Automating tasks on your network undoubtedly saves a lot of time and effort for you, but the key is to identify the right tasks that need/can be automated.
This is why network automation is often seen as an art rather than an exact science as it depends to a large extent on the structure of an organization and its dynamic requirements.
This also means that there is no specific definition or rule for automation and the choice of tasks completely depends on the network administrator and the organization’s operations.
Due to such a fluid nature, network automation includes a wide variety of tools that do anything from performance monitoring to IP address management and everything in between.
Here is our list of the best network automation software and tools:
- SolarWinds Network Automation Manager – FREE TRIAL Supports wide-scale automation for MSPs, and enterprises through a simple yet powerful management console.
- ManageEngine Endpoint Central – FREE TRIAL A central management platform provided by ManageEngine that combines endpoint management and security by offering a variety of features such as asset detection, patching, and remote control in a unified platform.
- TrueSight Network Automation Focuses on applying security changes at scale or large enterprise networks
- Net LineDancer A lightweight management tool ideal for small to medium size networks.
- WeConfig A simple yet powerful configuration management tool that offers a built-in topology map.
Some network automation tools perform only specific operations such as configuration management while others are a suite comprising of many tools that handle different tasks and through it all, even comply with the requirements of many standards.
Though there are hundreds of network automation software and tools, let’s take a look at some of the most prominent ones.
Here’s the Best Network Automation Tools & Software:
1. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager – FREE TRIAL
SolarWinds Network Automation Manager is an integrated automation tool that is ideal for large and complex environments with thousands of nodes and devices.
Key Features:
- Scales well for enterprise networks
- Provides insights into many network-related metrics such as network availability, performance, configuration, IP address management, and more.
- Can be customized to meet individual preferences
- Quick and easy to deploy.
- Reduces network outages and detects, diagnoses, and fixes network problems at the earliest.
- Sends alerts on network bandwidth performance and traffic patterns in real-time.
- Helps to quickly recover from configuration problems and hardware faults.
- Determines the switches that are nearing capacity
- Monitors the performance of WAN routers
- Manages IP addresses, their usage, and conflicts
- Protects against operating system crashes
Pricing: Contact the sales team for a demo and custom pricing and a free demo.
Download: You can download a fully functional 30-day free trial.
2. ManageEngine Endpoint Central – FREE TRIAL
ManageEngine Endpoint Central allows IT professionals to supervise and administer multiple instances of ManageEngine Endpoint DLP (Data Loss Prevention) from a centralized location, making it an ideal solution for organizations with various branches or managed service providers managing multiple clients.
Key Features:
- Granular configuration and automation management
- Includes data loss prevention
- Supports muti-tenant options for MSPs
With Endpoint Central, IT professionals can access and control all their Endpoint DLP instances through a single console, making it more effortless to keep track of their network and devices. It also provides supplementary features such as consolidated reporting and advanced alerting to improve IT professionals’ management efficiency. In short, ManageEngine Endpoint Central empowers organizations to more efficiently prevent the unauthorized transmission of sensitive data from their network.
Pros:
- A good option for administrators who prefer on-premise solutions
- Can be installed on both Windows and Linux platforms, making it more flexible than some competing tools
- Offers in-depth reporting and inventory management – great for MSPs
- Supports mobile device management
Cons:
- Not the best choice for smaller networks
Pricing: Contact the sales team for a custom quote.
Download: Click here to download a trial version.
3. TrueSight Network Automation
TrueSight Network Automation from BMC Software is designed to improve security by having better control over vulnerabilities and access to confidential data.
Key Features:
- Offers automated vulnerability management to analyze vulnerabilities within a network and respond to threats across different devices.
- Integrates with the NIST National Vulnerability database to identify vulnerabilities and upgrade devices when needed.
- Provides automated rollback and change tracking to drive configuration changes across hundreds of network devices.
- Helps to comply with regulatory standards such as CIS and DISA.
- Makes it easy to deploy new physical or virtual network devices
- Generates reports
- Uses best practices to analyze compliance risks
Pricing: Contact the sales team for pricing.
Download: Click here to download a trial version.
4. Net LineDancer
Net LineDancer from Logic Vein is a configuration management tool that makes it easy for network administrators to stay on top of the configuration changes on their network devices.
Key Features:
- Allows you to manage your network from a single location even if the network has multiple subnets.
- Comes with an integrated terminal proxy to authenticate users
- Provides a full audit of inventory management
- Easy to use and install
- Scales well up to 80,000 nodes
- Supports BYOD, IoT, and additional adaptors if needed
- Compares across file versions to identify changes
- Offers active directory server integration
- Gives you the option to create drafts of configurations.
- Integrates well with other network management platforms
Pricing: You pay for only what you use and the subscription is node-based. Contact the sales team for a quote.
Download: Click here for a 30-day free trial.
5. WeConfig
WeConfig from WesterMo is a network configuration, control, and management tool that is sure to save you thousands of hours of time and effort, thanks to its many features.
Key Features:
- Simple to use and easy to install
- Deploys configuration updates in bulk
- Minimizes the risk of configuration errors
- Optimizes network security
- Reduces the risk of downtime
- Comes with many security aspects to eliminate the possibility of unauthorized access
- Provides high network reliability
Pricing: Get in touch with the sales team.
Download: No trial version is available
Conclusion
To conclude, network automation tools and software must be an integral part of every network administrator’s toolkit because it helps to automate many routine tasks and through it, frees time and effort to address more challenging issues.
Many times, these tools help to comply with important industry standards as well.
The above products are some of the most popular automation tools available today.
