Along with every network management software comes an overwhelming desire to have networks and the devices connected to them recognized automatically. This is absolutely no problem for theGuard! NetworkManager, its integrated Topology Manager accomplishes both tasks with virtually no effort on your part. And if that weren’t enough: the Topology Manager can also recognize the physical network topology (Layer 2) and even VLAN configurations (optional), displaying them all in a wide variety of views.

After installing theGuard! NetworkManager, the customary first step is running an initial Discovery process on the network. This will result in all nodes along with all current attributes (addresses, services, inventory data, etc.) being detected, classified according to type, assigned to logical network segments (Layer 3), and all this information being saved to the database.
The Discovery process can be configured by means of so-called scan profiles and will periodically check all data detected. Modifications are thereby processed automatically. These modifications are logged and can also, based upon individual settings, lead to the alerting of the system administrator (e.g. detection of a new address in the network, changes made to the topology, route failure, etc.).

The data found as a result of a Discovery run is used to plot the physical topology. Topology Manager prepares the topology information for the user in graphical form on the basis of the values computed and stored in the database. From routers to switches and hubs, all the way through to the end device, the cascaded components thus provide a comprehensive visualization of the network's complete physical topology.

Topology views are analyzed in an independent application, can however also be depicted in the map view in the respective context. Of great advantage in this case is being able to quickly recognize the physical and logical network topology from the standpoint of the selected node. Thus, when selecting a node in the map view, the node is automatically detected in the physical tree and then shown with all of its connections to neighboring nodes in the super imposable Topology window.
The Topology view itself can be shown or hidden and will also display the allocation into logical network segments or VLAN configurations (optional) as required. From the routers to the switches and the hubs, all the way through to the end device, the cascaded components thus reveal the network's complete physical topology. The graphical representation is thereby generated from the topology data in the system database and also adapted automatically upon any changes in configuration.
With the complete physical as well as logical topology made available to theGuard! NetworkManager user, the utmost in transparency, manageability and thus availability of the network is attained.

Today’s latest buzz is the focus on managing convergent networks. Voice over IP continues to gain rapidly in popularity; most likely it won’t be too much longer before separate voice and data networks are a thing of the past. This result in completely new tasks for network administrators, ones calling for network management systems to furnish the suitable tools. theGuard! NetworkManager provides two efficient functions for such purposes: 

The VLAN View Manager, available as an option, recognizes existing VLANs and displays the current configurations graphically, the switch ports thereby being assigned to the detected VLANs. In addition to standard configurations, manufacturer-specific VLAN configurations are also supported.

The normalized data model of theGuard! NetworkManager is used as the basis for the topology plotting and VLAN recognition processes. For more information on this topic, please use this link: