Network configuration management tools are software solutions used to manage and automate the configuration of network devices and infrastructure. These tools help network administrators streamline the configuration process, ensure consistency, and maintain accurate documentation of network configurations.
Here are some popular network configuration management tools:
- Cisco Prime Infrastructure
- SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager
- ManageEngine Network Configuration Manager
- Infoblox NetMRI
- Ansible
- Puppet
- Junos Space Network Director
- HP Network Automation
- RANCID (Really Awesome New Cisco confIg Differ)
- Kiwi CatTools
1. Cisco Prime Infrastructure:
A comprehensive network management tool that allows administrators to manage and monitor Cisco network devices, including configuration management, performance monitoring, and troubleshooting.
Key features:
- Configuration Management: Cisco Prime Infrastructure allows administrators to centrally manage and automate the configuration of network devices. It provides a unified interface to view and modify device configurations, enabling consistent configuration across the network.
- Network Monitoring: The tool offers real-time monitoring of network devices and interfaces, providing visibility into network performance, availability, and utilization. Administrators can monitor various metrics such as bandwidth, CPU, memory, and interface status.
- Fault Management: Cisco Prime Infrastructure provides fault monitoring and alerting capabilities. It can proactively identify network issues, generate alerts, and provide detailed information to assist in troubleshooting and resolving problems.
2. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager:
Offers centralized network configuration and change management for multi-vendor devices. It provides automated backups, compliance auditing, and real-time change notifications.
Key features:
- Automated network configuration tasks, reducing the need to take equipment offline or work through the night when device settings need to be changed
- Audit module for demonstrating security standards compliance
- Ability to identify and roll back unauthorized config changes
- Indexed, searchable database of configurations for every device
- Notifications tied to the lifecycle of a device
- Access control via the dashboard, allowing admins to determine which users have access to which information
3. ManageEngine Network Configuration Manager:
Provides configuration management and compliance auditing for network devices. It offers features like configuration backups, change tracking, and policy enforcement.
Key features:
- Automated configuration backup of all network devices
- The constant sweep of devices, to identify unauthorized changes to settings
- Reports on variances between configurations on similar devices
- Updatable configuration backups, allowing standard settings to be applied to new devices
- Bulk application of configurations
- Logging functionalities, recording users’ changes to settings
- Automatic account suspension if a user account is compromised
- Multiple visualization devices for viewing data
- Polls for patches and updates
4. Infoblox NetMRI:
A network automation and configuration management tool that provides network discovery, configuration backup, compliance auditing, and change management capabilities.
Key features:
- Network Discovery: Infoblox NetMRI provides automated network discovery, mapping, and inventory capabilities. It discovers and identifies network devices, including switches, routers, firewalls, and access points, providing a comprehensive view of the network infrastructure.
- Configuration Management: The tool offers centralized configuration management, allowing administrators to view, edit, and deploy network device configurations from a single interface. It provides version control, change tracking, and backup capabilities, ensuring accurate and consistent configurations.
- Compliance Auditing: Infoblox NetMRI helps organizations maintain regulatory compliance and adhere to industry best practices. It offers pre-built compliance policies and templates, such as PCI DSS and HIPAA, to perform automated compliance audits. It identifies configuration violations and provides reports to demonstrate compliance.
5. FirstWave Open-AudIT :
FirstWave Open-AudIT is an IT asset inventory management system. It provides asset discovery and automatically generates hardware and software inventories. Details of each asset include configuration information, which can be used for vulnerability auditing. The system provides maps to locate each asset and also generates compliance documentation.
Key features:
- Device discovery
- Configuration snapshots
- Asset Locator
- Compliance auditing
6. TrueSight Automation for Networks:
TrueSight Automation for Networks, previously called BladeLogic Network Automation, is a new and improved configuration tool from BMC Software. While it doesn’t have a particularly dynamic display, it’s highly functional. It ships with pre-written policies to certify compliance with a wide range of integrity requirements for systems. These include NIST, PCI, CIS, HIPAA, and more.
Key features:
- Automated system scan, device logging, compliance checking, and device settings adjustment
- Configuration backup with continuous scanning and alerting on any changes
- Manual and automatic restoration of standard configurations
- Coordination with NIST National Vulnerability Database to stay on top of potential security weaknesses
7. Junos Space Network Director:
A tool specifically designed for managing Juniper Networks devices. It offers network configuration management, monitoring, and troubleshooting capabilities.
Key features:
- Centralized Network Management: Junos Space Network Director offers a centralized management interface for Juniper Networks devices. It provides a single pane of glass to monitor, configure, and troubleshoot network devices, simplifying network management tasks.
- Network Visualization and Topology Mapping: The tool provides network visualization and topology mapping capabilities, allowing administrators to view and understand the network infrastructure. It displays the relationships between devices, links, and interfaces, providing a comprehensive view of the network topology.
- Configuration Management: Junos Space Network Director allows administrators to manage the configuration of Juniper Networks devices. It provides a user-friendly interface to view, edit, and deploy configurations, ensuring consistency and accuracy across the network.
8. HP Network Automation:
Provides network configuration management for HP and multi-vendor network devices. It offers features like configuration backup, change tracking, and compliance auditing.
Key features:
- Configuration Management: HP Network Automation offers centralized configuration management for network devices. It provides a repository to store device configurations, allowing administrators to easily view, edit, and deploy configurations across the network.
- Configuration Change Management: The tool enables administrators to track and manage configuration changes systematically. It provides workflows and approval processes for configuration modifications, ensuring proper documentation and control over changes.
- Configuration Compliance: HP Network Automation helps enforce configuration compliance with industry standards and internal policies. It offers pre-defined compliance templates and allows administrators to create custom policies. It can automatically detect and report on configuration violations, ensuring devices adhere to desired configuration standards.
9. RANCID (Really Awesome New Cisco confIg Differ):
RANCID stands for “Really Awesome New Cisco config Differ.” Yes, really. This network configuration management tool is free and backed by a community of experts who have been driving its continuous growth and development for many years. And while there are no native web interfaces or GUIs, there are several guides written by experienced users about configuring RANCID.
Key features:
- Automated retrieval of configurations, which are archived
- Data stored in a version control system
- Ability to track version changes in the operating system
- Ability to run traditional filtering commands on configs (e.g., sed, grep)
- Ability to parallelize configurations on large operations
10. Kiwi CatTools:
Built to support small business networks at an affordable price, SolarWinds Kiwi® CatTools can benefit companies looking for a network configuration management solution to help automate backups, perform bulk configuration changes to multiple devices simultaneously, and quickly revert or roll back to good configurations to minimize service interruptions caused by bad configs.
Key features:
- Schedule automated backups
- Perform bulk config changes
- Easily roll back network configurations
- Compare and analyze changes to config files
- Automatically generate reports
- Built-in TFTP server
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