Looking for a tool that tells us which port a device is plugged in to

[MikeGreen]

Good Afternoon All,

 

Does anyone know of a tool (or an easy way) of finding out what device is connected to what port in the switches without doing a manual trace of the cable? To cut a very long story short we have inherited a network which had over 100 VLAN's and are trying to reduce these but need to set up reservations and apply VLAN's to specific ports on a switch that certain devices are connected to. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I hope this makes sense!

 

Kind Regards

[Jawloms]

Would something like Spiceworks help? It tells me which port a device is plugged in to if it can understand the device, and the switch. Even if it gave a basic level, it would mean a starting point.

[linkazoid]

You'll want a Fluke Networks LRAT-2000 LinkRunner - Fluke Networks LRAT-2000 LinkRunner AT Copper and Fiber Ethernet Network Tester: Network And Cable Testers: Amazon.com:

 

Tells you exactly what port is is plugged to, which VLAN (Depending on SW version) and is extremely fast.

 

We bought one a few years ago after a recommendation on EG and it's our most used tool.

[TechMonkey]

No, not that I am aware of. You can get port testers that you plug in a port and then plug in the other end to find out where that tester is showing. Would exporting the config from the switch to show what you currently have work? Or even manually looking at each switch and transcribing the VLAN setup?

 

I'd be tempted to leave it until summer and then redo it in a methodical manner. Start now with the planning to work out what VLANs you need and what you need to set up and then blitz them. That way you would also be able to set out the switch in a logical manner, the first x are all PCs, the next x are wifi, the next x are printers etc etc. Rather than random ports across the switch.

[sparkeh]

Would something like Spiceworks help? It tells me which port a device is plugged in to if it can understand the device, and the switch. Even if it gave a basic level, it would mean a starting point.

^This. If you SW can scan your network and identify devices it will tell you what is plugged into what port on each switch.

[FN-GM]

If you enable LLDP on your switches and possibly might need to install some software on the clients that will tell you.

 

Also DHCP Snooping will show an IP, Mac or the Mac address table will show the mac that is assigned to a port. You then compare this against DHCP data from your server to see what is plugged into what.

 

What switches do you have?

[RichCowell]

+1 for Spiceworks, does exactly what you're asking...

[RichCowell]

You'll want a Fluke Networks LRAT-2000 LinkRunner - Fluke Networks LRAT-2000 LinkRunner AT Copper and Fiber Ethernet Network Tester: Network And Cable Testers: Amazon.com:

 

Tells you exactly what port is is plugged to, which VLAN (Depending on SW version) and is extremely fast.

 

We bought one a few years ago after a recommendation on EG and it's our most used tool.

£6,875??? I'll stick with Spiceworks :-P

[linkazoid]

£6,875??? I'll stick with Spiceworks :-P

That's if you choose the full package. We got the fibre and copper tester from a reseller not Amazon for around £900 -vat a few years ago. It has been well worth the money for us. Especially when we were reconfiguring during BSF.

 

Our old daxten tester used to take around 5 minutes to locate the port, this finds it in seconds.

[Fazza]

£6,875???

 

At that price it would be cheaper to buy a new switch and get new Cat5e network sockets run!! lol

[aceonbass]

If you need open source, check out Netdisco. We're running it here against Nortel/Avaya switches, and we get MAC, IPs, VLANS etc from each port.