 On wired shared medium networks, such as Ethernet, Token Ring, and FDDI networks, depending on the network structure (hub or switch), it may be possible to capture all traffic on the network from a single machine on the network.On modern networks, traffic can be captured using a network switch with a so-called "monitoring port" that mirrors all packets that pass through designated ports of the switch.A network tap is an even more reliable solution than to use a monitoring port, since taps are less likely to drop packets during high traffic load.