Firewall Tools: Activity Monitor - Case Study Example

Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Firewall Tools Scenario 1: Introduction Activity Monitor is a network tool that allows network administrators to oversee the performance of the nets. Therefore, for officials dealing with out of control employees, then this tools makes it easy to monitor workstations without other people knowing. Also, the use of this tool does not affect the performance of other hosts in the network, and it provides a report of visited sites. Furthermore, the tool allows the user to have a view of multiple computers simultaneously. With that, it becomes easy to anticipate disasters such as network outages and therefore take appropriate action. Furthermore, the user gets control of their network using the Activity Monitor. Justification The Activity Monitor provides detailed reports to the network administrators including screenshots of blacklisted activities. Therefore, the caught people cannot deny their involvement in network use violation since there is evidence. In that way, it becomes easy to identify the hosts being used for unwanted activities. Additionally, it works silently which makes it a useful tool for managing small and middle-sized network hosts effectively. For instance, the user can view all the network violations, record emails, and real-time chats. As such, the tool is useful in determining the people who do not dedicate their time to work. In that way, the administrator can identify websites to blacklist to prevent people from misusing the network and focus on their work. Additionally, the daily reports can help the administrator determine the network performance and therefore recommend the best internet provider for the company. Features The Activity Monitor is a tool that has various features to support network observation. First, it provides a real-time view of a network through remote access. Therefore, the network administrator is not limited as this tool shows computers in the same manner as security cameras. Second, it is designed for ease of use where the user is provided with real-time tracking and logging; therefore, all activities are accounted for even when a network user browses in incognito. Third, the Activity Monitor has the capability of assessing software tools used in a network. In that way, programs that may interrupt network performance are blacklisted and network users notified. Lastly, this application uses the Intellisnap technology feature which makes it possible to take screenshots of computers in a network. In that way, the network is still monitored even in the absence of an administrator. Conclusion The Activity Monitor is indeed an appropriate tool for monitoring network. It has the Intellisnap feature which allows for real-time observation in the absence of an administrator and takes screenshots. Additionally, the tool is appropriate as it allows a user to observe computers and have reports on the network performance remotely. In that way, it is a handy tool for network observation. Furthermore, with it, the network administrator can control the access to banned sites since the application provides the log of visited sites. Therefore, network users can concentrate on what is important. Most importantly, the Activity Monitor allows for easy observation, therefore, reducing the effort required to monitor a network. Scenario 2: Introduction Acrylic Wi-Fi is a scanner designed for the 802.11ac/a/b/g/n networks. When active, it provides a display of all the installed access points, the security protocols and the passwords in use. That is made possible through a plugin system. In that way, the Acrylic Wi-Fi scanner gathers all the relevant information that the user would want concerning the available wireless connections. Therefore, for companies, the network administrators can use this application to determine the access points that are not working. As such, appropriate measures can be taken to provide wireless connectivity. Most importantly, this scanner has the capability of determining the strengths of Wi-Fi signals in a building. Also, its use does not require specialized hardware which makes it convenient. Justification The Acrylic Wi-Fi applications is available in two versions the home and pro. Therefore, the users can determine the version they want based on their needs. First, the application works perfectly with various versions of the Windows operating system without compatibility issues. In that way, it provides an inventory of all the known wireless network within an organization. Therefore, based on the signal strength, the network administrator can determine network usage when dealing with a large number of hosts. Most importantly, the Acrylic Wi-Fi provides information on the security mechanisms in place. As such, the application allows a network administrator to enforce the security of their network easily. Third, the Wi-Fi signals can be observed from time to time to ensure that the users are provided with strong connections to facilitate their work. That is possible since this application is easy to manage and it generates reports. Features An interesting thing about the Acrylic Wi-Fi tool is that it comes with advanced features to complement the process of scanning wireless networks. It has the capability of identifying any hidden signals. Such is achieved when the application uses the monitor mood capture feature which provides the hidden network names. In that way, the network administrator becomes aware of wireless networks within their vicinity and therefore can apply appropriate security measures to protect the hosts. Secondly, the application has a packet viewer which has the capability of showing network packets. In that way, the network can be analyzed to determine malicious packets as part of enforcing the security of the Wi-Fi users. Lastly, the Acrylic Wi-Fi provides easy integration with other network monitoring tools such as Wireshark. In that way, it efficiently captures wireless network packets using the Windows Operating System. Conclusion Acrylic Wi-Fi scanner comes in handy when identifying access points and their signal strengths. In that way, network administrators can create an inventory of the access points using the 2.5 and 5 GHz channels. Furthermore, this software is simple and does not require specialized hardware to operate. Similarly, it can be employed with other applications, for instance, Wireshark since it allows easy integration. With that, the process of wireless network monitoring becomes easy since all details are provided to the network administrator such as security information and signal strength. As such, a healthy network can be maintained with ease. Scenario 3: Introduction Slow network connections cause an inconvenience to organizational activities. Therefore, is such networks are not managed, they continue to cause more problems. In that case, Network QoS Analyzer is an application that manages critical networks, sensitive traffic and improves the quality of service (ManageEngine “”). Therefore, it becomes easy to identify network problems such as the cause of slow connections to remedy such instances. The objective is to improve the level of internet use for organizations by providing efficiency. Most importantly, the view of a network using Network QoS Analyzer is segmented into class and service methods. In that way, the application provides an excellent way of reporting network issues. Additionally, the application allows for the customization of reports where one can determine what they would want to see in their quality of service summaries. Justification An extensive network as in this scenario with 300 hosts requires proper means of identifying and correcting network issues. With that in mind, Network QoS Analyzer provides a method of verifying the effectiveness of a network (ManageEngine “”). Such is accomplished through the analysis of quality of service policies. The network administrator gets reports on the traffic and therefore can determine whether it is healthy or not. With that, it becomes easy to analyze the large network and ten servers. The objective is examining issues in preparation of outages as a means of building fault tolerance. If VLANs are created for different departments, the traffic of each network segment can be analyzed separately using the traffic analyzer tool. The reason is that the Network QoS Analyzer supports network segmentation to handle critical and sensitive traffic. Reports are generated to make the network analysis process manageable. Features Network QoS Analyzer quantifies the consumption of bandwidth, and in that way, it can be used for all network sizes. First, the application has the QoS Monitoring tool. It helps in the identification of slow network connections, video and voice quality. With that, irrespective of having a large number of hosts, the primary network issues are dealt with fast. The objective is to enhance the user experience. For instance, in this scenario, if the communication between the application server and some hosts is problematic, then a report will be issued indicating such. Second, the class and segment is another critical component for the Network QoS Analyzer (ManageEngine “”). It facilitates the analysis of network problems by type. For instance, the users in the three floors will have their issues diagnosed and rectified independently. With that, the matter of recurrent errors will be addressed accordingly. Conclusion The Network QoS Analyzer is indeed appropriate for the management of the 300 hosts in this scenario. It utilizes a proper mechanism for the analysis of network problems; the class, and segment. As such, particular issues from each network segment are addressed independently to ensure fast connectivity between the network's hosts and servers. Most importantly, reports are generated to provide the network administrator with an idea of the status of their network. In that way, they can ensure that decent speeds and bandwidth are maintained to support the use of shared applications and resources. In the end, the objective of the Network QoS Analyzer remains to maintain quality network use, reliability, and efficiency. Most importantly, help in the creation of a fault tolerant network to support the various organizational roles. Works Cited ManageEngine. "Quality of Service | QoS | CBQoS Reporting |: NetFlow Analyzer." ManageEngine - IT Operations and Service Management Software, 2017, www.manageengine.com/products/netflow/allaboutqos.html. Read More