Skorpion Diagnostic Switches help troubleshoot Ethernet networks by allowing a network sniffer, such as Wireshark®, to attach to an unused port on the switch and observe all traffic on the network.
The diagnostic switch retains all the features of an unmanaged switch, such as auto-negotiation and auto-MDIX, except there is no address learning.
Because it does not learn MAC addressing, all messages—directed, multicast, and broadcast—are flooded to all ports on the switch allowing a sniffer or protocol analyzer tool to observe all traffic on the network. The ability to view all the communication packets helps the user determine why devices are not responding properly.
Designed for the demanding requirements of an industrial automation environment, the Skorpion Diagnostic Switch can be permanently installed on an installation or replaced with a Skorpion Unmanaged Switch once a system is commissioned. This diagnostic switch can also be useful when developing embedded Ethernet devices because users can connect the switch between two embedded Ethernet devices and view their messages using Wireshark. The figure shows two embedded Ethernet devices engaged in peer-to-peer communications and the diagnostic switch connected to each device.
There are two 5-port diagnostic switches in the series which differ only by the highest data rate supported. The EISK5-100T/H supports 10/100 Mbps networks while the EISK5-GT/H can additionally support gigabit speed. The EISK8-GT/H supports up to eight ports at 10/100/1000 Mbps speeds.
