Tools we builtfor ourselves
Seven tools we kept rebuilding on site, so we made them properly. Three take something you already have — a config, a SMART dump, a traceroute — and tell you what it means. Four do the arithmetic. All free, no account, no export limit.
- 7
- Tools
- $0
- Cost, forever
- 0
- Sign-ups
- 111
- Unit tests
Paste it in,
get a verdict
These take an artifact you already have and tell you something you did not know. No numbers to look up first — the tool does the knowing.
- 01Free
Switch Config Auditor
Paste a running-config, get the findings.
Paste a switch running-config and get back what an engineer would flag on a handover review: telnet still reachable, default SNMP communities, users on VLAN 1, access ports with no port security or BPDU guard. Every finding cites its line and includes the config that fixes it.
Who reaches for itAnyone inheriting a switch they did not configure, or checking their own work before a floor date.
Open tool - 02Free
Drive Health Reader
Paste smartctl output, get a straight answer.
Paste smartctl output for a SATA disk or an NVMe drive and get a verdict rather than a table of numbers. Distinguishes reallocated sectors from pending ones, flags when a drive reports PASSED while actively failing, and tells you when CRC errors mean the cable rather than the disk.
Who reaches for itAnyone deciding whether a drive gets replaced tonight, next month, or not at all.
Open tool - 03Free
Traceroute Reader
Paste a trace, find out whose problem it is.
Paste traceroute, tracert, or mtr output and get the path interpreted: where sustained loss actually starts, which hops are only dropping probes cosmetically, whether a latency jump is distance or a fault, and where your network ends and the carrier's begins.
Who reaches for itAnyone about to open a carrier ticket, or about to be told the problem is on their end.
Open tool
Numbers in,
answer out
Sizing work. Each one states its assumptions underneath, because a number without a method behind it is a guess with extra decimal places.
- 01Free
Subnet Calculator
CIDR in, everything else out.
Enter an address and a prefix and get the network, broadcast, mask, wildcard, usable host range, and host count. Split a block into equal subnets, or check whether an address falls inside one. Includes a full CIDR reference table.
Who reaches for itAnyone carving up address space or checking someone else's arithmetic before a cutover.
Open tool - 02Free
PoE Budget Planner
Will the switch actually carry the load?
Add up powered devices by PoE class or measured draw, account for cable loss over distance, and compare the total against your switch's power budget. Shows headroom, per-port averages, and whether you are about to brown out an access layer.
Who reaches for itAnyone hanging cameras or access points off a switch and hoping the budget covers it.
Open tool - 03Free
Camera Storage Calculator
How many terabytes for how many days.
Size an NVR or VMS from camera count, resolution, frame rate, codec, retention window, and how much of the day actually records. Returns raw storage, a RAID-adjusted figure, and per-camera daily volume.
Who reaches for itAnyone quoting a surveillance system and needing a defensible storage number.
Open tool - 04Free
Transfer Time Calculator
How long the migration window really needs to be.
Work out how long moving a given volume of data takes over a given link, with realistic protocol overhead and sustained-throughput derating. Compares link speeds side by side so you can see what upgrading actually buys you.
Who reaches for itAnyone planning a data migration, backup seed, or overnight cutover window.
Open tool
Every one of these started as a formula in a notes app, worked out on a job where getting it wrong would have meant a second trip.
The PoE planner exists because a switch datasheet quotes a budget and a camera datasheet quotes a draw, and the number that actually matters is neither — it is the class allocation, which nobody prints. The traceroute reader exists because half the carrier tickets we have opened were argued over loss at a single hop that was never real loss. The drive reader exists because a disk will happily report PASSED while it is dying. So they are free, they show their working, and there is no upsell attached.
- No account, no email gate, no export limit.
- Nothing you enter is stored, ever.
- Everything computes in your browser, with one exception: traceroute hop ownership, which is opt-in and labelled.
- Every assumption is stated on the page.
- Planning figures, not guarantees — buy the next size up when retention is contractual.
Happy to run
the numbers with you
If you are sizing something real and want a second opinion on it, call. No charge for the conversation, and no obligation after it.