Network Interface mode
- Thread starter djayx
- Start date
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- Tags
- networking
kenny
Registered
Promiscuous mode is a highly specialized mode at the hardware level. Typically, it's only turned on by applications that need it. I've found a few, but they only do so in order to function correctly:
Ethereal - is a network packet analyser, available through fink. It allows you to capture all packets on an local segment (not switched), and is useful for figuring out the details of certain network communications. For instance, I've used it to ensure that ssh tunneling is functioning correctly to encrypt my email traffic over a wireless link.
iStumbler - scans for wireless networks that are in-range, and will display relative signal strength, whether WEP is enabled (but not wep keys, sadly
), etc. I've found it useful to find the optimal placement of my wireless access point(s).
VPC - Virtual PC will turn on promiscuous mode in order to enable virtual-switch functionality.
In each of these cases, when the application ends, p-mode is turned off. The major reason for this is that it is (depending on network load) an expensive (in terms of processor usage) to simply have it on all the time. This is particularly troublesome on portables, since higher processor usage == greater battery drain.
In short, promiscuous mode is not something you would just "turn on" - there's no need for it in normal usage.
Ethereal - is a network packet analyser, available through fink. It allows you to capture all packets on an local segment (not switched), and is useful for figuring out the details of certain network communications. For instance, I've used it to ensure that ssh tunneling is functioning correctly to encrypt my email traffic over a wireless link.
iStumbler - scans for wireless networks that are in-range, and will display relative signal strength, whether WEP is enabled (but not wep keys, sadly
), etc. I've found it useful to find the optimal placement of my wireless access point(s).VPC - Virtual PC will turn on promiscuous mode in order to enable virtual-switch functionality.
In each of these cases, when the application ends, p-mode is turned off. The major reason for this is that it is (depending on network load) an expensive (in terms of processor usage) to simply have it on all the time. This is particularly troublesome on portables, since higher processor usage == greater battery drain.
In short, promiscuous mode is not something you would just "turn on" - there's no need for it in normal usage.