Programmable Ethernet Hub - Need help finding suitable device

[tks8100]

Greetings-

I'm in search of a hardware device which I've thus far been unsuccessful in finding. In the simplest of terms, it's a packet capturing device. The device would preferably have two network connections and would be installed between a switch/router and some other network device (i.e. network printer, PC, etc), capturing the data passing through the device. Once captured, data processing would be handed off to another device, possibly on the local area network but more likely on a publicly accessible network somewhere on the internet. The logic controlling the data capture as well as the data hand off would be based on custom instruction which would be pre-programmed into the device.

I refer to the device as a programmable hub simply because a hub broadcasts network traffic across each of its ports. In reality, because the device will sit between the switch/router and the final destination, I would assume a switch would work as well, since routing to the destination device would involve passing through this device. The primary objective is finding a device (hub, switch, or possibly something else) that can be programmed with the custom logic necessary to accomplish the data capture and hand off that my project application requires.

I'm aware that I can probably achieve what I'm looking for through a programmable automation controller of some sort. The problem with this approach is that the higher cost of a PAC/PLC would outweigh our product's benefit. The point of this device is to provide a simple and cost effective (< $500) means to get the data out of the customer site so that it can ultimately be processed offsite. This device will most likely be shipped to the customer and installed by an end user with a low to average IT skillset, so device simplicity is just as important as cost.

Based on what I've found so far (or lack thereof), I'm not sure if such a device exists. Hopefully I'm wrong, but if that's the case, any suggestions towards a product or company that could facilitate customizations of an existing product resulting in such a device would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for all the help.

 

[catserveng]

I'm not sure these folks will have what you need , but they have helped me with some pretty off the wall requests over the years,

http://www.bb-elec.com/

Hope that helps,

Mike L.

 

[controlsdude]

Hubs, now there is something you can't buy anymore. What you mean is most switches you can setup an adjacent port to mirror the other one. Then use some network tool like wireshark to monitor the packets. But what your asking for is what most switches give you in statistics.

To collect data:
This would be a laptop with wireshark looking at a mirrored port collecting the packet data stream and logging this on the harddrive.

Wireshark is free ware on the internet, just download it. Any IT person should be able to use it.

Maybe I am missing something, but I think this is what your asking for?

 

[RajeevCell]

Google "packet sniffer".

The device you want actually exists. It's your laptop! It may not have two Ethernet ports, but that's not necessary. You connect it to the router/switch/hub and listen to the TCP/IP traffic within the subnet using a packet sniffer.

 

[jraef]

Sounds like you are describing IGMP Snooping. N-Tron has options in their managed switches that would do that.

http://www.n-tron.com/products_series.php?cat=2

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[EddieWillers]

I realize this is a month-old thread but wanted to post a bit to it anyhow.

What you're describing sounds a lot like the Remote Capture function of Wireshark.

There's a whole industry built up around embedding the Wireshark capture and analysis engine in devices that are sent to a remote site and perform capture-to-disk or remote capture. There's another whole industry built up around "network taps".

Check out the appliances advertised on the Wireshark.org site.

The "programmable hub" idea is do-able, but you're getting close to re-inventing the wheel.

The quick and dirty network tap I use a lot looks like a tiny 5-port switch, but anything going in or out of Port 1 gets mirrored to Port 5. There are no configuration options or storage but it's cheap and very effective. If you were very intent on building a specialized device, the vendor might be a good source; they built custom firmware to do the port mirroring.

http://www.dual-comm.com/port-mirroring-LAN_switch.htm