MAC scanners allow users to find the IP and MAC addresses of devices accessing their network and to trace crucial client information like DNS engagement and hostnames.If you want to know what IP addresses are actually in use in your network, your only option is pretty much to scan them all. It enables users to scan hosts one at a time or a group of hosts at a time. A MAC address scanner scans the network for IP addresses and their associated MAC addresses.
![]() I recall that user who prevented many of his colleagues from accessing the corporate network when he connected his home Internet router to it. These could, for instance, be devices connected by malicious users to spy on your organization.But even well-intentioned users can sometimes wreak havoc by connecting their personal devices. Scanning IP addresses on a network allows you to quickly discover unauthorized devices. First and foremost is security. Scanning IP AddressesOther than the pure fun and enlightenment of knowing what IP addresses are in use, there are several reasons one would want to scan IP addresses. And talking about the scanning tools, our next order of business will be to not only list but also briefly review some of the best IP scanners for Linux and explore their main features and differentiating factors. Lan Scanner Manual Process InsteadIt will often be the only way to ensure that there are no IP address conflicts. In these situations, IP address scanning tools become a necessity.For people without any kind of formal IP address management process, scanning IP addresses is possibly even more important. While many—if not all—IP address management (IPAM) tools do include some form of IP address scanning, many choose to manage IP address using a manual process instead of an integrated tool. And several of his colleagues got assigned erroneous IP addresses.Other than for security reasons, scanning IP addresses is also the first step in any attempt at IP address management. Unbeknownst to him, the router started issuing IP addresses from its built-in DHCP server. Ping was created out of necessity back in 1983 proving once more that necessity is the mother of invention. Let’s have a look at this ubiquitous albeit antique utility. Ping In A NutshellNo matter what you need for scanning IP addresses is, most tools are based on Ping. All it does is sending ICMP echo request packets to the target and waiting for it to send back an ICMP echo reply packet. How Ping WorksPing is a pretty simple utility. Some systems have a companion Ping6 utility that serves the exact same purpose but uses IPv6 addresses.Here’s a typical use of the ping command: $ ping -c 5 PING (93.184.216.34): 56 data bytes64 bytes from 93.184.216.34: icmp_seq=0 ttl=56 time=11.632 ms64 bytes from 93.184.216.34: icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=11.726 ms64 bytes from 93.184.216.34: icmp_seq=2 ttl=56 time=10.683 ms64 bytes from 93.184.216.34: icmp_seq=3 ttl=56 time=9.674 ms64 bytes from 93.184.216.34: icmp_seq=4 ttl=56 time=11.127 ms5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0.0% packet lossRound-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 9.674/10.968/11.726/0.748 msThe “-c 5” option in the above example tells Ping to repeat five times. Some versions are offering multiple command-line options which can include parameters such as the size of each request’s payload, the total test count, the network hops limit, or the interval between requests. Today, ping is present on almost every operating system, yet its implementation varies somewhat between platforms. Its name refers to the sound of sonar echoes as heard in submarines. Groups in outlook for mac 2016The standard specifies that any host must process ICMP echo requests and issue echo replies in return. On most *nix variants, it will also display the value of the replies’ TTL (time to live) field, giving an indication of the number of hops between source and destination.For the command to work, the pinged host must abide by RFC 1122. The utility calculates the average delay between the requests and their respective replies and displays it in its results. Once the command terminates, response statistics are compiled and displayed. Some are more complex tools while others are extended versions of the ping utility that include some way of scanning a range of IP addresses without having to issue multiple successive commands. There is a combination of GUI-based tools and command-line utilities on our list. The Best IP Scanners For LinuxOur selection of IP address scanning tools includes a bit of everything. Pinging a host which does not respond to ICMP echo requests will provide no feedback, which is exactly like pinging a non-existent IP address. To circumvent this, the better IP address scanning tools can use a type of packet different from ICMP to check if an IP address is responding. Firewalls also often block ICMP traffic. The tool does not only ping IP addresses, but it can also optionally run a port scan on discovered hosts. Most package managers will take care of this dependency, though. This tool is written in Java so you’ll need to have the Java runtime module installed to use it. This is a free multi-platform tool which is available for Linux—of course, Windows, and Mac OS X. This makes it one of the fastest tools on our list. Angry IP ScannerThe Angry IP Scanner is a deceptively simple tool which makes extensive use of multithreading. It is one of the tools that does not rely on ping to scan the network. The tool will list every active IPv4 device on the subnet it scans from. Arp-scanThe arp-scan tool (sometimes referred to as ARP Sweep or MAC Scanner) is another fast ARP packet scanner. As for the scan results, they are by default displayed on the screen in table format but they can easily be exported to several file formats such as CSV or XML. This tool is primarily GUI-based but it also comes with a command-line version that you can use if, for instance, you want to include the tool’s functionality in home-brewed shell scripts. Furthermore, this tool will provide NetBIOS information—when available—about each responding host.The Angry IP Scanner can scan complete networks and subnets but it can also an IP addresses range or even a discrete list of IP addresses from a text file. Nmap/zenmapNmap, which stands for Network Mapper, is a scanning tool that can be used to discover hosts and services, thus building a “map” of the network, hence the name. This makes this a very useful tool for highly secure environments with numerous hardened devices. Devices simply cannot hide from ARP packets as they can hide from ping. Since ARP is a non-routable protocol, this scanner can only work on the local network (local subnet or network segment).The arp-scan tool will display all active devices even if they have built-in firewalls of filtering schemes blocking ICMP packets. Using scripting, the tool can be even used for advanced service detection, vulnerability detection, and more.Nmap, which is a command-line tool started as a Linux-only utility but it has since been ported to several other operating systems including Windows, Solaris, HP-UX, most BSD variants including OS X, AmigaOS, and IRIX. This tool can discover hosts and their services and it can also detect their operating system and more. It can, however, be used as an IP address scanner. Although it might not be the prettiest tool, it has some great functionality. Zenmap, when compared to Nmap is much easier to learn and master, thanks to a well-designed user interface. You can, therefore, expect a good integration between the two tools. One of the best one goes by the name Zenmap and it is from the same team as Nmap.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorJennifer ArchivesCategories |