LanTopolog

A utility that performs network topology discovery, visualization and monitoring.

Features: Lan Topolog is a software designed for discovering and then visualizing a given LANs topology in a hierarchical fashion. The main display window, once the discovery has been run shows the network hierarchy, starting with the external most network device, with the rest being displayed as a tree rooted at this device. It automatically performs the network discovery via SNMP, and also auto-discovers devices that have been added recently. The state of a device is indicated in the topology tree by means of the device being shown as brightly lit or not. Hosts connected to each device are also shown on a separate topology window. The information collected about the device status is also logged continuously and the system is capable of generating an alert as and when the failure of a device occurs. The interface is web based and therefore accessible from anywhere.

Overall: This is a pretty nifty tool for network administrators, network enthusiasts, and students alike. But the main limitation of the software is its interface and the way that the topology is actually visualized. The choice of colors is extremely bad and surely users will be unable to use for long periods at a time. Not a great deal of significance is given to different device types (and manufacturers) and having some way of gathering (or inputting) this information would have made it a much more interesting tool. Similarly, in this day and age, there should be some support for Google Maps or other such services that can enable one to visualize things geographically (alternatively there could have been some way of importing floor plans for better visualization of the location of resources). Not sure what monitoring services the software actually performs, apart from informing us of the active/inactive state of a device.

LanTopolog is a freeware application that provides physical network topology discovery, visualization and monitoring
Key features:
- Automatic physical network topology discovery based on SNMP
- Provide detailed and searchable physical network topology map so you can quickly isolate network connectivity failures
- Topology views show which network devices are connected to each switch port; port connections are labeled with port numbers
- Ability to auto-discovery new devices at they are added to your network
- LanTopolog also includes network monitoring tools
- Monitoring device's state (active/inactive) in real-time using ICMP
- Generating alarms when there are failures in the network.
- E-mail alerts notifying
- Web browser-based access from anywhere in the network
- Easy-to-use interface
From the program site you can download the shareware version LanTopolog 2.xx
that has additional features.