[SlugBug] OT..Networking Hardware Software Recommendations

[Bill Best]

Alan Dawson wrote:

> All,
> 
> I'm looking to purchase some hardware that can be used for multipurpose network
> monitoring, say traffic protocol analysis one day, to IDS another day.  I've
> looked at products from Fluke and Sniffer, but they seem dedicated to single
> tasks, quite expensive, difficult to add extra functionality to...
> 
> I'm thinking "how about some hubs and small form factor PC's running Linux" -
> Cost isn't really an issue - but if I can get 4 small PC's for £2000 instead of
> one laptop I'd do that.  The Fluke and Sniffer products all seem to start at
> about £10k, and if you require extra options need more money spending.
> 
> Does anybody have any opinions or experience ?
> 
> AED

have you had a look at http://www.nagios.org/ or http://bb4.com/ ???

can't say i've used them yet but they look pretty functional.

bb