Speak with networking ops and engineering leads anywhere, and you’ll hear what I frequently hear: “The way my team actually spends their time is the opposite of how they feel they could best spend it.” The passion they have for their team and the network they keep running is clearly at odds with a frustrating feeling that they can’t get ahead.

Many people are familiar with VPNs in the context of trying to stream TV shows for free. A VPN can make it seem like you’re in a different country by displaying an IP address in Europe or the US, for instance. Appearing to be in New York while traveling in the Netherlands gives you access to sites like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO Max — but the advantages of VPN security go beyond streaming the latest TV shows.

A simple command-line interface (CLI) ping will give you details about your target IP address. However, you may have to input the ipconfig command, and then the arp-a command to fully discover the status of an IP, and this is just for one IP address. Now imagine doing this for an IP block of 300 IPs, or even 50 IPs, or doing the same task periodically to manage your IP pool of thousands of addresses and their metrics. Seems like an Herculean task for any network admin!

After dealing with the COVID global pandemic for the past year, it should be no surprise to anyone that working from home can be challenging. These various challenges include distractions, demands, lack of equipment (home wireless was never meant to be loaded the way it is now), and of course: bandwidth challenges.

Network scanners have become an integral part of every IT admin’s first line of defense against security breaches. Using the right network scanner tool to conduct effective network reconnaissance and diagnosis enables you to pinpoint network issues that can escalate to security risks and network mishaps. A typical network scanner would allow you to scan a range of IP addresses sequentially, and display the active devices within that address block.