X-Git-Url: http://git.samba.org/samba.git/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=FAQ;h=851dbaf4ae436721da94f8cd0bf52a1858daefe9;hb=e4d930138199deee3c972bb9f1d8582149422d4f;hp=4b0750e7f7085ce1d26322782f2050e266923c46;hpb=f811126c9ead1563d8274e5b7b921f1ceccfed63;p=obnox%2Fwireshark%2Fwip.git diff --git a/FAQ b/FAQ index 4b0750e7f7..851dbaf4ae 100644 --- a/FAQ +++ b/FAQ @@ -2,28 +2,35 @@ The Ethereal FAQ Note: This is just an ASCII snapshot of the faq and may not be up to - date. Please go to http://www.ethereal.com/faq for the up to - date version. The version of this snapshot can be found at the - end of this document. + date. Please go to http://www.ethereal.com/faq.html for the up + to date version. The version of this snapshot can be found at + the end of this document. INDEX - General Questions: + +General Questions: 1.1 Where can I get help? - 1.2 What protocols are currently supported? + 1.2 How much does Ethereal cost? + + 1.3 Can I use Ethereal commercially? + + 1.4 Can I use Ethereal as part of my commercial product? - 1.3 Are there any plans to support {your favorite protocol}? + 1.5 What protocols are currently supported? - 1.4 Can Ethereal read capture files from {your favorite network + 1.6 Are there any plans to support {your favorite protocol}? + + 1.7 Can Ethereal read capture files from {your favorite network analyzer}? - 1.5 What devices can Ethereal use to capture packets? + 1.8 What devices can Ethereal use to capture packets? - 1.6 How do you pronounce Ethereal? Where did the name come from? + 1.9 How do you pronounce Ethereal? Where did the name come from? - Downloading Ethereal: +Downloading Ethereal: 2.1 I downloaded the Win32 installer, but when I try to run it, I get an error. @@ -31,12 +38,12 @@ 2.2 When I try to download the WinPcap driver and library, I can't get to the WinPcap Web site. - Installing Ethereal: +Installing Ethereal: 3.1 I installed an Ethereal RPM, but Ethereal doesn't seem to be installed; only Tethereal is installed. - Building Ethereal: +Building Ethereal: 4.1 The configure script can't find pcap.h or bpf.h, but I have libpcap installed. @@ -46,7 +53,7 @@ dftest_DEPENDENCIES was already defined in condition TRUE, which implies condition HAVE_PLUGINS_TRUE - when I try to build Ethereal from CVS or a CVS snapshot? + when I try to build Ethereal from SVN or a SVN snapshot? 4.3 The link fails with a number of "Output line too long." messages followed by linker errors. @@ -56,7 +63,7 @@ 4.5 The build fails on Windows because of conflicts between winsock.h and winsock2.h. - Using Ethereal: +Using Ethereal: 5.1 When I use Ethereal to capture packets, I see only packets to and from my machine, or I'm not seeing all the traffic I'm expecting to @@ -74,80 +81,105 @@ and/or why does Ethereal give me an error if I try to capture on that interface? - 5.5 I'm running on a UNIX-flavored OS; why does some network interface - on my machine not show up in the list of interfaces in the + 5.5 I'm running Ethereal on Windows; why do no network interfaces show + up in the list of interfaces in the "Interface:" field in the dialog + box popped up by "Capture->Start"? + + 5.6 I'm running Ethereal on Windows; why doesn't my serial port/ADSL + modem/ISDN modem/show up in the list of interfaces in the "Interface:" + field in the dialog box popped up by "Capture->Start"? + + 5.7 I'm running Ethereal on a UNIX-flavored OS; why does some network + interface on my machine not show up in the list of interfaces in the "Interface:" field in the dialog box popped up by "Capture->Start", and/or why does Ethereal give me an error if I try to capture on that interface? - 5.6 How do I put an interface into promiscuous mode? + 5.8 I'm running Ethereal on a UNIX-flavored OS; why do no network + interfaces show up in the list of interfaces in the "Interface:" field + in the dialog box popped up by "Capture->Start"? + + 5.9 Can Ethereal capture on (my T1/E1 line, SS7 links, etc.)? - 5.7 I can set a display filter just fine, but capture filters don't + 5.10 How do I put an interface into promiscuous mode? + + 5.11 I can set a display filter just fine, but capture filters don't work. - 5.8 I'm entering valid capture filters, but I still get "parse error" + 5.12 I'm entering valid capture filters, but I still get "parse error" errors. - 5.9 I saved a filter and tried to use its name to filter the display, + 5.13 I saved a filter and tried to use its name to filter the display, but I got an "Unexpected end of filter string" error. - 5.10 Why am I seeing lots of packets with incorrect TCP checksums? + 5.14 Why am I seeing lots of packets with incorrect TCP checksums? - 5.11 I've just installed Ethereal, and the traffic on my local LAN is + 5.15 I've just installed Ethereal, and the traffic on my local LAN is boring. - 5.12 When I run Ethereal on Solaris 8, it dies with a Bus Error when I + 5.16 When I run Ethereal on Solaris 8, it dies with a Bus Error when I start it. - 5.13 When I run Ethereal on Windows NT, it dies with a Dr. Watson + 5.17 When I run Ethereal, I get an error + + Gtk-CRITICAL **: file gtkwindow.c: line 3107 (gtk_window_resize): + assertion `height > 0' failed. + + 5.18 When I run Tethereal with the "-x" option, it crashes with an + error + + "** ERROR **: file print.c: line 691 (print_line): should not be + reached. + + 5.19 When I run Ethereal on Windows NT, it dies with a Dr. Watson error, reporting an "Integer division by zero" exception, when I start it. - 5.14 When I try to run Ethereal, it complains about + 5.20 When I try to run Ethereal, it complains about sprint_realloc_objid being undefined. - 5.15 I'm running Ethereal on Linux; why do my time stamps have only + 5.21 I'm running Ethereal on Linux; why do my time stamps have only 100ms resolution, rather than 1us resolution? - 5.16 I'm capturing packets on {Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me}; + 5.22 I'm capturing packets on {Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me}; why are the time stamps on packets wrong? - 5.17 When I try to run Ethereal on Windows, it fails to run because it + 5.23 When I try to run Ethereal on Windows, it fails to run because it can't find packet.dll. - 5.18 I'm running Ethereal on Windows NT/2000/XP/Server; my machine has + 5.24 I'm running Ethereal on Windows NT/2000/XP/Server; my machine has a PPP (dial-up POTS, ISDN, etc.) interface, and it shows up in the "Interface" item in the "Capture Options" dialog box. Why can no packets be sent on or received from that network while I'm trying to capture traffic on that interface? - 5.19 I'm running Ethereal on Windows 95/98/Me, on a machine with more + 5.25 I'm running Ethereal on Windows 95/98/Me, on a machine with more than one network adapter of the same type; Ethereal shows all of those adapters with the same name, but I can't use any of those adapters other than the first one. - 5.20 I'm running Ethereal on Windows, and I'm not seeing any traffic + 5.26 I'm running Ethereal on Windows, and I'm not seeing any traffic being sent by the machine running Ethereal. - 5.21 I'm trying to capture traffic but I'm not seeing any. + 5.27 I'm trying to capture traffic but I'm not seeing any. - 5.22 I have an XXX network card on my machine; if I try to capture on + 5.28 I have an XXX network card on my machine; if I try to capture on it, my machine crashes or resets itself. - 5.23 My machine crashes or resets itself when I select "Start" from + 5.29 My machine crashes or resets itself when I select "Start" from the "Capture" menu or select "Preferences" from the "Edit" menu. - 5.24 Does Ethereal work on Windows Me? + 5.30 Does Ethereal work on Windows Me? - 5.25 Does Ethereal work on Windows XP? + 5.31 Does Ethereal work on Windows XP? - 5.26 Why doesn't Ethereal correctly identify RTP packets? It shows + 5.32 Why doesn't Ethereal correctly identify RTP packets? It shows them only as UDP. - 5.27 Why doesn't Ethereal show Yahoo Messenger packets in captures + 5.33 Why doesn't Ethereal show Yahoo Messenger packets in captures that contain Yahoo Messenger traffic? - 5.28 Why do I get the error + 5.34 Why do I get the error Gdk-ERROR **: Palettized display (256-colour) mode not supported on Windows. @@ -155,52 +187,121 @@ when I try to run Ethereal on Windows? - 5.29 When I capture on Windows in promiscuous mode, I can see packets + 5.35 When I capture on Windows in promiscuous mode, I can see packets other than those sent to or from my machine; however, those packets show up with a "Short Frame" indication, unlike packets to or from my machine. What should I do to arrange that I see those packets in their entirety? - 5.30 How can I capture raw 802.11 packets, including non-data + 5.36 I'm capturing packets on a machine on a VLAN; why don't the + packets I'm capturing have VLAN tags? + + 5.37 How can I capture raw 802.11 packets, including non-data (management, beacon) packets? - 5.31 I'm trying to capture 802.11 traffic on Windows; why am I not + 5.38 How do I capture on an 802.11 device in monitor mode on Linux? + + 5.39 How do I capture on an 802.11 device in monitor mode on FreeBSD? + + 5.40 How do I capture on an 802.11 device in monitor mode on NetBSD? + + 5.41 I'm trying to capture 802.11 traffic on Windows; why am I not seeing any packets? - 5.32 I'm trying to capture 802.11 traffic on Windows; why am I seeing + 5.42 I'm trying to capture 802.11 traffic on Windows; why am I seeing packets received by the machine on which I'm capturing traffic, but not packets sent by that machine? - 5.33 How can I capture packets with CRC errors? + 5.43 How can I capture packets with CRC errors? - 5.34 How can I capture entire frames, including the FCS? + 5.44 How can I capture entire frames, including the FCS? - 5.35 Ethereal hangs after I stop a capture. + 5.45 Ethereal hangs after I stop a capture. - 5.36 How can I search for, or filter, packets that have a particular + 5.46 How can I search for, or filter, packets that have a particular string anywhere in them? - GENERAL QUESTIONS +General Questions + Q 1.1: Where can I get help? A: Support is available on the ethereal-users mailing list. Subscription information and archives for all of Ethereal's mailing lists can be found at http://www.ethereal.com/lists - Q 1.2: What protocols are currently supported? + Q 1.2: How much does Ethereal cost? + + A: Ethereal is "free software"; you can download it without paying any + license fee. The version of Ethereal you download isn't a "demo" + version, with limitations not present in a "full" version; it is the + full version. + + The license under which Ethereal is issued is the GNU General Public + License. See the GNU GPL FAQ for some more information. + + Q 1.3: Can I use Ethereal commercially? + + A: Yes, if, for example, you mean "I work for a commercial + organization; can I use Ethereal to capture and analyze network + traffic in our company's networks or in our customer's networks?" - A: There are currently 442 supported protocols and media, listed + If you mean "Can I use Ethereal as part of my commercial product?", + see the next entry in the FAQ. + + Q 1.4: Can I use Ethereal as part of my commercial product? + + A: As noted, Ethereal is licended under the GNU General Public + License. The GPL imposes conditions on your use of GPL'ed code in your + own products; you cannot, for example, make a "derived work" from + Ethereal, by making modifications to it, and then sell the resulting + derived work and not allow recipients to give away the resulting work. + You must also make the changes you've made to the Ethereal source + available to all recipients of your modified version; those changes + must also be licensed under the terms of the GPL. See the GPL FAQ for + more details; in particular, note the answer to the question about + modifying a GPLed program and selling it commercially, and the + question about linking GPLed code with other code to make a + proprietary program. + + You can combine a GPLed program such as Ethereal and a commercial + program as long as they communicate "at arm's length", as per this + item in the GPL FAQ. + + Q 1.5: What protocols are currently supported? + + A: There are currently 530 supported protocols and media, listed below. Descriptions can be found in the ethereal(1) man page. + 3GPP2 A11 802.1q Virtual LAN 802.1x Authentication AAL type 2 signalling protocol - Capability set 1 (Q.2630.1) AFS (4.0) Replication Server call declarations + AIM Administrative + AIM Advertisements + AIM Buddylist Service + AIM Chat Navigation + AIM Chat Service + AIM Directory Search + AIM Generic Service + AIM ICQ + AIM Invitation Service + AIM Location + AIM Messaging + AIM OFT + AIM Popup + AIM Privacy Management Service + AIM Server Side Info + AIM Signon + AIM Statistics + AIM Translate + AIM User Lookup ANSI A-I/F BSMAP ANSI A-I/F DTAP ANSI IS-637-A (SMS) Teleservice Layer ANSI IS-637-A (SMS) Transport Layer ANSI IS-683-A (OTA (Mobile)) + ANSI IS-801 (Location Services (PLD)) ANSI Mobile Application Part AOL Instant Messenger ARCNET @@ -210,6 +311,7 @@ ATM LAN Emulation ATM OAM AAL AVS WLAN Capture header + AX/4000 Test Block Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector Routing Protocol Address Resolution Protocol Aggregate Server Access Protocol @@ -217,6 +319,7 @@ Alteon - Transparent Proxy Cache Protocol Andrew File System (AFS) Apache JServ Protocol v1.3 + Apple IP-over-IEEE 1394 AppleTalk Filing Protocol AppleTalk Session Protocol AppleTalk Transaction Protocol packet @@ -225,6 +328,7 @@ Async data over ISDN (V.120) Authentication Header BACnet Virtual Link Control + BEA Tuxedo BSS GPRS Protocol BSSAP/BSAP Banyan Vines ARP @@ -236,9 +340,11 @@ Banyan Vines LLC Banyan Vines RTP Banyan Vines SPP + Basic Encoding Rules (ASN.1 X.690) Bearer Independent Call Control Bi-directional Fault Detection Control Message Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol + Blubster/Piolet MANOLITO Protocol Boardwalk Boot Parameters Bootstrap Protocol @@ -247,6 +353,7 @@ Building Automation and Control Network NPDU CCSDS CDS Clerk Server Calls + Cast Client Control Protocol Check Point High Availability Protocol Checkpoint FW-1 Cisco Auto-RP @@ -262,9 +369,10 @@ CoSine IPNOS L2 debug output Common Open Policy Service Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) Browsing Protocol + Compuserve GIF Connectionless Lightweight Directory Access Protocol Cross Point Frame Injector - DCE DFS Calls + Cryptographic Message Syntax DCE Distributed Time Service Local Server DCE Distributed Time Service Provider DCE Name Service @@ -275,6 +383,7 @@ DCE/RPC BUTC DCE/RPC CDS Solicitation DCE/RPC Conversation Manager + DCE/RPC Directory Acl Interface DCE/RPC Endpoint Mapper DCE/RPC Endpoint Mapper4 DCE/RPC FLDB @@ -282,11 +391,20 @@ DCE/RPC FLDB UBIKVOTE DCE/RPC ICL RPC DCE/RPC Kerberos V + DCE/RPC NCS 1.5.1 Local Location Broker + DCE/RPC Operations between registry server replicas + DCE/RPC Prop Attr DCE/RPC RS_ACCT DCE/RPC RS_BIND DCE/RPC RS_MISC DCE/RPC RS_PROP_ACCT DCE/RPC RS_UNIX + DCE/RPC Registry Password Management + DCE/RPC Registry Server Attributes Schema + DCE/RPC Registry server propagation interface - ACLs. + DCE/RPC Registry server propagation interface - PGO items + DCE/RPC Registry server propagation interface - properties and poli +cies DCE/RPC Remote Management DCE/RPC Repserver Calls DCE/RPC TokenServer Calls @@ -294,7 +412,10 @@ DCOM OXID Resolver DCOM Remote Activation DEC Spanning Tree Protocol + DFS Calls + DHCP Failover DHCPv6 + DICOM DNS Control Program Server Data Data Link SWitching @@ -303,11 +424,13 @@ Diameter Protocol Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol Distcc Distributed Compiler - Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse Prototocl + Distributed Checksum Clearinghouse Protocol + Distributed Network Protocol 3.0 Domain Name Service Dynamic DNS Tools Protocol Echo Encapsulating Security Payload + Endpoint Name Resolution Protocol Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol EtherNet/IP (Industrial Protocol) Ethernet @@ -340,11 +463,13 @@ GSM A-I/F RP GSM Mobile Application Part GSM SMS TPDU (GSM 03.40) + GSM Short Message Service User Data General Inter-ORB Protocol Generic Routing Encapsulation Generic Security Service Application Program Interface Gnutella Protocol H225 + H235-SECURITY-MESSAGES H245 H4501 HP Extended Local-Link Control @@ -353,11 +478,14 @@ HyperSCSI Hypertext Transfer Protocol ICQ Protocol + IEEE 802.11 Radiotap Capture header IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN management frame ILMI + IP Device Control (SS7 over IP) IP Over FC IP Payload Compression + IP Virtual Services Sync Daemon IPX Message IPX Routing Information Protocol IPX WAN @@ -369,13 +497,17 @@ ISO 8327-1 OSI Session Protocol ISO 8473 CLNP ConnectionLess Network Protocol ISO 8602 CLTP ConnectionLess Transport Protocol + ISO 8823 OSI Presentation Protocol ISO 9542 ESIS Routeing Information Exchange Protocol + ITU-T E.164 number ITU-T Recommendation H.261 ITU-T Recommendation H.263 RTP Payload header (RFC2190) InMon sFlow Intel ANS probe Intelligent Platform Management Interface Inter-Access-Point Protocol + Inter-Asterisk eXchange v2 + InterSwitch Message Protocol Interbase Internet Cache Protocol Internet Content Adaptation Protocol @@ -390,6 +522,7 @@ Internet Relay Chat Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol Internetwork Packet eXchange + JPEG File Interchange Format Jabber XML Messaging Java RMI Java Serialization @@ -404,6 +537,7 @@ Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol Lightweight Directory Access Protocol Line Printer Daemon Protocol + Line-based text data Link Access Procedure Balanced (LAPB) Link Access Procedure Balanced Ethernet (LAPBETHER) Link Access Procedure, Channel D (LAPD) @@ -412,9 +546,11 @@ Linux cooked-mode capture Local Management Interface LocalTalk Link Access Protocol + Logical Link Control GPRS Logical-Link Control Lucent/Ascend debug output MDS Header + MIME Multipart Media Encapsulation MMS Message Encapsulation MS Kpasswd MS Proxy Protocol @@ -424,12 +560,19 @@ MTP 2 User Adaptation Layer MTP 3 User Adaptation Layer MTP2 Peer Adaptation Layer + Media Type + Media Type: message/http Message Transfer Part Level 2 Message Transfer Part Level 3 Message Transfer Part Level 3 Management Microsoft Directory Replication Service Microsoft Distributed File System + Microsoft Distributed Link Tracking Server Service + Microsoft Encrypted File System Service + Microsoft Eventlog Service Microsoft Exchange MAPI + Microsoft File Replication Service + Microsoft File Replication Service API Microsoft Local Security Architecture Microsoft Local Security Architecture (Directory Services) Microsoft Messenger Service @@ -452,6 +595,7 @@ MultiProtocol Label Switching Header Multicast Router DISCovery protocol Multicast Source Discovery Protocol + Multiprotocol Label Switching Echo MySQL Protocol NFSACL NFSAUTH @@ -468,6 +612,7 @@ NetBIOS over IPX NetWare Core Protocol NetWare Link Services Protocol + NetWare Serialization Protocol Network Data Management Protocol Network File System Network Lock Manager Protocol @@ -477,12 +622,18 @@ Network Time Protocol Nortel SONMP Novell Distributed Print System + Novell Modular Authentication Service Null/Loopback + OSI ISO 8571 FTAM Protocol + OSI ISO/IEC 10035-1 ACSE Protocol Open Shortest Path First OpenBSD Encapsulating device OpenBSD Packet Filter log file OpenBSD Packet Filter log file, pre 3.4 + Optimized Link State Routing Protocol PC NFS + PKCS#1 + POSTGRESQL PPP Bandwidth Allocation Control Protocol PPP Bandwidth Allocation Protocol PPP CDP Control Protocol @@ -496,17 +647,20 @@ PPP MPLS Control Protocol PPP Multilink Protocol PPP Multiplexing + PPP OSI Control Protocol PPP Password Authentication Protocol PPP VJ Compression PPP-over-Ethernet Discovery PPP-over-Ethernet Session PPPMux Control Protocol Packed Encoding Rules (ASN.1 X.691) + PacketCable Point-to-Point Protocol Point-to-Point Tunnelling Protocol Portmap Post Office Protocol Pragmatic General Multicast + Precision Time Protocol (IEEE1588) Prism Privilege Server operations Protocol Independent Multicast @@ -530,6 +684,7 @@ Radius Protocol Raw packet data Real Time Streaming Protocol + Real-Time Publish-Subscribe Wire Protocol Real-Time Transport Protocol Real-time Transport Control Protocol Registry Server Attributes Manipulation Interface @@ -570,18 +725,23 @@ Session Initiation Protocol Session Initiation Protocol (SIP as raw text) Short Message Peer to Peer + Signaling Compression Signalling Connection Control Part Signalling Connection Control Part Management Simple Mail Transfer Protocol Simple Network Management Protocol Simple Traversal of UDP Through NAT Sinec H1 Protocol + Sipfrag Skinny Client Control Protocol SliMP3 Communication Protocol Socks Protocol + SoulSeek Protocol Spanning Tree Protocol Spnego Stream Control Transmission Protocol + Subnetwork Dependent Convergence Protocol + Symantec Enterprise Firewall Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC) Syslog message Systems Network Architecture @@ -589,6 +749,7 @@ T38 TACACS TACACS+ + TEI Management Procedure, Channel D (LAPD) TEREDO Tunneling IPv6 over UDP through NATs TPKT Tabular Data Stream @@ -608,7 +769,10 @@ Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol Virtual Trunking Protocol WAP Binary XML + WAP Session Initiation Request Web Cache Coordination Protocol + WebSphere MQ + WebSphere MQ Programmable Command Formats Wellfleet Breath of Life Wellfleet Compression Wellfleet HDLC @@ -621,6 +785,10 @@ X.25 X.25 over TCP X.29 + X.509 Authentication Framework + X.509 Certificate Extensions + X.509 Information Framework + X.509 Selected Attribute Types X11 Xyplex Yahoo Messenger Protocol @@ -632,16 +800,17 @@ Zebra Protocol Zone Information Protocol eDonkey Protocol + giFT Internet File Transfer iSCSI iSNS - Q 1.3: Are there any plans to support {your favorite protocol}? + Q 1.6: Are there any plans to support {your favorite protocol}? A: Support for particular protocols is added to Ethereal as a result of people contributing that support; no formal plans for adding support for particular protocols in particular future releases exist. - Q 1.4: Can Ethereal read capture files from {your favorite network + Q 1.7: Can Ethereal read capture files from {your favorite network analyzer}? A: Support for particular protocols is added to Ethereal as a result @@ -666,7 +835,7 @@ Note that there is no guarantee that we will be able to reverse-engineer a capture file format. - Q 1.5: What devices can Ethereal use to capture packets? + Q 1.8: What devices can Ethereal use to capture packets? A: Ethereal can read live data from Ethernet, Token-Ring, FDDI, serial (PPP and SLIP) (if the OS on which it's running allows Ethereal to do @@ -679,7 +848,7 @@ whether it can capture on them"; we expect that it will be able to capture on many of them, but we haven't tried it ourselves - if you try one of those types and it works, please send an update to - ethereal-web[AT]ethereal.com). + _EWEB_MAILTO). It can also read a variety of capture file formats, including: * libpcap/tcpdump @@ -707,7 +876,7 @@ other applications or equipment, even if it cannot itself capture on those network types. - Q 1.6: How do you pronounce Ethereal? Where did the name come from? + Q 1.9: How do you pronounce Ethereal? Where did the name come from? A: The English pronunciation can be found in Merriam-Webster's online dictionary at @@ -716,10 +885,11 @@ According to the book "Computer Networks" by Andrew Tannenbaum, Ethernet was named after the "luminiferous ether" which was once thought to carry electromagnetic radiation. Taking that into - consideration, Ethereal seemed like an appropriate name for an - Ethernet analyzer. + consideration, Ethereal seemed like an appropriate name for something + that started out as an Ethernet analyzer. + +Downloading Ethereal - DOWNLOADING ETHEREAL Q 2.1: I downloaded the Win32 installer, but when I try to run it, I get an error. @@ -746,7 +916,8 @@ the server. You should try again later, or try the local mirror or the Wiretapped.net mirror. - INSTALLING ETHEREAL +Installing Ethereal + Q 3.1: I installed an Ethereal RPM, but Ethereal doesn't seem to be installed; only Tethereal is installed. @@ -762,7 +933,8 @@ Find the ethereal-gnome or ethereal-gtk+ RPM, and install that also. - BUILDING ETHEREAL +Building Ethereal + Q 4.1: The configure script can't find pcap.h or bpf.h, but I have libpcap installed. @@ -776,12 +948,12 @@ strange location. If this is the case, you may have to tweak aclocal.m4. - Q 4.2: Why do I get the error + Q 4.2: Why do I get the error dftest_DEPENDENCIES was already defined in condition TRUE, which implies condition HAVE_PLUGINS_TRUE - when I try to build Ethereal from CVS or a CVS snapshot? + when I try to build Ethereal from SVN or a SVN snapshot? A: You probably have automake 1.5 installed on your machine (the command automake --version will report the version of automake on your @@ -789,7 +961,7 @@ problem; upgrade to a later version of automake (1.6 or later). Q 4.3: The link fails with a number of "Output line too long." - messages followed by linker errors. + messages followed by linker errors. A: The version of the sed command on your system is incapable of handling very long lines. On Solaris, for example, /usr/bin/sed has a @@ -803,7 +975,7 @@ searching the directory with the version of sed that came with the OS should make the problem go away. - Q 4.4: The link fails on Solaris because plugin_list is undefined. + Q 4.4: The link fails on Solaris because plugin_list is undefined. A: This appears to be due to a problem with some versions of the GTK+ and GLib packages from www.sunfreeware.org; un-install those packages, @@ -817,7 +989,7 @@ mentioned.) Q 4.5: The build fails on Windows because of conflicts between - winsock.h and winsock2.h. + winsock.h and winsock2.h. A: As of Ethereal 0.9.5, you must install WinPcap 2.3 or later, and the corresponding version of the developer's pack, in order to be able @@ -832,7 +1004,8 @@ Note that the installed version of the developer's pack should be the same version as the version of WinPcap you have installed. - USING ETHEREAL +Using Ethereal + Q 5.1: When I use Ethereal to capture packets, I see only packets to and from my machine, or I'm not seeing all the traffic I'm expecting to see from or to the machine I'm trying to monitor. @@ -857,31 +1030,10 @@ to a single port so that you can plug your analyzer into that single port to sniff all traffic. You would have to check the documentation for the switch to see if this is possible and, if so, to see how to do - this. See, for example: - * this documentation from Cisco on the Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) - feature on Catalyst switches; - * documentation from HP on how to set "monitoring"/"mirroring" on - ports on the console for HP Advancestack Switch 208 and 224; - * the "Network Monitoring Port Features" section of chapter 6 of - documentation from HP for HP ProCurve Switches 1600M, 2424M, - 4000M, and 8000M; - * the "Switch Port-Mirroring" section of chapter 6 of documentation - from Extreme Networks for their Summit 200 switches; - * the documentation on "Configuring Port Mirroring and Monitoring" - in Foundry Networks' documentation for their FastIron Edge - Switches; - * the documentation on "Configuring Port Mirroring and Monitoring" - in Foundry Networks' documentation for their BigIron MG8 Layer 3 - Switches; - * the "Port Monitor" subsection of the "Status Monitor and - Statistics" section of the documentation from Foundry Networks for - their EdgeIron 4802F and 10GC2F switches; - * the "Configuring Port Mirroring" section of chapter 3 of the - documentation from Foundry Networks for their EdgeIron 24G, - 2402CF, and 4802CF switches; - * the documentation on "Configuring Port Mirroring and Monitoring" - in Foundry Networks' documentation for their other switches and - metro routers. + this. See the switch reference page on the Ethereal Wiki for + information on some switches. (Note that it's a Wiki, so you can + update or fix that information, or add additional information on those + switches or information on new switches, yourself.) Note also that many firewall/NAT boxes have a switch built into them; this includes many of the "cable/DSL router" boxes. If you have a box @@ -982,7 +1134,7 @@ interface on my machine not show up in the list of interfaces in the "Interface:" field in the dialog box popped up by "Capture->Start", and/or why does Ethereal give me an error if I try to capture on that - interface? + interface? A: If you are running Ethereal on Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server, and this is the first time you have run @@ -1024,12 +1176,14 @@ capture on the interface you're currently using. In that case, you might, for example, have to remove the VPN interface from the system in order to capture on the PPP serial interface. - 3. WinPcap doesn't support PPP WAN interfaces on Windows - NT/2000/XP/Server, so Ethereal cannot capture packets on those - devices when running on Windows NT/2000/XP/Server. Regular dial-up - lines, ISDN lines, and various other lines such as T1/E1 lines are - all PPP interfaces. This may cause the interface not to show up on - the list of interfaces in the "Capture Options" dialog. + 3. WinPcap 3.0 doesn't support PPP WAN interfaces, and WinPcap 2.3 + doesn't support PPP WAN interfaces on Windows NT/2000/XP/Server, + so Ethereal cannot capture packets on those devices with WinPcap + 3.0, or with WInPcap 2.x when running on Windows + NT/2000/XP/Server. Regular dial-up lines, ISDN lines, and various + other lines such as T1/E1 lines are all PPP interfaces. This may + cause the interface not to show up on the list of interfaces in + the "Capture Options" dialog. 4. WinPcap prior to 3.0 does not support multiprocessor machines (note that machines with a single multi-threaded processor, such as Intel's new multi-threaded x86 processors, are multiprocessor @@ -1046,11 +1200,28 @@ If the attempt to capture on it succeeds, the interface is somehow not being reported by the mechanism Ethereal uses to get a list of - interfaces; please report this to ethereal-dev@ethereal.com giving - full details of the problem, including + interfaces. Try listing the interfaces with WinDump; see the WinDump + Web site or the local mirror of the WinDump Web site for information + on using WinDump. + + You would run WinDump with the -D flag; if it lists the interface, + please report this to ethereal-dev@ethereal.com giving full details of + the problem, including * the operating system you're using, and the version of that operating system; - * the type of network device you're using. + * the type of network device you're using; + * the output of WinDump. + + If WinDump does not list the interface, this is almost certainly a + problem with one or more of: + * the operating system you're using; + * the device driver for the interface you're using; + * the WinPcap library and/or the WinPcap device driver; + + so first check the WinPcap FAQ, the local mirror of that FAQ, or the + Wiretapped.net mirror of that FAQ, to see if your problem is mentioned + there. If not, then see the WinPcap support page (or the local mirror + of that page) - check the "Submitting bugs" section. If you are having trouble capturing on a particular network interface, first try capturing on that device with WinDump; see the WinDump Web @@ -1086,11 +1257,30 @@ above, and also indicate that the problem occurs with WinDump, not just with Ethereal. - Q 5.5: I'm running on a UNIX-flavored OS; why does some network - interface on my machine not show up in the list of interfaces in the - "Interface:" field in the dialog box popped up by "Capture->Start", - and/or why does Ethereal give me an error if I try to capture on that - interface? + Q 5.5: I'm running Ethereal on Windows; why do no network interfaces + show up in the list of interfaces in the "Interface:" field in the + dialog box popped up by "Capture->Start"? + + A: This is really the same question as the previous one; see the + response to that question. + + Q 5.6: I'm running Ethereal on Windows; why doesn't my serial + port/ADSL modem/ISDN modem/show up in the list of interfaces in the + "Interface:" field in the dialog box popped up by "Capture->Start"? + + A: All of those devices support Internet access using the + Point-to-Point (PPP) protocol; WinPcap 3.0 doesn't support PPP + interfaces, and WinPcap 2.x doesn't support PPP interfaces on Windows + NT/2000/XP/Server, so Ethereal cannot capture packets on those devices + with WinPcap 3.0, or with WinPcap 2.x when running on Windows + NT/2000/XP/Server. This may cause the interface not to show up on the + list of interfaces in the "Capture Options" dialog. + + Q 5.7: I'm running Ethereal on a UNIX-flavored OS; why does some + network interface on my machine not show up in the list of interfaces + in the "Interface:" field in the dialog box popped up by + "Capture->Start", and/or why does Ethereal give me an error if I try + to capture on that interface? A: You may need to run Ethereal from an account with sufficient privileges to capture packets, such as the super-user account. Only @@ -1170,7 +1360,36 @@ above, and also indicate that the problem occurs with tcpdump not just with Ethereal. - Q 5.6: How do I put an interface into promiscuous mode? + Q 5.8: I'm running Ethereal on a UNIX-flavored OS; why do no network + interfaces show up in the list of interfaces in the "Interface:" field + in the dialog box popped up by "Capture->Start"? + + A: This is really the same question as the previous one; see the + response to that question. + + Q 5.9: Can Ethereal capture on (my T1/E1 line, SS7 links, etc.)? + + A: Ethereal can only capture on devices supported by libpcap/WinPcap. + On most OSes, only devices that can act as network interfaces of the + type that support IP are supported as capture devices for + libpcap/WinPcap, although the device doesn't necessarily have to be + running as an IP interface in order to support traffic capture. + + On Linux and FreeBSD, libpcap 0.8 and later support the API for Endace + Measurement Systems' DAG cards, so that a system with one of those + cards, and its driver and libraries, installed can capture traffic + with those cards with libpcap-based applications. You would either + have to have a version of Ethereal built with that version of libpcap, + or a dynamically-linked version of Ethereal and a shared libpcap + library with DAG support, in order to do so with Ethereal. You should + ask Endace whether that could be used to capture traffic on, for + example, your T1/E1 link. + There is currently no hardware to support capturing on SS7 links with + libpcap. (Note that the fact that Ethereal includes dissectors for + many SS7 protocols doesn't imply that it can capture traffic from SS7 + links; those protocols can be run over Internet protocols.) + + Q 5.10: How do I put an interface into promiscuous mode? A: By not disabling promiscuous mode when running Ethereal or Tethereal. @@ -1192,8 +1411,8 @@ I.e., this is probably the same question as this earlier one; see the response to that question. - Q 5.7: I can set a display filter just fine, but capture filters don't - work. + Q 5.11: I can set a display filter just fine, but capture filters + don't work. A: Capture filters currently use a different syntax than display filters. Here's the corresponding section from the ethereal(1) man @@ -1212,7 +1431,7 @@ The capture filter syntax used by libpcap can be found in the tcpdump(8) man page. - Q 5.8: I'm entering valid capture filters, but I still get "parse + Q 5.12: I'm entering valid capture filters, but I still get "parse error" errors. A: There is a bug in some versions of libpcap/WinPcap that cause it to @@ -1244,7 +1463,7 @@ WinPcap, you will need to un-install WinPcap and then download and install WinPcap 2.3. - Q 5.9: I saved a filter and tried to use its name to filter the + Q 5.13: I saved a filter and tried to use its name to filter the display, but I got an "Unexpected end of filter string" error. A: You cannot use the name of a saved display filter as a filter. To @@ -1255,7 +1474,7 @@ use a saved filter, you can press the "Filter:" button, select the filter in the dialog box that pops up, and press the "OK" button. - Q 5.10: Why am I seeing lots of packets with incorrect TCP checksums? + Q 5.14: Why am I seeing lots of packets with incorrect TCP checksums? A: If the packets that have incorrect TCP checksums are all being sent by the machine on which Ethereal is running, this is probably because @@ -1287,13 +1506,13 @@ tcp.check_checksum:false command-line flag, or manually set in your preferences file by adding a tcp.check_checksum:false line. - Q 5.11: I've just installed Ethereal, and the traffic on my local LAN + Q 5.15: I've just installed Ethereal, and the traffic on my local LAN is boring. A: We have a collection of strange and exotic sample capture files at http://www.ethereal.com/sample/ - Q 5.12: When I run Ethereal on Solaris 8, it dies with a Bus Error + Q 5.16: When I run Ethereal on Solaris 8, it dies with a Bus Error when I start it. A: Some versions of the GTK+ library from www.sunfreeware.org appear @@ -1311,7 +1530,42 @@ Similar problems may exist with older versions of GTK+ for earlier versions of Solaris. - Q 5.13: When I run Ethereal on Windows NT, it dies with a Dr. Watson + Q 5.17: When I run Ethereal, I get an error + + Gtk-CRITICAL **: file gtkwindow.c: line 3107 (gtk_window_resize): + assertion `height > 0' failed. + + A: This is a bug in Ethereal 0.10.5 and 0.10.5a, which is fixed in + Ethereal 0.10.6 and later releases. + + Q 5.18: When I run Tethereal with the "-x" option, it crashes with an + error + + "** ERROR **: file print.c: line 691 (print_line): should not be + reached. + + A: This is a bug in Ethereal 0.10.0a, which is fixed in 0.10.1 and + later releases. To work around the bug, don't use "-x" unless you're + also using "-V"; note that "-V" produces a full dissection of each + packet, so you might not want to use it. + + To get a fixed version, either build the current SVN version from + anonymous SVN or a nightly SVN snapshot, or apply to tethereal.c in + the 0.10.0a source tarball the changes between the broken and the + fixed versions, which you can download with the URL + http://www.ethereal.com/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/ethereal/tethereal.c.diff? + r2=1.211&r1=1.210&diff_format=u and (re-)build from source. It might + be easier to get the SVN version than to get the patch and apply it to + the 0.10.0a source tarball, but it's probably easier to build from the + source tarball than from the SVN version, as you'll need to have more + tools and make more steps to generate from the SVN version some files + that are bundled with the source tarball. + + Note that to build from the 0.10.0a source tarball on Windows with + Microsoft Visual C++, you will need to get a file that was missing + from the 0.10.0a source tarball; see the FAQ for that problem. + + Q 5.19: When I run Ethereal on Windows NT, it dies with a Dr. Watson error, reporting an "Integer division by zero" exception, when I start it. @@ -1319,7 +1573,7 @@ VGA driver; if that's not the correct driver for your video card, try running the correct driver for your video card. - Q 5.14: When I try to run Ethereal, it complains about + Q 5.20: When I try to run Ethereal, it complains about sprint_realloc_objid being undefined. A: Ethereal can only be linked with version 4.2.2 or later of UCD @@ -1329,7 +1583,7 @@ the older version, and fails. You will have to replace that version of UCD SNMP with version 4.2.2 or a later version. - Q 5.15: I'm running Ethereal on Linux; why do my time stamps have only + Q 5.21: I'm running Ethereal on Linux; why do my time stamps have only 100ms resolution, rather than 1us resolution? A: Ethereal gets time stamps from libpcap/WinPcap, and libpcap/WinPcap @@ -1355,13 +1609,13 @@ have to run a standard kernel from kernel.org in order to get high-resolution time stamps. - Q 5.16: I'm capturing packets on {Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me}; - why are the time stamps on packets wrong? + Q 5.22: I'm capturing packets on {Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me}; + why are the time stamps on packets wrong? A: This is due to a bug in WinPcap. The bug should be fixed in WinPcap 3.0. - Q 5.17: When I try to run Ethereal on Windows, it fails to run because + Q 5.23: When I try to run Ethereal on Windows, it fails to run because it can't find packet.dll. A: In older versions of Ethereal, there were two binary distributions @@ -1378,7 +1632,7 @@ Web site, the local mirror of the WinPcap Web site, or the Wiretapped.net mirror of the WinPcap site. - Q 5.18: I'm running Ethereal on Windows NT/2000/XP/Server; my machine + Q 5.24: I'm running Ethereal on Windows NT/2000/XP/Server; my machine has a PPP (dial-up POTS, ISDN, etc.) interface, and it shows up in the "Interface" item in the "Capture Options" dialog box. Why can no packets be sent on or received from that network while I'm trying to @@ -1392,7 +1646,7 @@ Preferences" dialog box, but this may mean that outgoing packets, or incoming packets, won't be seen in the capture. - Q 5.19: I'm running Ethereal on Windows 95/98/Me, on a machine with + Q 5.25: I'm running Ethereal on Windows 95/98/Me, on a machine with more than one network adapter of the same type; Ethereal shows all of those adapters with the same name, but I can't use any of those adapters other than the first one. @@ -1403,7 +1657,7 @@ capture only on the first such interface; Ethereal is a libpcap/WinPcap-based application. - Q 5.20: I'm running Ethereal on Windows, and I'm not seeing any + Q 5.26: I'm running Ethereal on Windows, and I'm not seeing any traffic being sent by the machine running Ethereal. A: If you are running some form of VPN client software, it might be @@ -1420,7 +1674,7 @@ requested that the interface run promiscuously; try turning promiscuous mode off. - Q 5.21: I'm trying to capture traffic but I'm not seeing any. + Q 5.27: I'm trying to capture traffic but I'm not seeing any. A: Is the machine running Ethereal sending out any traffic on the network interface on which you're capturing, or receiving any traffic @@ -1436,8 +1690,8 @@ Otherwise, on Windows, see the response to this question and, on a UNIX-flavored OS, see the response to this question. - Q 5.22: I have an XXX network card on my machine; if I try to capture - on it, my machine crashes or resets itself. + Q 5.28: I have an XXX network card on my machine; if I try to capture + on it, my machine crashes or resets itself. A: This is almost certainly a problem with one or more of: * the operating system you're using; @@ -1454,8 +1708,8 @@ Linux distribution, report the problem to whoever produces the distribution). - Q 5.23: My machine crashes or resets itself when I select "Start" from - the "Capture" menu or select "Preferences" from the "Edit" menu. + Q 5.29: My machine crashes or resets itself when I select "Start" from + the "Capture" menu or select "Preferences" from the "Edit" menu. A: Both of those operations cause Ethereal to try to build a list of the interfaces that it can open; it does so by getting a list of @@ -1463,20 +1717,20 @@ or, for Windows, WinPcap bug that causes the system to crash when this happens; see the previous question. - Q 5.24: Does Ethereal work on Windows Me? + Q 5.30: Does Ethereal work on Windows Me? A: Yes, but if you want to capture packets, you will need to install the latest version of WinPcap, as 2.02 and earlier versions of WinPcap didn't support Windows Me. You should also install the latest version of Ethereal as well. - Q 5.25: Does Ethereal work on Windows XP? + Q 5.31: Does Ethereal work on Windows XP? A: Yes, but if you want to capture packets, you will need to install the latest version of WinPcap, as 2.2 and earlier versions of WinPcap didn't support Windows XP. - Q 5.26: Why doesn't Ethereal correctly identify RTP packets? It shows + Q 5.32: Why doesn't Ethereal correctly identify RTP packets? It shows them only as UDP. A: Ethereal can identify a UDP datagram as containing a packet of a @@ -1509,7 +1763,7 @@ both the source and destination ports of the packet should be dissected as some particular protocol. - Q 5.27: Why doesn't Ethereal show Yahoo Messenger packets in captures + Q 5.33: Why doesn't Ethereal show Yahoo Messenger packets in captures that contain Yahoo Messenger traffic? A: Ethereal only recognizes as Yahoo Messenger traffic packets to or @@ -1519,7 +1773,7 @@ Messenger packets (even if the TCP segment also contains the beginning of another Yahoo Messenger packet). - Q 5.28: Why do I get the error + Q 5.34: Why do I get the error Gdk-ERROR **: Palettized display (256-colour) mode not supported on Windows. @@ -1538,23 +1792,50 @@ of that toolkit that supports 256-color mode; upgrade to the current version of Ethereal if you want to run on a display in 256-color mode. - Q 5.29: When I capture on Windows in promiscuous mode, I can see + Q 5.35: When I capture on Windows in promiscuous mode, I can see packets other than those sent to or from my machine; however, those packets show up with a "Short Frame" indication, unlike packets to or from my machine. What should I do to arrange that I see those packets - in their entirety? + in their entirety? A: In at least some cases, this appears to be the result of PGPnet running on the network interface on which you're capturing; turn it off on that interface. - Q 5.30: How can I capture raw 802.11 packets, including non-data - (management, beacon) packets? - - A: That would require that your 802.11 interface run in the mode - called "monitor mode" or "RFMON mode". Not all operating systems - support that and, even on operating systems that do support it, not - all drivers, and thus not all cards, support it. + Q 5.36: I'm capturing packets on a machine on a VLAN; why don't the + packets I'm capturing have VLAN tags? + + A: You might be capturing on what might be called a "VLAN interface" - + the way a particular OS makes VLANs plug into the networking stack + might, for example, be to have a network device object for the + physical interface, which takes VLAN packets, strips off the VLAN + header and constructs an Ethernet header, and passes that packet to an + internal network device object for the VLAN, which then passes the + packets onto various higher-level protocol implementations. + + In order to see the raw Ethernet packets, rather than "de-VLANized" + packets, you would have to capture not on the virtual interface for + the VLAN, but on the interface corresponding to the physical network + device, if possible. + + Q 5.37: How can I capture raw 802.11 packets, including non-data + (management, beacon) packets? + + A: That depends on the operating system on which you're running, and + on the 802.11 interface on which you're capturing. + + This would probably require that you capture in promiscuous mode or in + the mode called "monitor mode" or "RFMON mode". On some platforms, or + with some cards, this might require that you capture in monitor mode - + promiscuous mode might not be sufficient. If you want to capture + traffic on networks other than the one with which you're associated, + you will have to capture in monitor mode. + + Not all operating systems support capturing non-data packets and, even + on operating systems that do support it, not all drivers, and thus not + all interfaces, support it. Even on those that do, monitor mode might + not be supported by the operating system or by the drivers for all + interfaces. NOTE: an interface running in monitor mode will, on most if not all platforms, not be able to act as a regular network interface; putting @@ -1568,43 +1849,37 @@ for a long time trying to resolve the name because it will not be able to communicate with any DNS or NIS servers. - Cisco Aironet cards: - - The only platforms that allow Ethereal to capture raw 802.11 packets - on Cisco Aironet cards are: - * Linux, with a 2.4.6 or later kernel; - * FreeBSD 4.6 or later, as the driver in FreeBSD 4.5 has bugs that - cause packets not to be captured correctly, and the driver in - releases prior to 4.5 didn't support capturing raw packets. + There are FAQ items below with information on capturing in monitor + mode on Linux, FreeBSD, and NetBSD. - On FreeBSD, the ancontrol utility must be used. The command + On Windows, you will not be able to capture in monitor mode on any + interfaces, and you might not be able to capture in promiscuous mode, + either. You might have some success in promiscuous mode with Centrino + interfaces, although you will need Ethereal 0.10.6 or later in order + to have the non-data packets recognized and properly dissected. -ancontrol -i anN -M flag + You will not be able to capture in monitor mode on any other platforms + (including Mac OS X). You might be able to capture in promiscuous + mode, but this won't capture non-data packets. - is used to enable or disable monitor mode. If flag is 0, monitor mode - will be turned off; otherwise, flag should be the sum of: - * 1, to turn monitor mode on; - * 2, if you want to capture traffic from any BSS rather than just - the BSS with which the card is associated; - * 4, if you want to see beacon packets (capturing beacon packets - increases the CPU requirements of capturing). + Q 5.38: How do I capture on an 802.11 device in monitor mode on Linux? - Don't add 8 in; Ethereal currently doesn't support the full Aironet - header. + A: Whether you will be able to capture in monitor mode depends on the + card and driver you're using. See this page of Linux 802.11b + information for details on 802.11b wireless cards, including + information on the chips they use, and see this page of Linux + 802.11b+/a/g information for details on 802.11b+, 802.11a, and 802.11g + wireless cards, including information on the chips they use. - On Linux with the driver in the 2.4.6 through 2.4.19 kernel, you will - need to do - -echo "Mode: rfmon" >/proc/driver/aironet/ethN/Config - - if your Aironet card is ethN. To capture traffic from any BSS rather - than just the BSS with which the card is associated, do - -echo "Mode: y" >/proc/driver/aironet/ethN/Config - - and to return to the normal mode, do + Cisco Aironet cards: -echo "Mode: ess" >/proc/driver/aironet/ethN/Config + On Linux with the driver in the 2.4.6 through 2.4.19 kernel: + 1. Put the card into monitor mode with the command echo "Mode: rfmon" + >/proc/driver/aironet/interface/Config. If you want to capture + traffic for any BSS rather than just the BSS with which the card + is associated, use "Mode: y" rather than "Mode: rfmon". + 2. When the capture completes, turn off monitor mode with the command + echo "Mode: ess" >/proc/driver/aironet/interface/Config. On Linux with the driver in the 2.4.20 or later kernel, or with the CVS drivers from the airo-linux SourceForge site, you will have to @@ -1624,14 +1899,12 @@ echo "Mode: ess" >/proc/driver/aironet/ethN/Config dependency checking so that they will install Ethereal even though a newer version of libpcap is installed. - Cards using the Prism II chip set (see this page of Linux 802.11 - information for details on wireless cards, including information on - the chips they use): + Cards using the Prism II chip set: You can capture raw 802.11 packets with Prism II cards on Linux systems with the 0.1.14-pre6 or later version of the linux-wlan-ng drivers (see the linux-wlan page, and the linux-wlan-ng tarball - directory). + directory), or with the hostap driver for Prism II/2.5/3. Those require either Solomon Peachy's patch to libpcap 0.7.1 (see his libpcap-0.7.1-prism.diff file, or his RPMs of that version of @@ -1645,21 +1918,36 @@ echo "Mode: ess" >/proc/driver/aironet/ethN/Config you install the libpcap-0.7.1-1prism.i386.rpm RPM, as it might install a libpcap shared library in place of the one on your system. - You may have to run a command to put the interface into monitor mode, - or to change other interface settings, and you might have to capture - on a wlanN interface rather than a ethN interface, in order to capture - raw 802.11 packets. The interface settings are available in your - wlan-ng.conf file. See the wlan-ng FAQ for additional information. - - On other platforms, capturing raw 802.11 packets on Prism II cards is - not currently supported. + With the linux-wlan-ng driver, you should: + 1. Put the card into monitor mode with the command wlanctl-ng + interface lnxreq_wlansniffer enable=true. You should request + 802.11 headers by adding to that command the option + prismheader=true or, if supported, wlanheader=true; the latter + might require libpcap 0.8.1 or later. You can also set the channel + to monitor by adding the argument channel=channel_number to that + command. + 2. When the capture completes, turn off monitor mode with the command + wlanctl-ng interface enable=false. You might also have to turn + 802.11 headers off with prismheader=false or wlanheader=false. + + See the wlan-ng FAQ for additional information, although note that it + does not appear to be up-to-date. + + With the hostap driver, you should: + 1. Put the card into monitor mode with the command iwpriv interface + monitor mode, where mode is 2 or 3 (mode 3 would require libpcap + 0.8.1 or later). + 2. When the capture completes, turn off monitor mode with the command + iwpriv interface monitor 0. Orinoco Silver and Gold cards: - On Linux systems, there are patches on the Orinoco Monitor Mode Patch - Page that should allow you to do capture raw 802.11 packets. You will - have to determine which version of the driver you have, and select the - appropriate patch. + On Linux systems, the current version of the SourceForge orinoco_cs + driver should support monitor mode. There also exist patches to + earlier versions of the Orinoco driver, on the Orinoco Monitor Mode + Patch Page, to add support for monitor mode. You will have to + determine which version of the driver you have, and select the + appropriate patch, if one is necessary. Note that the page indicates that not all versions of the Orinoco firmware support this patch. It says, for some versions of the patch, @@ -1677,26 +1965,25 @@ echo "Mode: ess" >/proc/driver/aironet/ethN/Config check the version of the Orinoco drivers that shipped with your kernel by examining the first few lines of the orinoco.c file. - The Orinoco patches require either Solomon Peachy's patch to libpcap - 0.7.1 (see his libpcap-0.7.1-prism.diff file, or his RPMs of that - version of libpcap), or the current CVS version of libpcap, which - includes his patch (download it from the "Current Tar files" section - of the tcpdump.org Web site). If you apply his patches to libpcap - 0.7.1 and rebuild and install libpcap, or if you build and install the - current CVS version of libpcap, you would have to rebuild Ethereal - from source, linking it with that new version of libpcap; an Ethereal - binary package would not work. Ethereal binary packages might work if - you install the libpcap-0.7.1-1prism.i386.rpm RPM, as it might install - a libpcap shared library in place of the one on your system. - - On other platforms, capturing raw 802.11 packets on Orinoco cards is - not currently supported. - - Cards with the Atheros Communications AR5000 or AR5001 chipsets: - - You can capture raw 802.11 packets with AR5K cards on Linux systems - with the v5_ar5k drivers. You will need the Linux wireless-tools - version 25 or higher to put the card into monitor mode. + The Orinoco patches and SourceForge driver require either Solomon + Peachy's patch to libpcap 0.7.1 (see his libpcap-0.7.1-prism.diff + file, or his RPMs of that version of libpcap), or the current CVS + version of libpcap, which includes his patch (download it from the + "Current Tar files" section of the tcpdump.org Web site). If you apply + his patches to libpcap 0.7.1 and rebuild and install libpcap, or if + you build and install the current CVS version of libpcap, you would + have to rebuild Ethereal from source, linking it with that new version + of libpcap; an Ethereal binary package would not work. Ethereal binary + packages might work if you install the libpcap-0.7.1-1prism.i386.rpm + RPM, as it might install a libpcap shared library in place of the one + on your system. + + With a driver that supports monitor mode, you should: + 1. Put the card into monitor mode with the command iwpriv interface + monitor mode channel_number, where mode is 1 or 2, and + channel_number is the number of the channel to monitor. + 2. When the capture completes, turn off monitor mode with the command + iwpriv interface monitor 0. Cards with the Texas Instruments ACX100 chipset: @@ -1704,20 +1991,82 @@ echo "Mode: ess" >/proc/driver/aironet/ethN/Config with the ACX100 OSS drivers available from the ACX100 wireless network driver project SourceForge site. - Other 802.11 interfaces: + With that driver: - With other 802.11 interfaces, no platform allows Ethereal to capture - raw 802.11 packets, as far as we know. If you know of other 802.11 - interfaces that are supported (note that there are many "Prism II - cards", so your card might be a Prism II card), please let us know, - and include URLs for sites containing any necessary patches to add - this support. + 1. Put the card into monitor mode with the command iwpriv interface + monitor 2 channel_number, where channel_number is the number of + the channel to monitor. + 2. When the capture completes, turn off monitor mode with the command + iwpriv interface monitor 0. - On platforms that don't allow Ethereal to capture raw 802.11 packets, - the 802.11 network will appear like an Ethernet to Ethereal. + Cards with Atheros Communications chipsets: - Q 5.31: I'm trying to capture 802.11 traffic on Windows; why am I not - seeing any packets? + You can capture raw 802.11 packets with AR5K cards on Linux systems + with the v5_ar5k or madwifi drivers. For the v5ar5k driver you will + need the Linux wireless-tools version 25 or higher to put the card + into monitor mode. If you're using the madwifi driver, you can put the + card into monitor mode using iwconfig interface mode monitor, followed + by iwconfig interface channel channel to select a channel (if needed). + + Other cards: + + It might be possible to capture in monitor mode on other cards. If so, + please supply us with information on how to do so, so that we can + incorporate that information into this FAQ in the future. + + Q 5.39: How do I capture on an 802.11 device in monitor mode on + FreeBSD? + + A: On FreeBSD 5.2 and later, you should be able to capture in monitor + mode on 802.11 interfaces supported by the wi and acx drivers, if + Ethereal is linked with libpcap 0.8.1 or later, and on 802.11 + interfaces supported by the an driver, if Ethereal is linked with + libpcap 0.7.1 or later. + + For cards supported by the wi and acx drivers, you should: + 1. Put the card into monitor mode with the command ifconfig interface + monitor. You can also set the channel to monitor by adding the + argument channel channel_number to that command. + 2. When you start the capture, in Ethereal select "802.11" as the + "Link-layer header type", and in Tethereal add the command-line + argument -y 802.11. + 3. When the capture completes, turn off monitor mode with the command + ifconfig interface -monitor. + + For cards supported by the an driver, you should: + 1. Put the card into monitor mode with the command ancontrol -i + interface -M flag, where flag should be the sum of: + + 1, to turn monitor mode on; + + 2, if you want to capture traffic from any BSS rather than + just the BSS with which the card is associated; + + 4, if you want to see beacon packets (capturing beacon + packets increases the CPU requirements of capturing). + 2. When the capture completes, turn off monitor mode with the command + ancontrol -i interface -M 0. + + Don't add 8 in to flag; Ethereal currently doesn't support the full + Aironet header. + + On FreeBSD 4.6 through 5.1, you should be able to capture in monitor + mode on 802.11 interfaces supported by the an driver, but not on any + other interfaces; see the instructions for FreeBSD 5.2 or later for + those cards. + + In FreeBSD 4.5 and earlier, you will not be able to capture in monitor + mode on 802.11 interfaces (no drivers supported it prior to 4.5, and + in 4.5 the an driver had bugs that caused packets not to be captured + correctly). + + Q 5.40: How do I capture on an 802.11 device in monitor mode on + NetBSD? + + A: On NetBSD 2.0-beta and later, you should be able to capture in + monitor mode on 802.11 interfaces supported by the wi and acx drivers, + if Ethereal is linked with libpcap 0.8.1 or later. The instructions + are the same as for FreeBSD 5.2 and later. + + Q 5.41: I'm trying to capture 802.11 traffic on Windows; why am I not + seeing any packets? A: At least some 802.11 card drivers on Windows appear not to see any packets if they're running in promiscuous mode. Try turning @@ -1726,14 +2075,14 @@ echo "Mode: ess" >/proc/driver/aironet/ethN/Config Ethernet traffic and won't include any management or control frames, but that's a limitation of the card drivers. - Q 5.32: I'm trying to capture 802.11 traffic on Windows; why am I + Q 5.42: I'm trying to capture 802.11 traffic on Windows; why am I seeing packets received by the machine on which I'm capturing traffic, - but not packets sent by that machine? + but not packets sent by that machine? A: This appears to be another problem with promiscuous mode; try turning it off. - Q 5.33: How can I capture packets with CRC errors? + Q 5.43: How can I capture packets with CRC errors? A: Ethereal can capture only the packets that the packet capture library - libpcap on UNIX-flavored OSes, and the WinPcap port to @@ -1767,9 +2116,9 @@ echo "Mode: ess" >/proc/driver/aironet/ethN/Config question) and you're using Ethereal 0.9.15 and later, in which case Ethereal will check the CRC and indicate whether it's correct or not. - Q 5.34: How can I capture entire frames, including the FCS? + Q 5.44: How can I capture entire frames, including the FCS? - A: Ethereal can't capture any data that the packet capture library - + A: Ethereal can only capture data that the packet capture library - libpcap on UNIX-flavored OSes, and the WinPcap port to Windows of libpcap on Windows - can capture, and libpcap/WinPcap can capture only the data that the OS's raw packet capture mechanism (or the WinPcap @@ -1799,7 +2148,7 @@ echo "Mode: ess" >/proc/driver/aironet/ethN/Config thinks there is, will display it as such, and will check whether it's the correct CRC-32 value or not. - Q 5.35: Ethereal hangs after I stop a capture. + Q 5.45: Ethereal hangs after I stop a capture. A: The most likely reason for this is that Ethereal is trying to look up an IP address in the capture to convert it to a name (so that, for @@ -1869,8 +2218,8 @@ echo "Mode: ess" >/proc/driver/aironet/ethN/Config contains sensitive information (e.g., passwords), then please do not send it. - Q 5.36: How can I search for, or filter, packets that have a - particular string anywhere in them? + Q 5.46: How can I search for, or filter, packets that have a + particular string anywhere in them? A: If you want to do this when capturing, you can't. That's a feature that would be hard to implement in capture filters without changes to @@ -1891,9 +2240,9 @@ echo "Mode: ess" >/proc/driver/aironet/ethN/Config string or byte string fields in the packet; the "contains" operator can also be used in expressions used to filter the display. - - Support can be found on the ethereal-users[AT]ethereal.com mailing - list. - For corrections/additions/suggestions for this page, please send email - to: ethereal-web[AT]ethereal.com - Last modified: Fri, December 12 2003. + Please send support questions about Ethereal to the + ethereal-users[AT]ethereal.com mailing list. + For corrections/additions/suggestions for this web page (and not + Ethereal support questions), please send email to + ethereal-web[AT]ethereal.com . + Last modified: Sat, September 25 2004.