Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Justin Krejci <jus@×××××××××××.com>
To: gentoo-user@g.o
Cc: "Timothy A. Holmes" <tholmes@×××××××××.net>, gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Port Tracer Program Needed
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 04:01:31
Message-Id: 200603142148.39119.jus@krytosvirus.com
1 On Tuesday 14 March 2006 11:08 am, Timothy A. Holmes wrote:
2 > Hans -- Thank you, I realize that I can make it blink with network
3 > traffic, the problem is that basically all the ports on the switches
4 > have traffic running constantly on them, so I need to find a way to make
5 > it distinctive enough so it can be picked out from the rest of the
6 > noise.
7 >
8 > I will try to run down the tools that you mentioned and see if any of
9 > them provide a solution -- thank you
10 >
11 > TIM
12 >
13 >
14 > Timothy A. Holmes
15 > IT Manager / Network Admin / Web Master / Computer Teacher
16 >
17 > Medina Christian Academy
18 > A Higher Standard...
19 >
20 > Jeremiah 33:3
21 > Jeremiah 29:11
22 > Esther 4:14
23 >
24 > > -----Original Message-----
25 > > From: Hans-Werner Hilse [mailto:hilse@×××.de]
26 > > Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 12:01 PM
27 > > To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
28 > > Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Port Tracer Program Needed
29 > >
30 > > Hi,
31 > >
32 > > On Tue, 14 Mar 2006 10:03:24 -0500 "Timothy A. Holmes"
33 > >
34 > > <tholmes@×××××××××.net> wrote:
35 > > > I am getting ready to start a project here in the building to map
36 >
37 > the
38 >
39 > > > physical infrastructure of our network (its been assembled kinda
40 >
41 > willy
42 >
43 > > > nilly over the last 8 years or so). I am looking for a program to
44 >
45 > run
46 >
47 > > > on my laptop that I can plug into a wall plate and it will cause the
48 > > > port activity lights on the switch to blink distinctly so that I can
49 > > > begin tracing plugs to ports. Due to budgetary constraints, open
50 > > > source / freeware is very very preferable.
51 > >
52 > > Not sure about "distinctly" (that will certainly depend on the
53 >
54 > switch's
55 >
56 > > electronic and programmatic design), but - tada - you can usually
57 >
58 > cause
59 >
60 > > the traffic light on the switch to blink with network traffic ;-)
61 > >
62 > > So broadcasting some UDP packages out into the wild should be
63 > > sufficient. Use e.g. netcat. OTOH, you might want to play with ethtool
64 > > and switch connection rates for short intervals. Usually switches have
65 > > a light indicator for the speed, too, so that should be easier to
66 > > distinct on a busy switch. Toggle this in a shell loop with a few
67 > > "sleep"s inserted...
68 > >
69 > > -hwh
70 > > --
71
72 Netwox (+ optionally netwag) has some neat tools. One that I have found handy
73 is the audible ping. Whenever it receives a successful ping response it beeps
74 your pc speaker. It may or may not have any benefit for you in this secenario
75 but it can be useful at times when you are muddling around and can't see your
76 screen, you can just listen for the "beep, beep, beep" then disconnect the
77 proper cable and it goes silent. Or in the reverse, plug in the right cable
78 and you start to hear the "beep, beep, beep".
79
80 Netwox has a ton of other neat tools, servers and clients.
81
82 If your switches are manageable you can probably look up your switches cam
83 table (MAC address to eth port mapping) then look at your clients ARP cache
84 after pinging your broadcast address on each network.
85
86 Good luck on your network mapping.
87 --
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