Ethernet can carry many types of telegram. When connecting a system together, it is often necessary to monitor the telegram traffic and see how the available bandwidth is being used. This is especially true when a real-time automation system is using Ethernet for part of its real-time functionality.

Effects such as collisions, re-tries, acknowledge and handshake cycles all have an effect on the overall performance of the network.

This document describes how to set up an Ethernet Monitor using the free-to-download package “WireShark”.