# Do I need a TAP or SPAN port for network monitoring?

For watching a whole segment, yes, one of the two; for watching specific servers, no, because an agent on each server sees its own traffic. A SPAN port is a mirror setting on a managed switch and costs nothing if your switch supports it. A TAP is a small hardware device on a cable, useful when the switch is unmanaged or when you want a copy that never drops packets. Place it where traffic converges, such as the link between your main switch and the router, or the ports of your servers. With NetSenX, one agent on a host connected to a SPAN or TAP port counts as one device for the whole segment, and this is also the way to get packet capture for TLS fingerprinting and the crypto inventory.

FAQ: [Small business monitoring](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/smb) · https://netsenx.com/en/faq/do-i-need-a-tap-or-span-port-for-network-monitoring

## Read next

- https://netsenx.com/en/ndr-for-small-business
- https://netsenx.com/en/pricing

## Related questions

- [How long does it take to install NetSenX?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/how-long-does-it-take-to-install-netsenx)
- [Does network monitoring work if our computers run different operating systems?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/does-network-monitoring-work-with-mixed-operating-systems)
- [Can network monitoring slow down our network or computers?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/can-network-monitoring-slow-down-our-network)
- [What does a network sensor actually collect: content or metadata?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/what-does-a-network-sensor-actually-collect)
- [Can we start by monitoring only our most critical systems?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/can-we-start-by-monitoring-only-our-most-critical-systems)