Network Administrator's Toolkit

Computers connected to a network need to constantly be kept under close watch in order to prevent malicious software and attacks to corrupt or steal data. It is all up to network administrators to handle this task using solid knowledge and specialized computer applications. One of them is Network Administrator's Toolkit and aims to monitor and alert you before things take a nasty twist.

Delivers two practical utilities

Truth be told, the application's name is to be taken word by word, as it is not a stand-alone product, but a package that contains two powerful utilities, namely Alchemy Eye and Asset Tracker for Networks. The first lets you set up a few monitoring conditions that trigger alerts, while the second displays all there is to know about connected computers and devices.
Unfortunately, there is no main menu that lets you quickly switch from one application to the other, with a noticeable lack of interdependency. However, while using Alchemy Eye you can trigger the other counterpart to scan a specific network component.

Supervise and report network activity

The package is not intended to be used by anyone, a high level of networking knowledge being required. Alchemy Eye is most useful when deployed on a server, but in can also work locally as a process.
A series of monitors need to be configured, with the possibility to set them up from scratch or choose a template. The application lets you choose from five major check type categories, which can be Internet, Windows, Network, Database and Miscellaneous, each with specific target areas, such as performance counters under Windows or Oracle for databases.
In order to be fully practical, the application also needs to alert the administrator of potentially harmful events so that action can still be taken. This can be done when a monitor goes either up or down, with alert type possibilities ranging from sending emails and restarting the machine, to executing scripts and remotely handling other computers.

Gather network items information

The second goodie found in this toolkit is strictly based on gathering information. Yo have the possibility to leave the scanning process in the hands of the application for a faster result, or thoroughly configure settings, which might take a while, but is more reliable if properly done.
A side panel lets you quickly access all detected items in the network, while a tabbed section displays fetched info. These range from general overview and hardware components, to software or even multimedia and DirectX settings. Various reports can be issued and saved to a text file or directly uploaded to a database.

In conclusion

Taking everything into consideration, we can briefly state that Network Administrator's Toolkit is exactly what the name suggests. Even though there is no strong bond between the two components they can still be used individually, each playing an important role in ensuring the safety of computers and devices connected to the network you watch over.