Multilayer Network Design

[tigger]

I am aware of the many problem people have trying to use a switch. But before I attempt my installation I want to make sure it will be compatible with my network. After some thinking I have concluded that while the switch will not allow SEQ packet filtering I think it is only necessary for the layer which SEQ and EQ exist on to be a 'dumb' hub. Once SEQ and EQ are on the same layer (non-switching) you should be able to monitor thoes packers.

If anyone has tried this please let me know. Any comments are greatly appreciated:

.................................Link Provider (WWW)
...........................................|
...........................................|
....................................Cable Modem
...........................................|
...........................................|
.......................Router/Gateway (Hub)
...........................................|
...........................---------------------------
........................../.............................|........\
......................Switch...................... ...|........|
.........................|........................ ......|........|
...............---------------...................../.........\
............../......................\...........Box1........Box2
........Hub...................Box3
..........|
......----------
...../...............\
SEQ............EQBox

[Yueh]

That should work peachy. And if there is a lot of traffic on the rest of the network you could get into trouble putting the SEQ computer higher up the hierarchy.

[Mr Guy]

It's back to drawing lines.

If you can draw a line from your EQ box to your ShowEQ box on the way to the internet, it will work.




Any type of:

..............................INTERNET
..................................|
..................................|
..............................MODEM
..................................|
..............................ANYTHING
..................................|
................................HUB
................................/....\
............................../........\
...........................EQ........SHOWEQ


will work.

Ditto for any:

..............................INTERNET
..................................|
..................................|
..............................MODEM
..................................|
..............................ANYTHING
..................................|
................................SWITCH
................................/....\..\
............................../........\..\
...........................EQ........SHOWEQ WITH IPTABLES AS ROUTER


If the packets hit the Linux box on their way out, it'll work. It doesn't matter if they are blindly echoed (hub) or forced through (switch with linux as a gateway).