Engineers Toolkit
Add bitB to your arsenal of tools.
Autodiscover Your Network
With dynamic mapping software, you enter an initial IP address (also called a seed device), and the software will immediately pull the required tables and start discovering devices. This process continues until the entire network is mapped, and since the software can pull from many devices simultaneously, the process can be done in no time at all.
Display Maps With Multiple Topology Views
Dynamic Network mapping software can create both Logical Topology Maps and Physical Topology Maps. Where the latter shows Layer 1 (Physical) and Layer 2 (Switching) information, the former displays Layer 3 (Routing) information. Also, with bitB Dynamic Mapping Software, you also get the vPhysical topology, which shows virtualized network devices and simultaneously interfaces at both Layer 1 and Layer
Change a Drawings Scope with the Click of a Button
With Dynamic Network mapping software, you can easily add or remove devices from maps using filters or individually selecting the devices you want to be displayed. Indeed, some software, like bitB, allows you to make selections as granular as subnet or VLAN.
Ensure Up-to-Date Network Maps
Dynamic Network Mapping software constantly creates up-to-date network maps. In fact, the software can be programmed to pull device information at any interval you select. If you want to report on interface statistics, you might want to pull information every five minutes or so. However, if you're only concerned with keeping your maps current, you can instead pull just once a day. As a bonus, you cannot only view current maps, but also maps of past networks.
Directly Access Map Data and Device Configuration Backups
When you use Dynamic Network mapping software, you get direct access to all the relevant data. This is because the software can simultaneously utilize SNMP, Telnet, SSH, and APIs to access information from your network devices. When using Telnet or SSH, the software will run many show commands in addition to those required to create the maps. These show command files can be accessed very easily, allowing the data to be parsed and added to data tables or grids for quick viewing.
Note: Telnet should be avoided, as it sends clear text data across your network
Troubleshoot the Network
Dynamic Network mapping allows you to better visualize the network both logically and physically. Data grids and tables allow you to see when things changed and provide you with visual access to see if the issue is related to specific technologies like routing or spanning tree. This means that all the information you need to troubleshoot your network is right at your fingertips. Plus, you will have drawings and show command files to send to your manufacturer's support team during an outage. And with applications like bitB, you’ll receive automatic timestamps of the show commands so you can reference problems in seconds.
Export Maps to Visio
No matter your mapping approach, there will always be a need for drawings that can be printed and sent electronically. Maybe you need to email a drawing to support, or perhaps there’s a security audit taking place. With bitB, the maps can be exported as either Visio drawings or PDF documents thanks to advanced Visio options based on years of hands-on experience.
What is Brad In The Box (bitB)?
bitB is a powerful and affordable network diagramming and data collection software that enables you to quickly create dynamic network topologies and instantly view collected network data.
bitB AT A GLANCE
- Automatically discovers network devices and typically deploys in less than 30 minutes
- Collects data the same way you do — Command Line Interface (CLI)
- Dynamically creates Logical and Physical Topology maps
- Automatically updates topology maps every 5 minutes
- Dynamic Data Grids provide access to the collected information. The data grids can be filtered, sorted, searched and exported to Excel and other formats.
- Runs on Windows 7 and later with a minimum of 4GB of RAM and 20GB of free disk space
Benefits
- Does not require Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to pull information from network devices. bitB uses Secure Shell (SSH) and Telnet.
- Your no longer required to spend countless hours connecting to every network device to create network drawings. bitB will automatically and continuously connect to all devices and collect the information.
