Switch to help Monitor Traffic

[Scott Townsend]

I'm looking for a 10/100 Switch that will help me monitor IP Packets/Traffic
on our network.

With all of our (dumb) Switches on our network I cannot to Packet traces of
all of the Packets on a given network segment as the Switch will only send
packets destined for the MAC address of the Monitoring PC to its Switched
port.

Seems like Cisco and others make a Switch with an RMON port or something
that will allow you to Mirror all the other ports on the Switch. Can someone
recommend a inexpensive option?

Do they make a small 100 Base-T HUB? I could take the feed to the Main
switch and route it to the 100base-T hub and plug in the Monitoring PC. I do
this now with a 10meg hub and it works, just causes bandwidth issues.

Thanks,
Scott<-

 

[Neteng]

If you buy a managed switch, you won't have to buy the hub. SPAN (Cisco
term) a port/VLAN to your SPAN port and you will "see" the traffic. Cisco,
Foundry are pretty expensive, HP is cheaper (price & quality), but I
wouldn't go any cheaper than that.

 

[Scott Townsend]

Thanks... It would be nice if they made like a 3-5 port version. (-;
Something I can just throw in the Laptop Case and pop in where I needed it
for the day.

Thanks,
Scott<-

 

[Neteng]

Ask and you shall receive (8 port is as small as they go)

http://cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5213/products_data_sheet09186a00801973c8.html

 

[Scott Townsend]

Thanks!

$550!!! Whoa... Think I might see how that $35 SMC or the $60 3COM works
out first. (-;

Thanks!

 

[Neteng]

Remember that's list pricing, but it will still be a couple hundred bucks.
The service is where Cisco will stand out. You can call them up, tell them
what you are trying to do and they will walk you through it until it works.
SMC and 3COM won't do that for you.

 

[Scott Townsend]

We have All Cisco Routers & Firewalls here, One Cat Switch too. Though Most
are Unmanaged Allied Telesyn Switches. The Cisco Stuff is great, I've
pretty much configured all the Cisco stuff and its not too bad. We use the
Cat Switch for a VLAN setup to provide bandwidth throttled Internet to
tenants in the building. It would be the perfect unit, though its in the
Wrong location. )-;

That $550 was the Cost of the non-Fiber unit, not list. (-; List was $770
or so. http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=514540

The HUB works fine for the Portability I need. I caught someone using
bit-torrent today! It would just be Great if I could have a Managed Switch
at every location with a server set up with Packet Grabber...... )-; Its
Only money I tell them... Simple Fix!

Thanks Again!
Scott<-

 

[Neteng]

What about setting up NBAR on your routers to catch stuff like BT?

 

[Scott Townsend]

Yeah, I could just block it at the PIX too, though I thought that the
'Manager' I caught would know better. (-;

We could lock down a bit more here, though we are not too big so BT and
other apps like that are not usually an issue.

Thanks