Sometimes you need to see actual packets: to troubleshoot an application, feed an intrusion detection system (IDS) or record traffic for analysis. On a switched network, a device plugged into a random port only sees its own traffic and floods. Port mirroring solves this by copying traffic from one or more sources to a destination where a packet analyzer is connected. Cisco calls it SPAN (Switched Port Analyzer) and offers three variants depending on where the analyzer sits.
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