Network Topology Tools:
S.No
1
Name
Ally
Brief Description
Alias Resolver
Open
Source?
No
Platform
Linux
http://www.cs.washington.edu/
research/networking/rocketfuel/
2
Iffinder
http://www.caida.org/tools/
measurement/iffinder/
3
Skitter
http://www.caida.org/tools/
measurement/skitter/
4
Mantra
http://www.caida.org/tools/
measurement/mantra/
Find interfaces
belonging to the
same router
No
Visualization of
Global network
topology
Monitoring
multicast on a
Global network
Windows
Windows
No
Windows
Functions
Ally (the Alias Resolver) is used to determine whether
two IP addresses belong to interfaces on the same
router.By sending UDP datagrams to each address and
collecting the responses, Ally outputs and prints the IP
identifiers, source IP addresses and remaining TTLs. It
then resolves aliases by using heuristics to match these
discovered addresses.
Iffinder is capable of finding interfaces that belong to the
same router. It sends a single UDP packet probe to an
unused port on an interface address. Many routers will
reply to such a packet with an ICMP PORT
UNREACHABLE error. Probing one interface and
getting this error from a different interface therefore
proves that the two interfaces belong to the same network
node.
Skitter is an active measurement tool whose primary goal
is visualization of global network topology. Skitter probes
paths from multiple sources to a set of destinations that
carefully stratify the current IPv4 address space.
Measurements allow production of directed graphs that
represent a significant fraction of macroscopic Internet
connectivity. Skitter acquires infrastructure-wide (global)
connectivity information by measuring forward IP paths
(the "hops") from a source to many destinations.
Mantra (Monitor and Analysis of Traffic in Multicast
Routers) is a tool for depicting snapshots of constituents
of the multicast infrastructure from the point of view of
multicast routers. Characteristics of multicast sessions
and the behavior of participating hosts are graphed.
Graphs indicating traffic flow based on MBGP route
usage, routes gained, lost, or changed are also available.
5
MHealth
http://imj.ucsb.edu/mhealth/
6
Cheops
http://www.marko.net/cheops/
7
Cheops-ng
http://cheopsng.sourceforge.net/
8
Visual Route
http://www.visualroute.com/
Real-Time
multicast
tree visualization
&
Monitoring
tool
Network
equivalent of a
swiss-army
knife, unifying
your network
utilities.
No
Windows
Yes
Linux
Next generation
Cheops – The
network Swiss
Army Knife.
Yes
Linux
Obtains
traceroute/whois
data and plots it
on a World map
No
Windows
Mhealth discovers and graphically displays the full
network tree distribution and delivery quality for a group,
in near real-time. Data logs can be used to isolate network
faults by analyzing receiver lists over time, route histories
and changes, as well as the location, duration, and
frequency of data loss.
Cheops organizes network by mapping which shows the
routes taken to access area of your network, Detects OS
running on each system.
Has a generalized TCP port scanner.
1. Network management tool for mapping and monitoring
your network
2. It has host/network discovery functionality as well as
OS detection of hosts
3. On some services, cheops-ng is actually able to see
what program is running for a service and the version
number of that program
 Analyzes Internet/Intranet connectivity
 Locates the source of poor network response time
(latency)
 Locates poor connection quality (packet loss) and
identifies the ISP responsible

9
Qualys
http://www.qualys.com/
products/overview/
free map –
Topology tool
No
Windows

Qualys offers network security audits and
vulnerability management to organizations of all
sizes. It discovers and prioritize all network
assets.
Proactively identify and fix security
vulnerabilities.Prevent worms, viruses & trojan
horses. Manage & reduce business riskEnsure
compliance with laws, regulations and
corporate security policies