The right Xircom card?

[dfusion]

I work in a Foundry/Cisco LAN/WAN environment and want to start sniffing data to look at our OLAP environment. One of the Sniffer reps gave me a 30-day demo CD, but to really maximize use of the software I feel I should use the right network card...? I know Sniffer will work (though not reporting all information) with any NIC that goes into Promiscuous mode.

1) CompUSA sells both Xircom XE2000NA and XEM5600NA PCMCIA network cards. I currently have a Dell Latitude C840 notebook with a " 3Com NIC 3C920 (3C905C-TX Compatible) " NIC built in. Will any of the Xircom's work with the enhanced NAI drivers?

2) Assuming I can't get a Xircom NIC locally, what am I gaining with Sniffer as opposed to me just plugging my laptop into a port on my Foundry gear, configuring Port Mirroring, and using TCPDUMP or Etherreal to observe the data?

I appreciate the responses.

Regards,
Mark Holloway

 

[AZeemeri]

If you have the latest version of SN Pro (4.7.5)
The following 'Sniffer' Xircom adapters are supported:
- Xircom CardBus Ethernet II 10/100 (CBE2)
- Xircom Realport CardBus Ethernet Adapter
- Xircom Realport2 CardBus Ethernet Adapter
- IBM 10/100 EtherJet CardBus Adapter (not on XP)
- IBM Etherjet CardBus Ethernet Adapter

The Xircom XE2000NA and XEM5600NA PCMCIA, I'm not sure if they are the same as any of these above, but if not, there are no NAI enhanced drivers for it.

Enhanced drivers modify the adapter to provide additional functionality to the card. For example, an enhanced driver may enable you to view additional network data or improve Sniffer Portable 4.7.5 performance by capturing and decoding more traffic on busy networks.
A normal nic's function would be to drop error frames so they wouldn't show up in sniffer. A NAI enhanced card + driver will capture these frames too. Tell me if I'm wrong anyone?....

 

[dfusion]

I found the Xircom Realport CardBus Ethernet Adapter for $33/ea. online so I ordered two (for spares).

http://www.lanblvd.com/productpage.cfm?prodid=186

Hope these work!

Thanks for your help AZeemeri

Regards,
Mark

 

[AZeemeri]

Yes These will work with the latest version of sniffer pro 4.7.5