captures.
- Cisco EPC – Cisco alternate to tcpdump for packet capture on switches and routers.
- Cisco IP SLA – Monitor performance metrics across Cisco devices.
- Cisco debug – CLI command for real-time debugging on Cisco devices.
- Cisco ASA Packet Tracer – Simulates packet flow through ASA firewalls.
- cURL – CLI tool used for application layer testing (HTTP, FTP, etc)
- Wget – Download content for connectivity testing or automation.
Network Documentation and IP Management
For managing IP allocations and documenting network topologies.
- NetBox – Web-based tool for enterprise data center network documentation.
- Infoblox – Enterprise IPAM/DNS/DHCP web-based automation management platform.
- phpIPAM – Open-source web-based IP address management.
- Visio / Visio Viewer – Feature rich Microsoft diagramming tool for network design.
- Draw.io – Open source web-based diagramming platforms for basic drawings.
- Lucidchart – Web-based diagramming platform alternate to Visio with similar features.
- Obsidian – Personal markdown-based note-taking with local storage and linking notes.
- Notion – All-in-one collaboration workspace for notes, tasks, and wikis.
- OneNote – Microsoft notebook style for organizing freeform notes and media.
- Confluence – Web-based collaboration tool for team documentation and knowledge sharing.
- Google Sheets – Cloud-based spreadsheet application for data entry, analysis, and sharing.
- GitHub / GitLab – Repositories for storing configs, diagrams, and code.
- Oxidized – Automates network device config backups.
- Slack – Team messaging for collaborative documentation.
Performance Testing
For measuring bandwidth, speed, and end-to-end network performance.
- Speedtest.net – Web-based service for testing real-time download/upload speeds.
- iPerf3 – CLI tool measuring bandwidth between hosts.
- iPerf2 – Windows-based CLI tool for iperf that measures bandwidth between hosts.
- webpagetest.org – Analyzes website loading performance metrics online.
- Waveform – web-based performance toot that measures load latency to test bufferbloat.
Log Management
Log collection, storage, and analysis for incident detection and compliance.
- Graylog – Open-source log aggregation, storage, and search with real-time analysis and alerting.
- rsyslog /syslog-ng – Basic syslog server for collecting, processing, and forwarding logs.
- Elastic Stack (ELK) – Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana for indexing, search, and visuals.
- Splunk – Enterprise log ingestion, indexing, advanced analytics, and custom dashboards.
- Cisco Error Message Decoder – Cisco tool for decoding logs and error codes for troubleshooting.
- Azure Monitor – Observability platform for collecting and analyzing metrics, logs, and alerts.
- AWS CloudWatch – AWS service for monitoring metrics, logs, and events with alerts and dashboards.
- VPC Flow Logs – AWS network flow telemetry that logs metadata from VPC network interfaces.
- AI for Log Analysis – AI-powered tools for detecting anomalies in log data such as Splunk AI/ML.
Wireless Network Analysis
Site survey, signal strength, and channel usage analysis for wireless troubleshooting.
- NetSpot – Heatmapping and Wi-Fi site survey tool.
- Acrylic Wi‑Fi Analyzer – Windows tool for spectrum and signal analysis.
- inSSIDer – GUI tool for visualizing Wi-Fi performance.
- WLAN Pi – Portable Linux-based Wi-Fi analysis tool.
- Kismet – Wireless network packet sniffer and IDS.
Network Discovery
Find devices, open ports, topologies, and BGP information.
- Nmap – Command-line scanner for hosts, ports, and services.
- Zenmap – GUI version of Nmap.
- Nessus – Security scanner for vulnerability assessments.
- CDP / LLDP – Protocols for discovering directly connected devices.
- Angry IP Scanner – Lightweight IP and port scanner with GUI.
- bgp.tools – Web lookup for BGP routes and ASN data.
- PathSolutions – Diagnostic tool for identifying the root cause of network problems.
DNS and Domain Tools
Commands for resolving, querying, and testing DNS performance.
- NSLookup – Basic query tool to verify DNS resolution is working.
- Dig – Advanced DNS query and debug utility.
- DNSperf – Benchmarks DNS internet server performance.
Network Automation and IaC
Automate network configuration, testing, and deployment.
- Python / Bash / PowerShell – Scripting languages for network automation.
- Netmiko – Python package for Cisco device automation.
- Napalm – Python package for multivendor device automation.
- Nornir – Python automation framework ansible alternative for network devices.
- Ansible – Agentless automation using SSH for network and server tasks.
- Terraform – Declarative infrastructure provisioning tool.
- Jinja2 – Template engine for config generation in automation scripts.
- WSL – Runs Linux tools natively inside Windows.
- EEM – Embedded Event Manager for reactive automation on Cisco.
- VS Code + Cisco Plugin – Code editor with network config syntax support.
- Git – Version control system to track infrastructure changes.
- ipcalc-ng – CLI tool to calculate and subnet IP addresses.
Network Simulation Tools
Design, test, and simulate network environments before production deployment.
- Cisco CML – Cisco Modeling Labs for network simulation.
- Packet Tracer – Educational tool for learning Cisco networking.
- GNS3 / EVE‑NG – Emulates full networks using real OS images.
- PyATS / Genie – Cisco deployment validation and testing framework.
- Batfish – Configuration validation engine for multi-vendor environments.
- DevNet Sandbox – Cisco-hosted labs for testing and learning.
- Postman – API testing tool often used in network automation.
- ZeroTier – Virtual overlay network for secure remote connectivity.
Remote Access and Terminal Emulators
Connect securely to remote devices using various protocols.
- SecureCRT – Commercial terminal with SSH/Telnet and scripting.
- PuTTY / mPuTTY – Lightweight SSH and Telnet clients.
- MobaXterm – Feature-rich SSH/X11 terminal suite.
- mRemoteNG – Connection manager supporting multiple remote protocols.
- Tera Term – Open-source terminal emulator for serial/Telnet/SSH.
- OpenSSH – Standard SSH client/server tools.
- RDP – Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol for GUI access.
- Wireless Console – Access to device console via wireless connection.
- Tftpd64 – TFTP/FTP/DHCP server for device firmware and IOS upgrades.
- WinSCP – GUI tool for secure file transfers (SFTP/SCP).
Text Processing and Search
Parse and manipulate configs, logs, and outputs efficiently.
- Notepad++ – Lightweight editor with regex and syntax highlighting.
- grep / sed / awk / cut – Linux CLI tools for pattern matching and text manipulation.
- regex / regexr – Tools and websites to creat and test regular expressions.
- AstroGrep – GUI tool to search files using regex on Windows.