PRTG Manual: Network Cleaner
The network cleaner is a utility which enables removing any confidential or identifying information from a discovery result. This is primarily useful in creating an anonymous discovery result for sharing with UVexplorer support for troubleshooting discovery and connectivity issues.
A cleaned network file will randomize all IP and MAC addresses, replace identifying system information, and remove any references to device credentials.
The network cleaner is available in the 'Tools' ribbon. To run the cleaner open the discovery result you would like to clean and launch the cleaner. As the cleaner performs it's operations the discovery result will be modified. When you have completed all of the desired clean operations the result can be saved and the clean discovery result can be viewed within UVexplorer.
Discovery results, clean or otherwise, can be imported and exported from the getting started page of the application.
Find and Replace
Find and replace will replace text in the system information, such as host name, which matches the find text with the replace text. To replace text enter the find and replace texts and press 'Replace All'.
Clean All
Clean all will run all of the clean operations at once.
Clean All IP Addresses
Most network engineers consider the IP addresses and structure of their network to be secure information. When cleaning a network the IP addresses should be replaced with random IP addresses. When IP addresses are cleaned the IP address will be replaced with a random address. All IP addresses of a particular subnet will be mapped to the same new random subnet. This is necessary to maintain the connectivity of the network which is the primary goal of sharing a discovery result.
When IP addresses are randomized any instance of a particular IP address on the network will be randomize to the same address. This allows any references to a particular IP address to be maintained.
Clean All MAC Addresses
MAC addresses are designed to be unique for each device and asset within a device. When cleaning a network the MAC addresses should be replaced with random MAC addresses. The first portion of a MAC address contains information about the vendor/provider of the device. This information is required by UVexplorer to determine the provider and role of a device. When MAC addresses are cleaned the first portion is maintained while the last portion is randomized. This means that anyone with access to your clean discovery results could determine who the vendor of a device is but could not determine the unique identity of your devices.
When MAC addresses are randomized any instance of a particular MAC address on the network will be randomized to the same address. This allows references to an entity by MAC address to be maintained.
Clean Credentials
UVexplorer discovery results maintain references to the credentials used to discover the information of a given device. When cleaning the network for sharing the credential references should be removed to protect the credential information. When clean credentials runs all references to credentials and settings will be removed.
