Port scanners have become a go to tool for network admins to scan, monitor, and secure their IT infrastructure, by tracking their TCP and UDP ports. With ports being the enablers of network communication, it is important that you keep track of how and by who our port are being utilized. This not only helps you understand port utilization, but also enables you to secure your network from unauthorized access, and enhances capacity planning.
An effective port scanner tool enables full-fledged network scanning to detect open ports in your network and identify the services running on them such as the file transfer protocol (FTP) and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP).
OpUtils offers a code-free, intuitive port scanner that allows you to quickly find open ports in your network, the services running on them, and their response time by pulling real time port scan status. This port scanning tool helps you generate a list of closed, open, or listening ports by conducting end-to-end port scan on a range of available IP addresses and their TCP and UDP ports.
With its powerful scanning capabilities, OpUtils' network port scanner ensures you have a holistic view of your network ports and its associated devices. The port scan tool offers a centralized view of all the ports and enables you to remotely monitor and carry out port operations.
With various port scanning tools available in the market, it is important to identify an effective port scanning tool that enables you to efficiently avoid the risk vector of malicious agents exploiting your network. OpUtils' port scanner offers various features that enable you to test all ports, which is vital to achieving in-depth security verification. As a complete port scanning solution, OpUtils enables you to,
OpUtils offers you an effective port scanner tool, included in its built-in network tool set that contains more than 30 free networking tools. By specifying the IP address range, and the port range, OpUtils' IP port scanner probes the target ports in your network by sending an IP packet to each port. Based on the response from the ports, OpUtils' port scanner marks ports as open and listening or closed.
The Port Scanner tool allows you to scan all your network ports in seconds. It displays to you a list of ports within the given address range, their response time, status, and the services running on them. This helps you to conduct a quick network reconnaissance of what ports are open in your network, and to cross-check if the ports are running authorized services.
Ports are usually numbered from 0 to 65535, with different ports running different services, each having a service name. These services run over the network transport protocols such as TCP, UDP, DCCP, and SCTP and can be traced by effective port scanners. Ports numbered from 0 to 1023 (system ports) are known as “well-known ports” or “standard ports” and have been assigned the commonly used internet services.
OpUtils’ port scanner software allows you to scan these well-known ports along with the other ports by specifying the port range to be scanned. It provides insights into each system’s footprint by enabling you to access and view all the services that are running on the system’s network endpoints/ports.
Some of the common port services scanned by OpUtils’ port scanning software are,
Managing and securing your ports doesn't simply end with conducting port scans to identify the status and services running on your ports. With networks becoming increasingly dynamic and agile, network admins need to know how their ports are being used, their availability metrics, and more, to manage their switches effectively and ensure port availability.
With its advanced Switch Port Mapper module, OpUtils offers in-depth insights into the scanned ports. Providing visibility into different aspects of ports, such as, if a port is stacked, connected to multiple IPs, or has a virtual device, it enables network admins to easily understand how their ports are being utilized. With the Scheduler capability, network admins can automate the monotonous process of port scanning and view real-time port availability metrics, end-to-end connected devices, and more.
The ability to track the port usage over time not only enables network admins to predict and avoid issues such as resource exhaustion, but also enables them to enhance capacity planning, which can reduce hardware procurement costs.
With OpUtils, you can generate diverse switch port specific reports that allow you to understand how, and by who your switch port resources are being used. It also provides reports on the scanned ports that offers you insights into different aspects of the ports, such as the connected devices, and how they were associated with the switch ports. It also automatically logs the historical port operations in your network as port history.
Staying in the know of who is using your network resources is important to avoid running in to network issues such as resource exhaustion. As said earlier, exploitation of open ports can lead to service outage, hindering authorized devices trying to use your ports. This makes it crucial to keep tabs on all the newly connecting network devices, to ensure your ports are being used by authorized network components only.
OpUtils simplifies this process with its tightly integrated Rogue Detection module that scans your managed IPs, routers, and switch ports to detect newly connecting network devices. On identifying the list of devices, OpUtils allows you to block or unblock ports that might be facilitating unauthorized network services. This helps you secure your network resources from being used by intruders or rogue agents.
Port scanners help you enhance network security by ensuring your network hosts are configured to run only approved network services, and prevent ports from allowing any unauthorized traffic.
Without an effective network port scanner solution in place, your network can become vulnerable to,
Network entities can easily scan and access services running in your network through open ports. Ports that remain continually open present a potential network vulnerability. An intruder can access an open port to wreak havoc in the normal flow of network operations.
Since network entities communicate using data flow through ports, it is important to closely monitor ports using port scanning solutions. This helps detect unauthorized entities connecting to your network, and secure communications between the computing entities in the network.
Facilitating message transfer for any entity willing to communicate with your network, ports are the gateway to your network. When one service is running on a port, no other service can utilize the port. These factors make it important to ensure that there are enough ports available for authorized applications to communicate with your network.
OpUtils offers you more than just a port scanner. It is an in depth IP address and switch port management software that provides various capabilities such as rogue device detection, wake on LAN, and more.
If you are new to OpUtils, schedule a live demo with a product expert who will uncover all the advanced port scanning and switch port management features OpUtils has to offer.
Want to try out OpUtils' port scanner tools firsthand and see how it could work for your network? Download a 30-day free trial and get started with OpUtils in less than an hour!
