IP Watch

From emails and web connectivity to network printers and file storage, most devices and applications registered in the network relies on IP addresses assignments. Luckily, there are numerous tools out there such as IP Watch that can lend you a hand with monitoring the address statuses in your network using ICMP ping protocol.

The setup is a swift and straightforward process that entails decompressing the archive and following the few standard steps included by the install file. It is worth mentioning that the app requires you have the list of IP addresses you are monitoring within the same directory to display them in the GUI.

The interface is designed as a list that shows the IP addresses you specify in that exact order. Besides the addresses, you can also preview extra information, namely the location of the device, type of connectivity, vendor and a comment, considering you included one.

Unfortunately, the app is designed to exhibit IPv4 in dot notation that includes up to 15 characters. It would have been nice if the program was supporting IPv6 addresses as well.

As previously mentioned, you are required to have the IP address in a plain text file within the same directory as the executable file for the application to work properly. In fact, you should make sure that the name of the file is ipwatch, as other filenames are not recognized.

While you can add and remove addresses as often as you want, you should bear in mind that you need to restart the application for the changes to take effect. Moreover, when inserting more Ips, they should be comma separated.

Whenever a change occurs in the status of the network device then the tool signals you via an audible alarm. The status is updated in a log file, data that you can use later on to calculate the downtime, for instance.

Given that VoIP and mobile networks are increasing constantly, keeping a close eye to detect and resolve IP conflicts becomes increasingly important. IP Watch is a small, but reliable tool that allows you to monitor the IP addresses status and receive audio notifications whenever changes are detected immediately.