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With a switch, you will see all the broadcast, however, you will not see traffic destined for a specific port. &nbsp;As an example, if you want to see all traffic hitting the firewall then your options are either port mirroring or hub in between the switch and the firewall.
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So if I did not install anything but just plugged into the switch would I miss diagnosing some potential bad problems or would it be &quot;good enough&quot; &nbsp;and give me some insights as to problems on the network.
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As a tech troubleshooter I have a portable Fluke &quot;OneTouch&quot; Network Analyser which I take to various businesses to quickly attach to client networks and look for problems. &nbsp;Fluke instructions say that you must set the port you connect to to MIRRORING so you see all broadcasting. &nbsp;<br />
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Most times that is not possible as my clients do not have any sort of Tech dept and programming their switches is out of the question. &nbsp;BUT what I was wondering was if it would be any value in inserting a 5 port HUB between their firewall and their switch.<br />
Althought as I type this I realize it would be of little value......So the question become more OPEN, is there anything anyone can think of to capture broadcast without configuring a mirrored port ?<br />
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I could bring along a 24 port Cisco switch to every client but that seems heavy handed and pretty disruptive. &nbsp;so maby I should just give up the idea of capturing Broadcasts altogether and settle for finding dup IPs, Chatty nics etc
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As a tech troubleshooter I have a portable Fluke "OneTouch" Network Analyser which I take to various businesses to quickly attach to client networks and look for problems.  Fluke instructions say that you must set the port you connect to to MIRRORING so you see all broadcasting.  

Most times that is not possible as my clients do not have any sort of Tech dept and programming their switches is out of the question.  BUT what I was wondering was if it would be any value in inserting a 5 port HUB between their firewall and their switch.
Althought as I type this I realize it would be of little value......So the question become more OPEN, is there anything anyone can think of to capture broadcast without configuring a mirrored port ?

I could bring along a 24 port Cisco switch to every client but that seems heavy handed and pretty disruptive.  so maby I should just give up the idea of capturing Broadcasts altogether and settle for finding dup IPs, Chatty nics etc

FLUKE Network Analyzer -  Connecting to a Switch or HUB

A switch is a device that filters and forwards packets of data between LAN segments. Switches operate at the data link layer or the network layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model and therefore support any packet protocol. LANs that use switches to join segments are called switched LANs or, in the case of Ethernet networks, switched Ethernet LANs. A hub is a connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports; when a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN can see all packets.

Switches / Hubs

Network analysis is the process of identifying and remediating the processes and systems within a network, including performance, connectivity and security. The process is performed through the use of tools developed for monitoring and analyzing network activity. Network problems that involve finding an optimal way of doing something are studied under the name combinatorial optimization. Examples include network flow, shortest path problem, transport problem, transshipment problem, location problem, matching problem, assignment problem, packing problem, routing problem, Critical Path Analysis and PERT (Program Evaluation & Review Technique).