Hi, Radu You simply cannot monitor a switch that is uncapable of monitoring. It is as easy as that. Nevertheless, you can fake the monitoring part by arping to the users connected directly to that switch. Arping, because is a layer2 app, goes beyond (or better yet, beneath) any firewall. If a firewall blocks broadcast arp requests, then it will render the machine network-less, so no firewall does that.
So, grab your linux box, and start arping! P.S. Read the thread on mac and IP changing, I feel like we are in rather the same position... > Hello there, > > Can anyone help me with a problem i have.... > > I have an ethernet LAN, made over dumb fast-ethernet switches > (10/100mbit) without management, so there is no IP for the switches. > > What I want, if possible, is to find out if a switch is down or not. > > It's like with routers... if you want to find out if a router is OK, > either you send ICMP directly to the router, or to a host "behind" the > router. > > Is there any device, or ANY OTHER possibility that I can find out if a > switch is unplugged or broken. Users on my LAN aren't reliable (they > have firewalls, closed computers, etc.), so pinging users that are > linked to a switch to find out is out of the question. > > I have got an ideea that if I take an ehernet card, and somehow manage > to put power in it, than I would have a device with MAC addres to > arping ... is this correct ? > > MANY thanks in advance, and SORRY for being a bit out of topic. > > > Best regards, > Radu. > > -- > > > Radu Cugut > > mobile: +40 742 045686 > web: http://rcugut.has.it > _______________________________________________ > LARTC mailing list > LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl > http://mailman.ds9a.nl/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lartc > _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lartc
