Do you know how many of your switch ports are under-utilized and where you have excess capacity before making a new switch purchase? Can you easily locate and unplug a device marked as a security risk by a firewall? Are you aware of the existence of open network drops in common areas and meeting rooms? While troubleshooting network problems on a device, can you find out port speed and status without tracing the cable from the device to the switch? Without network monitoring chances are that you are flying blind when making critical decisions and troubleshooting.

With PortIQ™ appliances you can quickly :

• Eliminate port wastage, saving CapEx;
• Enhance security with vital port intelligence; and
• Improve visibility for faster troubleshooting.

The Infoblox PortIQ appliance provides complete visibility into switch port usage for port capacity planning, security audits and ease of troubleshooting. With Infoblox PortIQ appliances, network administrators can instantly identify the location of all connected devices and get reports on how often network ports are used. With this kind of unparalleled visibility, IT departments can make more intelligent switch purchase decisions. In addition, the ability to quickly locate where devices are connected increases security and eases troubleshooting effort.

The Infoblox PortIQ appliance scans your network infrastructure and quickly collects, analyzes and displays information to provide comprehensive insight into what is connected to your network and where. This insight enables network managers to make informed business decisions and reduce operational overhead and port wastage while enhancing network availability and security.

1. Eliminate port wastage – Save CapEx – With no visibility into port usage patterns, IT departments routinely overestimate capacity requirements making unnecessary capital expenditures on switch purchases. PortIQ provides comprehensive reports on switch usage patterns including underutilized switches. These reports enable IT departments to better utilize their existing networking infrastructure before making costly purchases.
2. Vital port intelligence – Improves security – Lack of location information for end point devices makes it hard to enforce security when an offending device is identified. In addition, there is no audit trail for where a device connects to the network which makes it hard to investigate security incidents. PortIQ appliances maintain device connection information including connection history which makes it easy to disable an offending device or investigate security incidents.
3. Better visibility – Faster troubleshooting – Troubleshooting network incidents require identifying and locating devices on the network. Manual locating procedures are labor intensive and may reduce IT effectiveness by increasing resolution times. With PortIQ appliances, network administrators can quickly locate the switch port information for a connected device to help troubleshoot network issues.
   
   

PortIQ Appliance with IPAM Connector
With the IPAM Connector version, the PortIQ appliance is used for port discovery only and enhances the IPAM database in an Infoblox Grid by associating discovered switch and port information with IP, MAC and other IPAM data. This additional information helps network administrators to secure and troubleshoot networks faster.

The PortIQ appliance associates the following information for each IP and MAC address in the Infoblox IPAM database:

Switch Name, Switch Port, Switch Description, VLAN Name, VLAN Number, Switch status, Port Speed/Duplex, Link status, First seen and Last seen times.

PortIQ Appliance with Capacity Management
The Capacity Management version of the PortIQ appliance includes a powerful software application that provides switch and port utilization and capacity reports. The reports provide a comprehensive inventory of network infrastructure and enable network managers to spot potential port exhaustion, identify devices with low utilization and re-balance their infrastructure to match capacity with needs and avoid unnecessary purchases. This results in a very fast ROI. The Capacity Management version of the PortIQ appliance can be used as a standalone system, and also includes the capabilities of the IPAM Connector, which means that it can be connected to an Infoblox Grid to enhance IPAM data with switch, port, VLAN and other data.