Network Configuration Audit Using Nipper
Description
Network audit is essential thing for our network. From time to time we have to make sure that our network implementation is as our expectation. There are a lot of software for it. But i’ll bring you one of the solution from open source community.
Nipper. Ian Ventura-Whiting have made this good open source software for Network Audit. Nipper will quickly produce reports on your key network infrastructure devices. The report from nipper could be security audit from the device setting or device configuration report.
Currently Nipper supports many devices from Cisco (Router, Switch Firewall), Nokia, Juniper (ScreenOS), CheckPoint Firewall-1, Bay Networks, SonicWall ( SonicOS ) and Nortel.
The output from Nipper could be in HTML, Latex, XML and Text.
Quick How To
- First of all, we have to collect our device configuration and save it in a file, i.e switch_config.txt
- For Windows, if you put the cisco ios (switch_config.txt) in the same directory as nipper.exe, and you want xml as the output, you can run this command (the default output is in HTML):
- For Linux/Unix/Mac OS you have to compile it (read the INSTALL file, it is easy)
nipper –ios-switch –input=switch_config.txt –xml –output=audit.xml
Here is the screenshot of the result:
For HTML example you can see it here.
Download
- Nipper for Microsoft Windows here
- Nipper for Linux, Unix, Mac OS here (source code)
- Or you can go to sourceforge.net
Nipper is now closed source and a licence is payable per network device tested. Pity, it was a useful little tool.
I read with interest your post on your blog concerning the use of Nipper.
Unfortunately, today this software is no more available on Sourceforge and everything points to a commercial website selling this former open source project.
Can you please send me the open source version of Nipper for Windows, that you used to write your post ?
Thank you very much.
Hi Gary,
thanks for the info. yes it was a very useful little tool.