21 technical Alexa skills IT pros should know

Alexa skills can help you with things like network diagnostics, IP address lookups, and programming questions. Check out this categorized list and see what functions you might find helpful.

From the list:

1. MyNetLyzer
The MyNetLyzer skill can help you diagnose issues with your home network, such as poor performance and determining what is connected to the network. You can say “Ask myNetLyzer what is my network performance,” “Ask myNetLyzer what are my connected devices,” or “Ask myNetlyzer what is my performance report for a week.” It does require you to link your Amazon account and register your devices with MyNetLyzer via its portal page, which can also provide insights into how your network is operating.

2. Port Numbers
Alexa can match port numbers with services using the Port Numbers skill. It responds to the commands “Alexa, ask port numbers which port runs (service name)” or “Alexa, ask port numbers which service runs on port (port number)” to provide the requested details. Alexa was able to provide information about SSH and HTTP, two commonly used services.

3. Subnet Calculator
For those who dabble in subnet calculations, Alexa can also be a wizard in handling this task via the Subnet Calculator skill. You can ask questions such as “Alexa, ask Subnet Calculator what is the subnet mask for a slash 27?” and it will read off the mask. According to the skill’s developers, future updates will provide the network and broadcast address for a given host address, as well as other subnet calculations.

4. IP Lookup
Alexa can determine IP address/domain information and location using the IP Lookup skill. Say, “Alexa, ask IP lookup where is 8.8.8.8,” for instance, and it will identify the domain as owned by Google and where they are located.

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June 26, 2018
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