Tool to detect packet errors

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Archived from groups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet (More info?)

I need to get a software tool, which i can use to detect various
packet errors on the network. Is there a free downloadable tool on the
Net?
thanks
san

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet (More info?)

In article <5e56673f.0406082112.3f0273a@posting.google.com>,
pererasanjaya@hotmail.com says...
> I need to get a software tool, which i can use to detect various
> packet errors on the network. Is there a free downloadable tool on the
> Net?

This is very hard to do in todays switched environment. The best you
can do is to query the switch stats and hope the vendor got it right.


--

hsb

"Somehow I imagined this experience would be more rewarding" Calvin
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ethereal is pretty good. Search ethereal on Google to find a download site.


"sanjaya" <pererasanjaya@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:5e56673f.0406082112.3f0273a@posting.google.com...
> I need to get a software tool, which i can use to detect various
> packet errors on the network. Is there a free downloadable tool on the
> Net?
> thanks
> san

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet (More info?)

Will it indicate the error frames with whatever the data it collected?



"Ciruelax" <ciruelax@deja.com> wrote in message news:<40cd0bfe_2@nova.entelchile.net>...
> ethereal is pretty good. Search ethereal on Google to find a download site.
>
>
> "sanjaya" <pererasanjaya@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:5e56673f.0406082112.3f0273a@posting.google.com...
> > I need to get a software tool, which i can use to detect various
> > packet errors on the network. Is there a free downloadable tool on the
> > Net?
> > thanks
> > san

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet (More info?)

pererasanjaya@hotmail.com (sanjaya) wrote in message news:<5e56673f.0406151804.3b193287@posting.google.com>...
> Will it indicate the error frames with whatever the data it collected?
>
>
>
> "Ciruelax" <ciruelax@deja.com> wrote in message news:<40cd0bfe_2@nova.entelchile.net>...
> > ethereal is pretty good. Search ethereal on Google to find a download site.
> >
> >
> > "sanjaya" <pererasanjaya@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > news:5e56673f.0406082112.3f0273a@posting.google.com...
> > > I need to get a software tool, which i can use to detect various
> > > packet errors on the network. Is there a free downloadable tool on the
> > > Net?
> > > thanks
> > > san

It's free, try it for yourself.

As I understand it the thing is that the hardware/driver may or
may not pass error information up the stack. For sure some old
PCMCIA cards just dumped the errored frames in hardware and that
was that.

Think of the situation from the manufacturers point of view, there
are some developers building this stuff, they are going to sell
millions and of those about 10 people will care about error stats.

It's a no brainer.

Here is an idea, buy a Cisco switch and pass the traffic thru it.
You should get one on ebay pretty cheap.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet (More info?)

These days dont most Windows network card drivers NOT pass on packet
errors ?



Stuart.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet (More info?)

> pererasanjaya@hotmail.com (sanjaya) wrote in message news:<5e56673f.0406151804.3b193287@posting.google.com>...
> > Will it indicate the error frames with whatever the data it collected?

In article <3adc58e4.0406160010.3918f275@posting.google.com>, anybody43
@hotmail.com says...
> As I understand it the thing is that the hardware/driver may or
> may not pass error information up the stack. For sure some old
> PCMCIA cards just dumped the errored frames in hardware and that
> was that.

NDIS limits what can be passed up to the OS. Errors are not sent up the
pipe. The other limitation is that the only switch that will forward
errored frames (important if you need to know) are the old Cabletron
switches. All others I worked with do not pass along errored frames.

> Here is an idea, buy a Cisco switch and pass the traffic thru it.
> You should get one on ebay pretty cheap.

You'll get stats, but you won't be able to catch it in a switched
environment.

--

hsb

"Somehow I imagined this experience would be more rewarding" Calvin
*************** USE ROT13 TO SEE MY EMAIL ADDRESS ****************
********************************************************************
Due to the volume of email that I receive, I may not not be able to
reply to emails sent to my account. Please post a followup instead.
********************************************************************

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet (More info?)

So that means basically its not possible through software.

Will a Network Analyser (hardware) be able to show packet errors and
whatever the corrupted data it is receiving.

thanks
san

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet (More info?)

In article <5e56673f.0406161746.30e321f@posting.google.com>,
pererasanjaya@hotmail.com says...
> So that means basically its not possible through software.

Depends. If you buy the hardware version of NAI's (soon to be Sniffer
again) Sniffer, then they will provide you with a driver to see the
errors in Windows. Even if you buy the software alone, you can buy a
select few PCMCIA NICs which the software supports.

But this is *half* the battle. Unless you are on a hub, the switch
needs to forward error frames as well. Most do not forward errored
frames.

> Will a Network Analyser (hardware) be able to show packet errors and
> whatever the corrupted data it is receiving.

Another option may be to put in inline probes. These sit between the
server (for example) and the switch and will see everything. Of course,
it doesn't scale very well.

--

hsb

"Somehow I imagined this experience would be more rewarding" Calvin
*************** USE ROT13 TO SEE MY EMAIL ADDRESS ****************
********************************************************************
Due to the volume of email that I receive, I may not not be able to
reply to emails sent to my account. Please post a followup instead.
********************************************************************

 

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Archived from groups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet (More info?)

On 16 Jun 2004 18:46:11 -0700, pererasanjaya@hotmail.com (sanjaya)
wrote:

>So that means basically its not possible through software.
>
>Will a Network Analyser (hardware) be able to show packet errors and
>whatever the corrupted data it is receiving.

The ones I designed or helped to design when I was at Agilent could,
if that mode was enabled.
Protocol decoding was disabled for those packets though.

Regards,
Allan.