NetworkToolbox – Networking Management in Palms of Your Hands

Scans, analyzes and troubleshoots networking issues!

 Looking to transform your mobile device into much more than you bargained for? By downloading NetworkToolbox from the Apple App Store onto either your iPhone or iPad, you can make your internet-powered device help you manage your network, and more. The app itself is loaded with an assortment of networking utilities that manage more, allowing users to stay on top of situations in a flash. It helps you scan, analyze and troubleshoot networking issues, either at home or for a small business network.

It requires iOS 6.1 or later and works well on iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, with optimizations for iPhone 5. Installation is easy, bringing you swiftly to the front page, or command center, as I like to see it. One note worth mentioning is that this app is not meant to support analysis of remote sites with any intention of illegal activity or exploitation. This warning is explicitly given on the introductory page before landing on the command center, or Tools page.

The Tools page is where it all happens. It lists all categories of tools available from the app. They can be displayed in list format or as tiled icons. Preferences can be set from the Settings menu, which you can navigate to using the icon at the very bottom right of the Tools screen. There are 24 tool categories from which to choose. To start, but found at the very bottom, is a Glossary that helps newbies understand those technical terms that are oftentimes quite fleeting. Scroll back up to the very top and you’ll see the Device category. This page allows you to see details on the device upon which NetworkToolbox is installed, such as network, hardware, systems info and sensors.

Below Device are two search engines, Shodan and Morpheus, allowing users to search for network items using terms, country identifications, and more. Both are powerful and offer up the option to email or save the information gathered. Searches can also be bookmarked so you can run them repeatedly without having to type in the credentials. Other networking tools include Ping, FTP, Secure FTP and SSH, all more traditional networking activities.

There are also five menu items at the bottom of the app’s display:

• Tools – which brings you to the home screen from anywhere in the app
• Bookmarks – for quickly stashing and accessing information within the app
• Resources – which provides help information
• News – which provides updates about the app and developer
• Settings – which gives you customization options

The Map pulls up a very detailed map based on an address or latitude and longitude coordinates. The one downside that I found to be a flaw was when I entered information during device search. I only wanted to change the Search term, but the app forced me to cascade through the remaining inputs, even though I did not want to change them. There was no option to just say “Search” after entering in a new term.

Yet, for what it’s worth, it does offer plenty of powerful networking management functions that can run easily from a device you can walk around with. You are not tied to a desktop or laptop when you need to see what’s going on with the network. It’s functionality that moves with you.