Network traffic/bandwidth monitor that tracks GLOBAL network traffic

[treysha]

Is there a good network traffic/broadband monitor that actually keeps track of ALL (really ALL) traffic in a network?
I have used quite a few (eg, Ethereal, ntop, network probe) but all of them kinda keep track of only traffic that is coming in and out of the PC they are run from.

I need one that can run on my station (mine is a client workstation) that really tracks every single transaction that goes on in the network, including PCs talking to PCs, PCs and the Internet, PCs talking to servers, servers talking to PCs, PCs talking to printers, etc. I have got about 50 clients and one PDC all connected to switches.

Would help a great deal if they are FREE too!

Anyone know of any good ones?

[primesuspect]

You can't do that from a workstation, physically. You need to think about that for a second - how can you monitor traffic that doesn't pass through your computer's network interface? How could it see it?

What you need to do is have managed switches, such as HP ProCurves, or 3Com Superstack switches. Only managed switches have the processing ability which allow them to analyze and report traffic. Major managed switches come with monitoring software - 3com comes with Transcend and HP comes with HP OpenManage. Both are good.