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Ethereal-users: Re: [Ethereal-users] Net send

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From: Guy Harris <gharris@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2002 01:40:48 -0700
On Thu, Aug 22, 2002 at 01:31:37AM -0700, Rajesh Kumar wrote:
> is there a way where i can find out whether my LAN network is in the
> switch or dual hub or speed hub (which prevents me to see others
> messages).  from some command or software.

None that I know of (other than, say, the command "mail" or "mailx" or
"pine" or "mutt" or "elm" or whatever mail program or programs you have
on your machine, which can be used to send an email to your network
administrator asking what your machine is plugged into).

There is no easy way I know of for a host to determine whether one of
its network interfaces is plugged into a switch/switching hub or into a
dual speed hub (I'm not sure there's *any* way for it to determine that
- I think it's transparent to the network interface).

> As far as promiscous mode is
> concerned, i think it is able to put my machine in promiscous mode since
> i am able to see some network packets.

The fact that you're able to see some network packets may merely mean
that your network card *works*.  There's no guarantee that it's in
promiscuous mode unless you're seeing packets that are *not* link-layer
broadcast or multicast packets, *not* sent to your machine's link-layer
address, and *not* sent from your machine.