Objectives

The goal of this book is to empower Netadmins to quickly understand and deploy the freeware tools necessary for maintaining a Cisco network. Freeware tools, available from the Internet, spare the Netadmin from the hassles of budgeting, purchasing, and shipping.

I have made every attempt to include both Linux- and MS-Windows based tools and applications. However, you also find references to some built-in features of MS-Windows. While MS-Windows is not free software, it is prevalent in most networks. The idea is to let Netadmins leverage the existing resource without buying new software.

This book can help you to understand the following:

• Why a tool or technology is relevant to the role of the network administrator

• What are the available tools

• How you can deploy the tools

• How you can configure Cisco devices for the particular tools