"Translator" Adrem software netcrunch 8 Reviews

Hara Nirmal Sharma

Original article: from windowsnetworking

Product: Netcrunch 8 (Chinese version released after Spring Festival 2015)

Products page: www.adremsoft.cn/netcrunch/

Medium Shaoxing

There are many solutions for monitoring network servers and various operating systems, but most of them have limitations. For example, some solutions only monitor windows and a few specific devices, while others can monitor Windows and Linux systems, but need to install monitoring agents. The most idealized scenario is the ability to monitor Windows and Linux operating systems, network switches, printers, security systems, and so on, without the need to install monitoring agents. Since most of the monitoring options are not available in one software, Adrem software's product Netcrunch 8 is a refreshing change. Netcrunch 8 provides all of the above features without the need to install a monitoring agent on the monitoring device.

Why Choose Netcrunch 8 ?

Whenever I give advice on monitoring solutions, I always consider the following important aspects:

Is the software easy to install, easy to manage

Is this software healthy for non-Windows operating systems, including Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, VMware Esx/esxi

Can self-identify monitoring equipment

Whether the device can be monitored without the monitoring agent installed

Is there an internal mechanism that allows the software to quickly recover from crashes

Whether role management is supported

Is there an internal database to store monitoring data to generate reports or use for other purposes

Is it possible to quickly identify and handle problems

Netcrunch 8 provides all of the above features in one software. You can monitor network devices, two-tier network traffic, and various operating systems. Not only does it have built-in rules to monitor components, it also adjusts the monitoring mix to suit your needs. Netcrunch 8 supports a variety of different monitoring scripts. It can collect various event logs, including Windows event logs, System records, SNMP traps, and performance counters. The data collected by the Netcrunch server is processed to generate alarms in the Netcrunch management console.

This product is equipped with UI configuration and is by far the most flexible monitoring solution I have ever seen. This feature will be discussed further later.

Netcrunch 8 installation

Netcrunch 8 can be easily installed on a Windows PC, and I don't have much time to install and start running the software. My installation has four steps: Download the netcrunch server executable file, download the Netcrunch Management console, install the Netcrunch server to a supported Windows operating system (physical or virtual machine), and look for the monitoring device.

This product consists of two components: the Netcrunch server and the customer. The Netcrunch server component is responsible for monitoring the device, and the customer component is a console where we can access configuration information. Since the monitoring solution is constantly monitoring the device, there is no other prerequisite than enough RAM storage space and processing power. I installed the Netcrunch 8 server component to Windows Server R2 (8GB RAM) and did not encounter any problems.

Netcrunch 8 products are equipped with their own databases, which are automatically configured at the time of installation. In the Setup Wizard, you must provide a storage path for the product files and database files. The default storage path for the database file is "C:\ProgramData\AdRem\NetCrunch\8.0", but it is better to select a separate driver. The data collected by the Netcrunch server and its configuration information are stored in the database.

After selecting a storage path for the database file, you must select a service account that allows the Netcrunch server component to run. It is a good idea to select a directory service account that has been activated and used for each Windows computer local Administrators group. This allows the Netcrunch server component to collect monitoring data from the Windows computer. Netcrunch comes with a Web server that allows you to access basic configuration information over a network connection. On the next page, you can choose which network ports are specifically monitored through the Netcrunch Network Service, and then click the "Next" button to install the product.

Note:

Adrem recommends that you install Netcrunch to an operating system server that is not running antivirus software because antivirus software generates many I/O operations. You can turn off anti-virus software for netcrunch processes and directories/files at any time.

Tips:

Netcrunch 8 can also be installed on a virtual device with a virtualized platform Hyper-V or ESXi host.

Discovery Network

When you open the Netcrunch Management console for the first time, you will face two choices: Scan your network or let Netcrunch simulate the network environment. Generally speaking, the Netcrunch simulation network environment is generally used for testing phase.

Figure 1

In the Discovery Wizard, you have the option to scan your Active Directory domain, network subnet, or both. Although the Discovery Wizard automatically adds a subnet IP based on the IP configuration of the Netcrunch server, you can still add the new IP subnet yourself, as shown in the following.

Figure 2

Although Netcrunch lets you choose whether to scan your network the first time you use the Netcrunch management console, you can still choose to discover network components or Active Directory domains at any time thereafter. You can do this simply by activating the Discovery Wizard from the Action menu.

Figure 3

Netcrunch will notify you immediately when a security breach occurs. For example, I tried to scan the public IP network during the scan. A warning dialog pops up informing me that the network being scanned is a public network and that this behavior is considered a violation of security regulations.

Figure 4

Although you need to manually add IP subnets while scanning the network devices of a subnet, the discovery process of Netcrunch performs a series of processes internally to create maps/views of the IP subnet and routing information. The discovery process also collects and records the operating system type, stores data, and software that has been installed on the subnet device.

Important Information

Because most environments use Active Directory domains, it is more convenient to automatically collect IP subnet information from Active Directory domains instead of manually entering subnet information. While some might think that this feature needs to be added to this version, I think it is because of the lack of such a feature that the discovery process of the IP subnet is limited to a certain number, for example, it is more convenient to manually input only the servers that are in a particular subnet.

Below is the lab Network diagram that I showed after I scanned the subnets.

Figure 5

The network diagram can not only show the basic situation of the monitored device, but right-click the menu bar that appears to perform the following tasks: Display inventory data, detect abnormal working devices, adjust node settings, view alarms, etc. For example, if you need to view inventory information for a device, right-click the device and select the View inventory option, the following window appears:

Figure 6

Inventory data can assist you in a number of things, such as checking the patch status of a server, software installed on the device, and hardware information.

Netcrunch Client Interface

Netcrunch has two default interfaces under the client interface, "problematic node" and "unresponsive node", and the node information is shared under both interfaces. You can also create your own personal interface and link to any of the network diagrams, servers, IP subnets, and so on. As shown, I created a client interface named "Failovercluster" and moved all the fail-over modules to this interface.

Figure 7

rapid identification of faults

The general idea of implementing a monitoring solution is to quickly identify any failures. When you open the Netcrunch Administrator console, you will see all the subnets that were collected in the discovery process and any IP subnets that you manually added. Since netcrunch is grouping devices based on IP subnet information, it is easy to identify faults by scanning IP subnets. The biggest benefit of the console is to warn you by changing the icon of the faulty subnet, as shown in.

Figure 8

If you need to know the number of devices that have stopped working, the number of devices that are working, or how many devices are being monitored in a subnet, you only need to lightly place the mouse on that subnet.

Figure 9

Netcruch operator Panel

Browsing an IP subnet only displays information and events for devices within that subnet. However, if you want to view the status information for all the devices in your office network system, you do not need any special action. The Netcrunch administrator's default operator panel interface presents you with a network system report.

Figure 10

As you can see in the operator panel, there are 12 servers and two unknown devices. The advantage of netcrunch is that devices are grouped by type, such as servers, Windows client computers, network devices, and so on. Any event that occurs in the monitoring is displayed as a red fork and shows the number of devices that are having problems. As you can see from the server node, a total of 9 devices are having a problem. Clicking on the server node will display the operating system node as shown in:

Figure 11

When you click on any node, you will see a list of the operating systems that are being detected and the list of operating systems where the error occurred.

The biggest benefit of Netcrunch's operator panel is that it supports right-click to monitor the operation of the device. You can check the status and problems of the device, check inventory, and understand the alert content.

Figure 12

One of the interesting features is that in the Netcrunch Admin Console mode, Netcrunch can find problems with devices that are not working. As you see, you can perform a series of operations such as ping checking, routing tracing, network consulting queries, and remote logging.

The new operator panel can help you understand the status of the Netcrunch server and identify overloaded items. As shown in.

Figure 13

Even though it is easy to find the status information of the device by finding the right node, I still want to know if I can find the device by name and get its status information. Indeed, we can do it. You just need to click the Search button in the console and enter the device's name.

Figure 14

Handling Alerts

If you need to quickly view alerts for all monitored devices, including subnets, you can go to the "Event: Network Alert" button.

Figure 15

If you need to turn off an alert, you can right-click the alert and select resolved or other action options.

Figure 16

By performing the default action, all alert issues are resolved. The Netcrunch logs the start of the alert and the time it was resolved. This feature is important for systems that receive a resolved alert, and Netcrunch automatically takes action to resolve the alert.

Figure 17

Even if event: Network Atlas displays alerts for all devices in the same place, you can also view alerts for a particular device separately. Right-click the device and click the Status button. In the Device Status window, locate the alert option, which displays all alerts for that device.

Figure 18

As shown, Netcrunch instructs the Windows time service to stop on a server (NKAD1. test.local) This server corresponds to the domain name controller in the office network and is intended to prove the required components of the domain name. If you want to see if you can start the service in the console. Using the Windows Services option, you will find that each Windows service supports a mail click Options menu that includes the ability to start/stop/Restart Windows services in remote state.

Figure 19

In this respect, I have to compliment Adrem's software development team because they provide such options in the operator's console. This not only helps the user to discover the Windows Time service problem, but also saves time by enabling me to start the service in the console.

Netcrunch and Monitoring Components

The Netcrunch is able to select the monitored events flexibly through the monitoring components.

The Netcrunch V8 carries the 100+ monitoring kit, which incorporates the monitoring settings for popular applications and equipment. Devices are automatically added to the monitoring component based on their type, for example, depending on the type of operating system.

You can also create customer-defined monitoring components and adjust existing monitoring components to suit your own needs. You can view the available monitoring components in Tools > Alerting & Reporting > by clicking Settings.

Figure 20

Report

Netcrunch is equipped with its own Report viewer, which you can use to view reports collected by the Netcrunch server for data that is not monitored. You will need to click on the View menu and select the Report function to view this report.

Figure 21

Suggestions:

Netcrunch supports multi-type report viewers running on the same computer. If you need to generate a report for another group of computers when the report Viewer is generating a report, you can select View > reports to run another set of tasks for the report Viewer

Backup and Storage Netcrunch Data

To facilitate recovery of data from chaotic records, you can use Netcrunch V8 to store a complete set of backups, including all server information and data, including registration settings. You can perform the task of storing this data by clicking a few clicks in the Netcrunch console. If you need to back up all. Please click File > Maintenance > Select Full Backup, as shown in:

Figure 22

You can also configure an automatic backup schedule with Netcrunch installation for Netcrunch. Click on the link "Modify Atlas Backup Schedule" To install the automatic backup schedule. As shown in.

Netcrunch and role-based management methods

Netcrunch can be very flexible in creating different documents. The document will be connected to the corresponding node or network diagram. These documents can be assigned to the user/user group you created through the Netcrunch Manager console.

You can define these documents by clicking Tools > Profiles > and then clicking Web Access rights . Even if Netcrunch has a built-in document, you can create your own document by clicking the Add Profile button.

Figure 23

After the document is created, you need to create a user account and connect it to the user's document. For example, I created a user account named Test2 and assigned a "Newprofile" to Test2.

Figure 24

Support and Pricing

I learned from different sources that Netcrunch's customer support response time is fairly short, and netcrunch is a fairly effective, cost-efficient solution. The 50-device scheme is priced from $1755 and has several different options for purchasing. You can check the purchase options available on the website.

my final impressions.

Netcrunch V8 is a good monitoring solution that provides all the monitoring services and mechanisms you need, at a reasonable price and without the need to install any monitoring equipment on the target device. I really like this product, easy to install and use, and easy to identify problems. I recommend that you also use it to monitor your company's network, and I give it a rating of 4.9 in windowsnetworking.com, out of 5.

"Translator" Adrem software netcrunch 8 Reviews