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TracePlus/Ethernet README

Network Adapter Compatibility

In theory, any Ethernet adapter whose drivers support NDIS 3 or higher should work. However, due to the wide variety of quality in network drivers, your mileage may vary.

Network Speeds

Any network speed between 10 MIPS and 100 MIPS are supported.

3COM 3C90x series

The Windows NT 3C905 NDIS adapter driver from the Microsoft Windows NT
distribution CD (el90x.sys) does not work with NDIS intermediate drivers. It
fails the NidsIMInitializeDeviceInstance call with error 0xC0000001. The
Windows NT 3C905 NDIS adapter driver from the 3Com site (el90xnd4.sys) works OK.

NOTE: Please insure that you have disabled the 3Com dRMON
SmartAgent PC Software. This applies to all Windows platforms, not just Windows NT.

Using TracePlus/Ethernet when you are connected to a network switch

There are three ways you can use TracePlus/Ethernet with a switch:

1. Some switches have a dedicated "network monitor" port which sees a copy of all traffic routed by the switch. This is known as "switch monitoring". You can install TracePlus/Ethernet on a PC which is connected to this switch monitor port.
2. Some switches can be programmed to route a copy of all traffic on one or more ports to another specific port. This is known as "port monitoring". You can install TracePlus/Ethernet on the PC connected to that port.
3. You can attach a hub between the switch and the server, and attach a PC to the hub. Install TracePlus/Ethernet on the PC attached to the hub. This will allow you to see all traffic between the server and the switch.

TracePlus/Ethernet does not support RMON at this time.

Remember that a switch only passes traffic through the a port on the switch if a packet is specifically addressed to that machine, or the packet has a broadcast address. If you don't use one of the above methods, you will not be seeing all the packets that are present on your network.

Timestamp Accuracy

The timestamps in the last two columns of the grid has a resolution which is dependent on the Windows platform that you are running, and represents the time when the network driver received the packet from the network adapter.

• If you are running Windows 95/98/ME, the timestamp will reflect an accuracy of 1 millisecond. The actual displayed value will be in microseconds, however the three least significant digits will always be zero.
• If you are running Windows NT 4.x/2000 or Windows XP, the timestamp will reflect a true accuracy of 1 microsecond. Therefore all digit positions in the actual displayed value are significant.

Network Protocol Support

TracePlus/Ethernet can display any Ethernet protocol at the very least in Hex/ASCII format. Further statistics are gathered and detailed decodes are provided for selected protocols as indicated below:

Frame Types	Ethernet 802.2*	Ethernet 802.3*	Ethernet II*
	Ethernet SNAP*
Layer 2	LLC*	SNAP*
Layer 3	ARP*	GGP	NetBEUI*
	Bridge Spanning Tree*	ICMP*	OSPF*
	Configuration Test Protocol*	IGP	RARP*
	IP*	IGMP*	AppleTalk*
	EGP*	IPX*
TCP Protocols	FTP*	IRC	RIP*
	HTTP*	NNTP	DHCP*
	IMAP	POP*	SMTP*
	RTSP
	Packets on any other port number(s) not listed here
UDP Protocols	BOOTP*	NetBIOS Name*	SNMP* (NEW)
	DHCP*	NetBIOS Datagram*	SNMP Traps* (NEW)
	DNS*	NetBIOS Session*	TFTP
	Packets on any other port number(s) not listed here
IPX Protocols	IPXWAN	NMPI (partial decode)	SNMP* (NEW)
	NCP*	Ping	SNMP Traps* (NEW)
	NDS	RIP*	SPX*
	NetBIOS*	SAP*
	NLSP*	Serialization
	Packets on any other socket number(s) not listed here
AppleTalk	DDP	Appletalk AARP

* Protocols marked with an asterisk ("*") indicate that a detailed packet decode is provided

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