"Smart" Hubs

[Mike Hunter]

On Sep 09, "Daniel Eischen" wrote:

> On Fri, 9 Sep 2005, Arne Schwabe wrote:
 
> > >I came in kinda late to this thread, but if you're trying to find
> > >a hub/switch in order to sniff network traffic, then you can always
> > >go for a switch that let's you monitor traffic on other ports.
> > >I know the Cisco's will let you do this, but I'd be suprised if
> > >you couldn't find it on some other cheaper switches.
> > >
> >
> > Or if you have 3 nics, use if_bridge. Or buy a really expensive managed
> > switch, which allows you to mirror ports, vlans etc.
> 
> Well, is $175.00 US expensive?  The Netgear FS726T can be had for
> about that price, and according to Netgear's web site, will support
> port monitoring.  A 24-port switch may not be small enough for you,
> but if you look around enough, you might find something that is.

I think it violates specifications, but how about a physical copper "tap",
like a two-headed cable?  Has anybody ever tried something like this?
Ethernet was designed in the days of shared media....

Mike