Progress WhatsUp Gold WhatsConnected
Automated Layer 2/3 Discovery, Mapping, Inventory and IT Asset Reporting

Overview:

Use WhatsConnected to automatically discover, map, search, inventory and document your entire IT infrastructure – network devices, servers, workstations, deployed software, VMware virtual machines, VLANs and port-to-port connectivity – in minutes. With WhatsConnected, you can easily document your infrastructure inventory and generate topology and give your team the power to accurately visualize how everything on your network is connected.

Automate network discovery and dependency mapping

• Understand detailed physical connectivity, device type, and configuration information of anything with an IP address.
• Quickly pinpoint network performance issues visually with auto-generated topology maps.
• Automatically maintain a comprehensive network and server inventory of physical connectivity, device asset information, configuration information, systems inventory, more.
• Get accurate, comprehensive reporting for compliance.
• Easily share information with exports to PDF, Visio, CSV, and Excel.

Features:

Understanding Your Network

One of the initial steps to troubleshooting network issues is establishing whether device connectivity is the source of the problem. Without WhatsConnected, you have to manually document connectivity, interdependencies and the location of devices and systems. This tedious process requires significant time and effort to validate and document physical connectivity and keep topology information up-to-date. WhatsConnected automates this process for you, so you don’t have to crawl through wiring closets to visually verify connectivity and goes a step further to also discover, inventory and map your virtual network.

Comprehensive Discovery and Mapping

WhatsConnected moves far beyond typical IP discovery tools by assembling information from every device in the network and providing detailed topology maps. You’ll gain access to critical network information such as physical connectivity, device type, asset/inventory and configuration information as well as VMware discovery and classification. With WhatsConnected, you can gain an understanding of your network from top to bottom and focus on keeping it running securely and at peak performance. The tool’s comprehensive inventorying capabilities provide platform identification and classification for Routers, Switches, Wireless Access Points, Printers, Windows, Unix, Linux, Macintosh, Firewalls, Hubs, IP Phones and more from all the leading network manufacturers, including: Cisco/Linksys, Juniper, Foundry, HP Procurve, Nortel/Bay Networks, 3COM, Netgear, Dell, VMware and many more. WhatsConnected also provides full support for discovery and management of native IPv6 devices, native IPv4 devices, and dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 network environments.

Discover: Know What’s Connected to Your Network

WhatsConnected uses a number of innovative Layer 2/3 discovery technologies–including ARP, SNMP, SSH, Virtual Infrastructure Management, IP addressing, ICMP and LLDP in combination with vendor-proprietary mechanisms – to discover everything connected to your network and build a complete and accurate picture of network devices and their port-to-port connectivity. Full or partial discoveries can be scheduled to run automatically or run on-demand. And you’ll always be in control with alerts on added or removed devices and network topology changes.

Map: Visualize Your Network, the Way You Want

WhatsConnected auto-generates integrated Layer 2 and 3 topology maps that give you full visibility into physical, logical and virtual connectivity, including IP and VLANspecific information. WhatsConnected dynamically updates its maps as changes occur in the network. Maps are easy to customize and manipulate so you can view your network the way you want. And with a mouse click, you can export them to Microsoft Visio or PDF format.

Search: Pinpoint Specific Device Locations and Validate Their Connectivity In Seconds

Save precious time by using WhatsConnected to search and discover how devices are connected. With detailed device views, you can quickly zero-in to find out what’s connected to what. And, with built-in tools such as Layer 2 Trace and IP/ MAC Finder, WhatsConnected offers the industry’s fastest approach to finding the location and validating connectivity of any device on the network.

Document: Ensure Your It Infrastructure Inventory Is Complete And Up-To-Date

WhatsConnected provides comprehensive network inventory and configuration information – supporting the reporting/ documentation needs of your internal business process (such as ITIL) and regulatory requirements like PCI DSS, SOX, FISMA and HIPAA. And since you can easily export this information in CSV or Excel formats, your entire team will know exactly what resources are on your network, where they are and how they are connected at all times – even when your network grows, your office moves or datacenter resources get consolidated.

Manage: Assets And Inventory

Gather, filter and export a wide variety of inventory and configuration information across networking devices and systems:

Networking Devices Asset Information

• Manufacturer/Model, Serial Number, Hardware/Software/Firmware Versions, Chassis/Module Inventory, Power Supplies/Fans

Configuration Information

• Interfaces, Bridge Ports, Switch Ports, VLANs

Systems Inventory

• All available system component details (CPU, RAM, disks, etc.), OS version & patch information, any installed software packages, support for automatic update of warranty information (Dell and HP) based on integration with their support websites

System Requirements:

WhatsConnected runs on several 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems. The following is a list of the Windows operating system and release requirements for WhatsConnected:

• Windows 7 Professional Enterprise or Ultimate
• Windows 8 Professional Enterprise or Ultimate
• Windows Server 2012
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP2

WhatsConnected can also run on 32-bit and 64-bit virtual machine environments.

Hardware Requirements:

	Recommended	Required
Processor(s)	Dual-core	Single-core
Processor Speed	2 GHz or more	2 GHz
RAM	4 GB	2 GB
Hard drive space for application	8 GB or more	8 GB
Network interface card	1 Gbps	100 Mbps
CD-ROM or DVD-ROM	Required if installing from CD-ROM. Not required for download installations.	Required if installing from CD-ROM. Not required for download installations.
Video display resolution	1280 x 1024 or higher	1024 x 768
Sound card	SAPI-capable sound card required for Text-to-Speech actions	Not required
Modem and phone line	Required for pager, SMS, and beeper actions; modem pooling is not supported	Not required
GSM modem	Required for SMS Direct actions	Not required

Note: The WhatsConnected, WhatsConfigured, and VoIP Monitor plug-in system requirements are the same as the WhatsUp Gold requirements. Additionally, the VoIP Monitor requires Cisco IP-SLA compatible devices.

Note: WhatsUp Gold can be installed and will operate on virtual machines powered by 32-bit or 64-bit VMware ESXi 3.0 or later and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, as long as the virtual server's guest OS resources meet that of the WhatsUp Gold system requirements.

FAQ:

What is WhatsConnected?

WhatsConnected is a Layer 2/3 discovery and mapping tool that lets you discover, map, inventory and document your entire infrastructure, including network devices, physical and virtual servers, VLANs, and port to port connectivity, quickly and efficiently.

What is the difference between a layer 2 and a layer 3 discovery?

A Layer 2 discovery accesses the physical infrastructure information embedded in servers or devices to provide detailed topology information, including inter-component dependencies and port-to-port connectivity. A Layer 3 discovery identifies systems or network devices deployed in your infrastructure using higher layer protocols such as ICMP (ping), SNMP, or IP addressing. The major limitation of Layer 3 discovery is that the physical connectivity between devices in the network is not automatically established.

Why do I need a Layer 2/3 Discovery Tool?

Automating your network discovery, map and documentation tasks will save precious time and resources and you can be sure network diagrams are always up-to-date, even if your network changes, your office moves, or new resources are deployed. If you’re manually documenting connectivity between devices and independencies (a Layer 2 discovery), you already know how tedious this process is. And it gets more complicated if technologies such as virtualization or WLAN are used in your environment.

An automated tool also aids in faster troubleshooting (easier to deduce network paths); ensures compliance with audits (accurate and up-to-date inventory or topology maps are required by most regulatory frameworks such as PCI) and helps you optimize monitoring workloads (e.g. you can stop monitoring ports without connected end points).

What Protocols Are Used in Discovery?

WhatsConnected uses a number of innovative Layer 2 and Layer 3 discovery technologies, including ARP, SNMP,SSH, Virtual Infrastructure Management, IP addressing, ICMP and LLDP in combination with vendor proprietary mechanisms, and WMI and Telnet to build a complete and accurate picture your infrastructure assets and their interconnections.

Is WhatsConnected a standalone solution or a plug-in to WhatsUp Gold?

WhatsConnected is a standalone application that is licensed based on the number of network devices you need to map and inventory. You can install WhatsConnected on any server, workstation or laptop connected to your network. Its licensing provides the flexibility to discover and print topology maps for multiple network segments or locations as long as the number of devices does not exceed the license limit. WhatsConnected’s topology maps and inventory data can be exported to WhatsUp Gold as long the devices are covered by your WhatsUp Gold license. 

What’s the Difference Between WhatsConnected and WhatsUp Gold’s Layer 2/3 discovery and mapping capabilities?

WhatsUp Gold is a complete IT management solution with Layer 2/3 discovery and mapping and IT asset reporting capabilities fully integrated into its web-based workspace. WhatsConnected has the following features that are not supported in WhatsUp Gold:

• “One-click” export – direct export to Visio™, PDF, CSV and Excel
• Alerts on topology changes – email alerts on new, changed, or missing devices with each new discovery
• Dynamic maps – topology maps are immediately auto-updated with each new discovery
• Configuration data capture – for comparison of startup and running device configuration files from network topology maps
• Portable (on-the-go) network mapping – use the same WhatsConnected license on a laptop to create topology maps of multiple locations or network segments

I already have WhatsUp Gold, why do I need WhatsConnected?

Even with WhatsUp Gold’s powerful Layer 2/3 discovery and mapping and IT asset reporting capabilities, WhatsConnected is still a valuable tool for WhatsUp Gold users who want to:

• Document their network topology with Visio™ and PDF – WhatsConnected supports one-click export to VisioTM, PDF, CSV and Excel
• Inventory IT assets and map devices they don’t need to monitor – license only WhatsConnected for SW/HW inventory and topology mapping of unmonitored workstations and laptops
• Constantly refresh WhatsUp Gold topology maps or regularly do heavy manipulation of them – WhatsConnected is a more purposed mapping solution which should be more responsive
• Optimize WAN bandwidth with local discovery at remote sites – deploy WhatsConnected at remote sites and export topology and inventory data to the central WhatsUp Gold
• On-demand discovery and mapping of multiple network segments – discover and map a network segment up to your WhatsConnected licensed-device limit, print and move on to the next segment

Documentation:

Download the Progress WhatsUp Gold WhatsConnected Datasheet (.PDF)