A system administrator's toolbox

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Just a few of the software tools I use every day (in case you're interested). Hope this isn't offtopic in here:

Wireshark: free network packet inspection tool

nmap: free port and network scanner. Windows version is simply the best tool ever

Putty: console application

PuttyGen: generating public and private keys for putty

Remote Desktop Connection Manager: best tool ever for managing lots of RDP servers

GNS3: excellent tool to create test networks. you can find cisco binaries on line and run them as VM's. You can use with Wireshark

Virtual Box: excellent VM manager and host program

Windows IP stack: tracert and ipconfig. You can run cmd /k {command} for the commands right from the run dialog (press windows key and "R")

Notepad++: great notepad program

GVim: WIndows version of VIM, good for editing certain files quickly

PowerShell ISE: good for automating certain tasks in Windows

VNC: GUI client for LInux

OneNote: MS note taking software

IPMIVIew20: IPMI client software for out of band management

Computers languages: C, C++, C#, Powershell, VBScript (still a good language, I learned it pretty well as I did a lot of Windows automating in the 2000's pre-powershell), Batch files, UNIX shell scripting, TCL (new to but nice for automation)

Snipping Tool: native Windows snipping too for cropping screenshot images

7zip: free archiving and compression software.

combofix: nukes almost all viruses fast and easy. Tron script is good as well.

 

[rlitman]

If you like putty, you should check out leputty.
It's the same thing, but has zmodem transfer capability added in, so you can easily transfer files using rz or sz with the lrzsz package installed.

 

[Gautama]

Ooh! Fun thread. I'll have to post pictures of my IT tool bag. I'm not a systems admin, but as a roving consultant I have to wear a lot of hats. Everything from software troubleshooting and training to network installation and optimization.

 

[PCMusicGuy]

Good list. I'll through in a few I use that has not been mentioned yet.

WinDirStat - Easily get a visual picture of what is using up hard disk space
Sumatra - Small, fast, and portable PDF reader
AcmeCadSee - Portable .dwg (AutoCAD) drawing viewer
ProcessHacker - Good for finding weird behavior of running processes
InputDirector - Let's you use one keyboard/mouse across multiple computers/monitors.

 

[pstemari]

For windows SysInternals is extremely useful.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[ChaseDE]

i use notepad++, filezilla, and photoshop for screencaps.

i am not a sysadmin, my friend who i split a server with is luckily so he does the heavy lifting in that arena.

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

WinDirStat and SysInternals are both very useful and awesome as well.

WinDirStat is incredible.

Another one is Chocolatey. Good Windows package manager.

 

[rlitman]

i use notepad++...

A good choice. I use Note Tab Lite, though vi is my editor of choice.

 

[kd3pc]

no nagios....?

Mine is similar, and linux/UNIX based now that I am retired and just play, anymore...

In the olden days it was SATAN on an SGI box...and....

 

[majerus]

Mobaxterm, this tool rocks. If your doing Linux, Windows, Networking etc it saves tons of time and just flat out works with everything. http://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/ Along with that
Sapien Powershell Studio -- Devlop in powershell
Pycharm -- Develop with Python
Angry IP Scanner -- Scan networks
Notepad++ -- Solid editor
7zip -- Compress, uncompress view file hash easily
Iperf -- OS agnostic network testing
Keepass -- password managment

 

[rlitman]

Mobaxterm, this tool rocks. If your doing Linux, Windows, Networking etc it saves tons of time and just flat out works with everything. http://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/ Along with that
Sapien Powershell Studio -- Devlop in powershell
Pycharm -- Develop with Python
Angry IP Scanner -- Scan networks
Notepad++ -- Solid editor
7zip -- Compress, uncompress view file hash easily
Iperf -- OS agnostic network testing
Keepass -- password managment

I prefer SecureCRT as a terminal, and I use CygwinX for when I need an Xserver on windows (not all too often though, and Cygwin is not for the feint of heart).

I then use RDTabs for RDP.

KeePass is AWESOME! I highly recommend that.

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

no nagios....?

Mine is similar, and linux/UNIX based now that I am retired and just play, anymore...

In the olden days it was SATAN on an SGI box...and....

Never used SGI but used AIX, HP-UX (we still use it extensively here), and SCO Unix.

Edit: And Solaris, Sparc version. Use that heavily.

We have a solution here for internal network monitoring. Our external monitor is ServerGuard24.

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

I prefer SecureCRT as a terminal, and I use CygwinX for when I need an Xserver on windows (not all too often though, and Cygwin is not for the feint of heart).

I then use RDTabs for RDP.

KeePass is AWESOME! I highly recommend that.

Cygwin is not bad, but I don't use it very much. I have gotten SSH to work in Windows using Cygwin. You can get a Windows Dos prompt by typing "CMD" after you log in.

 

[Eric Essen]

Fun to see this talk here! I did SGI, Compaq Alpha servers, HP workstations, and much more for the film industry in the early 2000's. Hardware and software integration, repair, sales, etc.

If you've already posted in this thread, email me a USA address and I'll send you some IT/electronics repair specific tools!

eric at iFixit dotcom

 

[Gautama]

Thanks, Eric! That's very nice of you.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Just a few tools I use:
Dameware
GoToMeeting
PuTTY
Angry IP Scanner
PRTG
Powershell with AD/Azure module

 

[Gautama]

Since I'm apparently the only Apple guy here, I'll chime in:
Apple Remote Desktop
TextWrangler
TeamViewer
Console (old-school UNIX Terminal)
Wireshark
LANScan Pro
Wi-spy Channelizer
Plus the standard system stuff, Network Utility, Directory Utility, Terminal, etc.

 

[paulsomlo]

Umm... do those come in a Fuel version?

 

[Guster]

Most of the above though I preferred TextPad over Notepad++
The one I would definitely add is Fcompare or winmerge(gdiff etc. for *nix environments) which are helpful for doing side by side text file comparisons.

 

[bwringer]

Since I'm apparently the only Apple guy here, I'll chime in:
Apple Remote Desktop
TextWrangler
TeamViewer
Console (old-school UNIX Terminal)
Wireshark
LANScan Pro
Wi-spy Channelizer
Plus the standard system stuff, Network Utility, Directory Utility, Terminal, etc.

Agreed -- much love for Textwrangler. It's Mac only, alas. On Windows, Notepad++ will get you through the night, but it's... awkward.

Also Mac-only is Transmit, the One True FTP client. You wouldn't think an FTP client could bring so much seamless joy to your life, and cause so much lamentation when you're stuck with a Gates box...

Yeah, Filezilla's free, but that's about all. Crappy, old-school interface, but generally more reliable than anything else I've tried.

Coda is an excellent web dev package from the same folks who built Transmit. Mac and iOS only, as well. Really a joy to use.

Apple almost completely neutered Network Utility a few OS updates ago. It's very close to useless now. (Obviously, you can just open Terminal and use DIG, but dammit, the interface was SOOOOO nice.)


I've tried several FTP/code editing tools on Android, but none yet that I could recommend. Still, they've saved the day many times from far-flung locations.

There's also a neat lil' app called "Ping & DNS" for Android that's quite handy for DNS-related stuff.

I'd be very interested in other handy techie/dev stuff for Android.

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Agreed -- much love for Textwrangler. It's Mac only, alas. On Windows, Notepad++ will get you through the night, but it's... awkward.

Also Mac-only is Transmit, the One True FTP client. You wouldn't think an FTP client could bring so much seamless joy to your life, and cause so much lamentation when you're stuck with a Gates box...

Yeah, Filezilla's free, but that's about all. Crappy, old-school interface, but generally more reliable than anything else I've tried.

Coda is an excellent web dev package from the same folks who built Transmit. Mac and iOS only, as well. Really a joy to use.

Apple almost completely neutered Network Utility a few OS updates ago. It's very close to useless now. (Obviously, you can just open Terminal and use DIG, but dammit, the interface was SOOOOO nice.)


I've tried several FTP/code editing tools on Android, but none yet that I could recommend. Still, they've saved the day many times from far-flung locations.

There's also a neat lil' app called "Ping & DNS" for Android that's quite handy for DNS-related stuff.

I'd be very interested in other handy techie/dev stuff for Android.

Eclipse is awesome.

 

[rice rocket]

Is this a thinly veiled attempt to root out the nerds?

Notepad++ is a lifesaver. The simple macro ability and the regex find and replace makes it really invaluable. I've done ridiculous things in it, like formatting (poorly) OCR'd text for ETL.

I still use VIM for console work; I'm surprised no one has come out to say Emacs > VIM yet.

I putty lots.

I know very little Powershell, I bash on occasion, but I'm not a programmer by trade. I do use a lot of Toad though.

 

[cludwin]

90% of what I use on the regular...

ssh
vim
screen
tcpdump
strace
ps
top
df
du
iostat
vmstat
sed
awk
grep
ping
telnet
curl
nmap

 

[pstemari]

Heretics. Emacs is the one true editor.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[928'er]

Not exactly admin tools, but anyone here work with NeXTSTEP or OpenStep? Kinda Unix with a smiley face....

 

[chrislehr]

i come here to NOT talk about this ****

 

[Jawn]

Any other broadcast engineers here?

The industry is definitely moving towards greater overlap with traditional IT roles, so a lot of overlap with what's in the thread. But also some industry-specific things. Many of the tools I use are web-based, but some aren't...

Ross DashBoard
Evertz Vistalink
RTS AZEdit
Autocad
KeePass
Remote Desktop
TightVNC
Had a VMWare app, but that got turned into a web app.

Nagios was mentioned... Nagios alerts are probably half what email I get!

Some unique (physical) tools in this industry too. But that's for another thread.

 

[HCNDM]

I use ninite a lot. Makes quick work of installing common apps after a reimage. Including many mentioned above.

Also agent ransack as a search tool. It's faster more reliable and searches content.

Ms excel.... wel used with macros it's a very powerful analytical too.

Especially with power Bi and sql server.

That said I am more an application analyst these days than network admin.


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[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

i come here to NOT talk about this ****

Haha, I know so do I, but I see a lot of computer questions on here so I figured people might like a thread with some good tools on it for diagnosing this stuff, just like a total amateur like me might find a thread on rethreading stripped bolts informative. Sorry if it annoys anybody.

 

[zendriver]

Lol, interesting thread.

I was very deep into IT for 15 years( till 04') The terms here use are certainly not "Greek" (geek?), but I might as well be light years away now as a tanker truck driver.

It's good to see that people still take an interest in that as a profession or hobby. I was more than glad to get out of it. I went through the "golden years" of The rise of the World Wide Web, Y2K, windows NT enterprise installations, (and the decline of novell NetWare )when it was New, interesting, fun and IT people were treated like gods, instead of like ****.

Carry on!






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Lol, interesting thread.

I was very deep into IT for 15 years( till 04') The terms here use are certainly not "Greek" (geek?), but I might as well be light years away now as a tanker truck driver.

It's good to see that people still take an interest in that as a profession or hobby. I was more than glad to get out of it. I went through the "golden years" of The rise of the World Wide Web, Y2K, windows NT enterprise installations, (and the decline of novell NetWare )when it was New, interesting, fun and IT people were treated like gods, instead of like ****.

Carry on!






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't feel I'm treated like ****. If I did I'd leave.

My cousin got a 6 figure job with a $10K bonus immediately after leaving college. He doesn't feel like he was treated like **** either (I assume).

 

[jeffmoss26]

Haha, I know so do I, but I see a lot of computer questions on here so I figured people might like a thread with some good tools on it for diagnosing this stuff, just like a total amateur like me might find a thread on rethreading stripped bolts informative. Sorry if it annoys anybody.

What about rethreading holes on server racks?

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

What about rethreading holes on server racks?

Never had that happen, the server racks that i've used don't have bolt holes, they just come with the standard nut and screw type deals. PITA though, sometimes.

 

[rlitman]

What about rethreading holes on server racks?

BTDT, though most of what I deal with are square hole cabinets, so you can just change out a cage nut. But even then, there's dealing with the mounting ears on 2-post equipment. I recently used one of these when someone booggered up a philips screw head:

 

[Macrosloth]

Everything on the list above...

I'll add in Examdiff. Its free.. Easy way to compare config files late at night when tired....

 

[Jawn]

What about rethreading holes on server racks?

BTDT!

10-32 taps always seem to disappear at my work.

 

[Guster]

Is this a thinly veiled attempt to root out the nerds?
...
I know very little Powershell, I bash on occasion, but I'm not a programmer by trade. I do use a lot of Toad though.

Prefer geek with other talents

Early years I would hate to even touch a machine that didn't have a C/C++ compiler. Funny how that has changed to a machine with a network connection or access to the internet.

Wasn't going to mention SQL tools but... PLSQL developer is light and easy to install anywhere. Used to carry a USB drive with an Oracle and DB2 client installer along with some base scripts for checking basic things.

Lastly, my most used tool: GOOGLE

 

[MDK22]

No Metasploit?

No FTP tools
FileZilla

No torrent client
utorrent

No arc extractor
WinArc

No Password Recovery/Cracking tools
Cain/Abel

No boot ISOs
Hiren's Boot CD
Ultimate Boot CD

No Penetration Testing ISOs
Kali

No Linux Repair ISOs
Knoppix

No Decompilers
IDA Pro

Kinda Wondering if you left these out on purpose.

I would honestly like more to see the hardware stuff that you use to test and fix tbh.

 

[rlitman]

Knoppix is quite handy.

I think we left out, what we didn't think of.

Here's one of my most recent purchases (to upgrade some that were starting to get shabby):

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0015SBIL6/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

No Metasploit?

No FTP tools
FileZilla

No torrent client
utorrent

No arc extractor
WinArc

No Password Recovery/Cracking tools
Cain/Abel

No boot ISOs
Hiren's Boot CD
Ultimate Boot CD

No Penetration Testing ISOs
Kali

No Linux Repair ISOs
Knoppix

No Decompilers
IDA Pro

Kinda Wondering if you left these out on purpose.

I would honestly like more to see the hardware stuff that you use to test and fix tbh.

Yes I use filezilla regularly forgot that one. WinSCP isn't bad either. I have used knoppix as a rescue CD. I only bittorrent the occasional song. 7-zip does all the extraction I need. Don't need metasploit or any of the penetration testers.

Hardware stuff to test and fix? Precision screwdrivers? I could probably use a multimeter at work.