Free Networking & Cisco Tools

Here you find helpful Cisco Tools for day-to-day use.

1. GNS3

GNS. Run a real Cisco Router on your own PC with this excellent open source project. It’s a viable alternative to Paket Tracer / Dynamips.

2. Wireshark Traffic Analyzer

Wireshark. A free Network analyser. Another fantastic open source program. Many of you may know Ethereal. Wireshark is the next-generation tool which evolved from Ethereal. Fantastic WLAN sniffing capabilities.

3. IP Calculator

One of the best free IP address calculators. This tool is a good friend of everyone who isn’t confident on Subnetting yet.
One of the best free IP address calculators. This tool is a good friend of everyone who isn’t confident on Subnetting yet.

4. HyperTerminal

Hyperterminal. A fixed version of Hyperterminal. This stops the text getting corrupt on XP once it reaches the grey part. A Classic tool for any field engineer.

5. PuTTY

Putty. A better alternative to Hyperterminal as it also supports ssh, rlogin and the cut & paste works so much better. Much personal favourite (well after Secure CRT)

6. VLC

VLC. Excellent little utility for creating multicast traffic or for watching any video file without having to download a codec. Used it in my CCIE preparation a lot.

7. Download Cisco VPN Client

The Cisco VPN Client is one of the most powerful VPN clients around. Unfortunately I can’t offer it here because it’s not open source and is subject to export regulations by Cisco and the U.S. government. Here’s the link to the Cisco website: Click HERE