Experiment no.

6: Network Tools
Orozco, Jan Arcy M. 5-ECE-A Questions: 1. What are the advantages of using the SoftPerfect Network Scanner over traditional command line network utilities or commands? Give at least 5.
SoftPerfect is able to scan a range of IPs and discover every existing computer. Easily resolves host names, MAC addresses or IPv6 and can also scan for open TCP and UDP ports Discovers active DHCP servers and UpNp devices or to easily send messages to one or more computer from your LAN Streamlining the tasks with its auto-detection capabilities Can remotely wake up, shut down or hibernate another computer on your local area network.

September 23, 2013

2. What are the advantages of using the command line network utilities and commands over Software based tools like VisualRoute and SoftPerfect Network Scanner. Scalability - Organizing output into groups, so tasks that require the same user response are all lumped together, allows a single action to be taken to achieve results over large numbers of discrete tasks. Scriptability - When there are five buttons that need to be clicked in a particular order eighteen times a day in a GUI application, one has to click those buttons eighteen times, but when a particular complex command needs to be entered eighteen times in a Unix shell, it is a trivial exercise to script that activity to remove some of the administrative overhead burden for the sysadmin. Simple Design - Command line tools often benefit from more straightforward, obvious, simple designs. Part of the reason for this is the fact that command line tools are easily written as smaller, simpler tools that -- in the Unix tradition -- each do one thing well. Simple Interface - Command line applications and keyboard-driven, console based, captive interfaces can offer simple interaction for casual users without pulling out the rug from under the feet of more knowledgeable users. Many such tools will provide simple usage information by using a --help option when invoking it at the shell, or easy access to usage help from within a captive interface via a keystroke or two. Beginners can learn the rudimentary basics easily, and as they learn more about how to use it their facility with the application expands. The simplicity of the interface never comes at the expense of that expanding knowledge. Stable Design - the simple fact that users have been doing the same things the same ways for quite a while can result in what educators call "negative transference of learning", where what they already know (in this case from an earlier version of an application) interferes with their ability to learn new knowledge in similar

circumstances. Command line utilities, especially given their typically simpler designs, do not tend to suffer this problem to nearly the same degree. If a new feature must be added, it usually does not require reshuffling the old features, which can almost always be easily accessed the same way they were accessed before the upgrade.

References: http://www.softoxi.com/softperfect-network-scanner.html http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/linux-and-open-source/five-benefits-of-command-line-tools/