I'm posting this to the list in case anyone else is interested. Most Linux distros come with a tool for monitoring traffic called "tcpdump". For basic monitoring of a host or two, this will suffice. If you require more function than provdied by tcpdump, I would suggest Ethereal (http://www.ethereal.com, formerly ethereal.zing.org). Ethereal provides a gui interface, sorting features, stream following, and decodes for many common and some not so common prototcols. These decodes allow you to better understand what is happening on your network. Someone has also metioned the hub vs switch issue, but merely grazed the surface. For monitoring, all you need to know is that in a shared Ethernet environment you can monitor all traffic from all hosts from any port on the hub. In a switched environment, you need to configure one of the ports on the switch to mirror all traffic from each port in order to properly monitor traffic. There are limitations in a switched environment as many stations can transmit simultaneously to various endpoints. If two stations are transmitting at a total rate greater than the speed of the monitor port, you will loose traffic. There is no "extra buffering" in the switch to accomodate a mirror or monitor port. On Tue, 7 Nov 2000, Alfonso Garcia wrote: > Dear sirs: > > I got in job an medium sized LAN, and we are taking problems with the speed > of traffic. > > We want to monitor the traffic between hosts, and have thought using a Linux > machine to do this. > > If anyone of you tell me about one good program to do this, I'll be so glad. > > Tnaks in advance > > Alfonso García Tejeo > _________________________________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. > > Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at > http://profiles.msn.com. > > - > : send the line "unsubscribe linux-net" in > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > - : send the line "unsubscribe linux-net" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
