55 Open Source Replacements for Popular Networking Tools: Page 2

17. Snare Replaces LogLogic, SenSage Log Management

Intersect Alliance offers a number of different open source log file collection and analysis agents under the Snare brand name. A number of commercial products incorporate the Snare agents, including the Snare Server, which is available on the same site. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X, others.

Network Firewalls

Originally designed as a firewall only, Devil-Linux can also be used as a server and includes a number of networking features. Unlike most other firewall apps, it's designed to run completely from a CD-ROM and Flash drive instead of using your system's hard drive. Operating System: Linux.

19. Turtle Firewall Replaces Barricuda NG Firewall, Check Point Appliances

Based on Iptables, Turtle Firewall lets you turn an old PC into a Linux-based network firewall. You can configure it via a helpful Web interface or by editing XML files directly. Operating System: Linux.

20. Shorewall Replaces Barricuda NG Firewall, Check Point Appliances

Shorewall offers "iptables made easy." The QuickStart Guide offers complete directions on using it to configure a gateway/firewall to protect a single IP address or multiple IP addresses. Operating System: Linux.

21. Sentry Firewall Replaces Barricuda NG Firewall

This app can operate as a network firewall, server or IDS node. It boots directly from a CD, making it very easy to set up a firewall quickly. Operating System: Linux.

Network Management

OpenNMS bills itself as "the world’s first enterprise grade network management application platform developed under the open source model." It offers a vast list of features for automated and directed discovery, event and notification management, service assurance and performance management. Operating System: Windows, Linux, OS X, iOS.

23. RANCID Replaces Orion NCM, CiscoWorks LAN Management Solution

This tool's unappetizing name doesn't make much sense until you realize it's an acronym for Really Awesome New Cisco confIg Differ. It helps network admins track changes to the network (and solve any resulting problems) by backing up configurations. In addition to Cisco products, it also supports Juniper routers, Catalyst switches, Foundry switches, Redback NASs, and ADC EZT3 muxes. Operating System: Linux.

24. Zenoss Core Replaces IBM Tivoli Network Manager, OpManager

Zenoss combines a configuration management database with availability and performance monitoring, event management and reporting. It also includes a Web portal and dashboards so that administrators can see what's happening with their IT systems at a glance. Operating System: Linux, OS X.

Network Monitoring

Nagios calls itself "the industry standard in open source monitoring," and it aims to help identify and resolve IT infrastructure problems before they affect critical business processes. It sends alerts when it detects problems with your networks, and its reporting and graphs can help with capacity planning. Note that it can monitor multiple platforms, including Windows, but it runs on Unix-like systems. Operating system: Linux, Unix.

26. Opsview Community Replaces IBM Tivoli Network Manager, OpManager

Opsview combines several different open source tools, including the Nagios engine, into a single monitoring tool with an easy-to-use Web interface. The commercial enterprise edition adds support and some additional features. Operating System: Linux.

27. Munin Replaces Nimsoft, Orion NPM, OpManager

Munin is designed to help network administrators spot trends and figure out the root cause of performance problems. And in case you're wondering, the name comes from Norse mythology and means "memory." Operating System: Linux, OS X.

28. Cacti Replaces Nimsoft, Orion NPM, OpManager

This tool offers a user-friendly interface to manage and graph network data stored in a RRDTool database. If you have a large network, you'll probably want a separate plug-in to collect data, such as Spine. Operating System: Windows, Linux.

29. Ganglia Replaces Nimsoft, Orion NPM, OpManager

Specifically designed for high performance computing systems such as clusters and grids, Ganglia uses a highly scalable hierarchical architecture. It was built for the UC Berkeley Millennium Project, and you can view a demo of that network's operation from the site. Operating System: Linux, others.

30. Zabbix Replaces Nimsoft, Orion NPM, OpManager

This enterprise-class distributed monitoring system can track up to 1 million metrics for 100,000 networked devices. Commercial support and appliances are also available. Operating System: Windows (agent only), Linux, OS X.