Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!linac!att!ucbvax!TELESYS.NCSC.NAVY.MIL!mark
From: mark@TELESYS.NCSC.NAVY.MIL (Mark L. Williams)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re:  convert Ethernet numbers into ASCII text
Message-ID: <9104221503.AA05613@telesys.ncsc.navy.mil>
Date: 22 Apr 91 15:03:19 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 29

David Doll writes:

>Hello,
>	I'm going to be bringing a network analyzer (sniffer) into our 
>department and it displays the Ethernet number (for example: 8:0:2b:18:96:bf).
>I would prefer to look at the host name (for example: foo.cs.washington.edu).
>So what I  would like to be able to do is to get the names from all the 
>machine numbers in the department (~100 or so). Has anybody did this or know
>how or know what to do...? I'd appreciate any help. Thanks. If you e-mail
>me, I could post a summary if theres interest.

I don't think the straight conversion implied by your subject is possible.
To associate names with ethernet addresses in your Sniffer, you'll need to
use the name management tools to enter names for the addresses the Sniffer
finds on your network.  I don't know of a utility to do this for you.
In any event, the information has to exist somewhere before you can use it.

BTW, the Sniffer's name field is not real long -- 14 characters or so,
as I remember off-hand.  If you do have a list of hosts and ethernet addresses
somewhere, you'll have to make sure you can fit the whole name in the Sniffer's
name field.

Finally, deciding on the most useful naming convention for the Sniffer can
be a real challenge.  If your location is big and has multiple segments,
a good name can really help you locate a problem, while a bad name may not
help much.  However, if you incorporate potentially variable information
in the name, maintaining the name list can be a troublesome job.

Mark