Re: Can this be done? Diagnostic Tool

From: IANAL_VISTA (IANAL_Vista_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 11/20/04 

Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 02:12:44 GMT

Curt Bousquet <NNTP@scanline.com.nospam> wrote in
news:Xns95A6D0170D221xyzzyxyzzy@216.196.97.142:

> Here is what I would like to build:
>
> A linux box with two interfaces that I could drop into any
> network, for example between the router and the switch, without
> needing to make any addressing changes.
>
> Once in place, I'd like to be able to use software like
> ethereal, GKrellm, MRTG or other traffic monitoring software to
> watch traffic by port, type, destination or source address, etc,
> etc, etc in realtime so I can monitor bandwidth usage and types
> of traffic at that point in the network.
>
> Just plugging a box into the switch wouldn't work, since I want
> to see ALL the traffic, not just stuff addressed to the boxe's
> interface or broadcast traffic...
>
> I've seen some devices that can be configured with
> 'transparant' IP addressing so traffic passes right through. How
> would I do this on, for instance, a Fedora box? Is there some
> kind of project that already exists that gives this kind of
> functionality?
>
> Thanks for any pointers.

Something tells me you have more curiosity than actual networking
knowledge.

Not that many years ago, many folks used hubs (before switches got cheap).
The downside of a hub is that everything plugged into it saw the same
collection of packets.
Now if you had one of these hubs and plugged into it your Linux box,
a cable going to the router, and a cable going to the switch, you could
place your single NIC into promiscuous read mode & see EVERY packet that
passes between the router & the switch.

I do believe this is an easier solution than what you proposed.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: VPN over wireless
    ... Support with a Cisco Switch it would work. ... on my network - and no success. ... You will still the need the Router to issue DHCP and ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • RE: Active Directory New Site
    ... The internal uplink to the router would be on your 192.168.16.0/24 network ... Would it be as simple as putting the router between the existing switch, ... The piece of equipment you are missing is a router to get you from one ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory)
  • RE: Active Directory New Site
    ... I was warned off the RRAS service for this type of network challenge. ... a new switch with the second redundant server/dfs replica on? ... Sites and Services to create a new site, then inside that, the server object ... The piece of equipment you are missing is a router to get you from one ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.active_directory)
  • Re: Ethernet network wiring ?s
    ... >>> Thanks for the help and network education. ... your router will assign all 5 computers unique IP ... >> even if there are several cascaded ethernet switches and only one cable ... >> switch in that room. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc)
  • Re: 2924 + vlans
    ... switch with one SVI interface designed for management. ... ok with your new code and router on a stick. ... Out 26xx has a few interfaces, so its not a stick per say. ... layer 2/3 definition for small vlans for the actual office or retail ...
    (comp.dcom.sys.cisco)