Re: ethernet cards & promisc mode

[Michael.Wojcik () MERANT COM (Michael Wojcik)]

It happens.  Some older IBM PCMCIA (this was before PCMCIA became "PC Card"
- a stupid name change anyway) Ethernet and Token Ring cards didn't support
promiscuous mode.  It just wasn't included in the chipset, presumably
because that let them cut a few more corners in the design.

It's possible that bargain-basement no-name Ethernet cards won't have
promisc support.  Check the technical support web pages for companies that
sell sniffing software - they should list cards that lack it.  (We found out
about the IBM cards from the support information for a product called
"LanSleuth" - I think the manufacturer is www.ssi.com, or something like
that.)

No-name cards are usually clones of popular basic-function cards, like
NE2000s (or at least they were back in the days when I was buying them), so
the stock Linux drivers should work fine.

Michael Wojcik             michael.wojcik () merant com
MERANT
Department of English, Miami University

> -----Original Message-----
> From: R [mailto:littledude () uswest net]
> Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2000 3:48 AM
>
> I haven't come across a card yet that won't go into primisc
> mode (NICs tend
> to be slutty like that ya know)  but if you want a good NIC
> for linux, get a
> 3Com 3c509 they are compatable and last forever.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Security Team <security () SUPPORTTEAM NET>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2000 2:28 PM
>
> are there any ethernet cards on the market that work well
> with linux, that dont allow you
> to go into promisc mode?