4 ethereal - Interactively browse network traffic
9 S<[ B<-a> capture autostop condition ] ...>
10 S<[ B<-b> number of ring buffer files [:duration] ]>
11 S<[ B<-B> byte view height ]>
13 S<[ B<-f> capture filter expression ]>
15 S<[ B<-i> interface ]>
21 S<[ B<-N> resolving flags ] >
22 S<[ B<-o> preference setting ] ...>
24 S<[ B<-P> packet list height ]>
27 S<[ B<-R> display filter expression ]>
30 S<[ B<-T> details view height ]>
31 S<[ B<-t> time stamp format ]>
34 S<[ B<-y> link type ]>
35 S<[ B<-z> statistics-string ]>
40 B<Ethereal> is a GUI network protocol analyzer. It lets you
41 interactively browse packet data from a live network or from a
42 previously saved capture file. B<Ethereal>'s native capture file format
43 is B<libpcap> format, which is also the format used by B<tcpdump> and
46 B<Ethereal> can read / import the following file formats:
51 libpcap, tcpdump and various other tools using tcpdump's capture format
54 B<snoop> and B<atmsnoop>
57 Shomiti/Finisar B<Surveyor> captures
60 Novell B<LANalyzer> captures
63 Microsoft B<Network Monitor> captures
66 AIX's B<iptrace> captures
69 Cinco Networks B<NetXRay> captures
72 Network Associates Windows-based B<Sniffer> captures
75 Network General/Network Associates DOS-based B<Sniffer> (compressed or uncompressed) captures
78 AG Group/WildPackets B<EtherPeek>/B<TokenPeek>/B<AiroPeek>/B<EtherHelp>/B<PacketGrabber> captures
81 B<RADCOM>'s WAN/LAN analyzer captures
84 Network Instruments B<Observer> version 9 captures
87 B<Lucent/Ascend> router debug output
90 files from HP-UX's B<nettl>
93 B<Toshiba's> ISDN routers dump output
96 the output from B<i4btrace> from the ISDN4BSD project
99 traces from the B<EyeSDN> USB S0.
102 the output in B<IPLog> format from the Cisco Secure Intrusion Detection System
105 B<pppd logs> (pppdump format)
108 the output from VMS's B<TCPIPtrace>/B<TCPtrace>/B<UCX$TRACE> utilities
111 the text output from the B<DBS Etherwatch> VMS utility
114 Visual Networks' B<Visual UpTime> traffic capture
117 the output from B<CoSine> L2 debug
120 the output from Accellent's B<5Views> LAN agents
123 Endace Measurement Systems' ERF format captures
126 Linux Bluez Bluetooth stack B<hcidump -w> traces
130 There is no need to tell B<Ethereal> what type of
131 file you are reading; it will determine the file type by itself.
132 B<Ethereal> is also capable of reading any of these file formats if they
133 are compressed using gzip. B<Ethereal> recognizes this directly from
134 the file; the '.gz' extension is not required for this purpose.
136 Like other protocol analyzers, B<Ethereal>'s main window shows 3 views
137 of a packet. It shows a summary line, briefly describing what the
138 packet is. A packet details display is shown, allowing you to drill
139 down to exact protocol or field that you interested in. Finally, a hex
140 dump shows you exactly what the packet looks like when it goes over the
143 In addition, B<Ethereal> has some features that make it unique. It can
144 assemble all the packets in a TCP conversation and show you the ASCII
145 (or EBCDIC, or hex) data in that conversation. Display filters in
146 B<Ethereal> are very powerful; more fields are filterable in B<Ethereal>
147 than in other protocol analyzers, and the syntax you can use to create
148 your filters is richer. As B<Ethereal> progresses, expect more and more
149 protocol fields to be allowed in display filters.
151 Packet capturing is performed with the pcap library. The capture filter
152 syntax follows the rules of the pcap library. This syntax is different
153 from the display filter syntax.
155 Compressed file support uses (and therefore requires) the zlib library.
156 If the zlib library is not present, B<Ethereal> will compile, but will
157 be unable to read compressed files.
159 The pathname of a capture file to be read can be specified with the
160 B<-r> option or can be specified as a command-line argument.
166 Most users will want to start B<Ethereal> without options and configure
167 it from the menus instead. Those users may just skip this section.
171 Specify a criterion that specifies when B<Ethereal> is to stop writing
172 to a capture file. The criterion is of the form I<test>B<:>I<value>,
173 where I<test> is one of:
181 Stop writing to a capture file after I<value> seconds have elapsed.
185 Stop writing to a capture file after it reaches a size of I<value>
186 kilobytes (where a kilobyte is 1000 bytes, not 1024 bytes).
194 If a maximum capture file size was specified, cause B<Ethereal> to run
195 in "ring buffer" mode, with the specified number of files. In "ring
196 buffer" mode, B<Ethereal> will write to several capture files.
197 Their name is based on the number of the file and on the creation date
200 When the first capture file fills up, B<Ethereal> will switch to writing
201 to the next file, until it fills up the last file, at which point it'll
202 discard the data in the first file (unless 0 is specified, in which case,
203 the number of files is unlimited) and start writing to that file and so on.
205 If the optional duration is specified, B<Ethereal> will switch also
206 to the next file when the specified number of seconds has elapsed even
207 if the current file is not completely fills up.
211 Set the initial height of the byte view (bottom) pane.
215 Set the default number of packets to read when capturing live
220 Set the capture filter expression.
224 Print the version and options and exit.
228 Set the name of the network interface or pipe to use for live packet
231 Network interface names should match one of the names listed in
232 "B<tethereal -D>". If you're using Unix, "B<netstat -i>" or "B<ifconfig
233 -a>" might also work to list interface names, although not all versions
234 of Unix support the B<-a> flag to B<ifconfig>.
236 Pipe names should be either the name of a FIFO (named pipe) or ``-'' to
237 read data from the standard input. Data read from pipes must be in
238 standard libpcap format.
242 Start the capture session immediately. If the B<-i> flag was
243 specified, the capture uses the specified interface. Otherwise,
244 B<Ethereal> searches the list of interfaces, choosing the first
245 non-loopback interface if there are any non-loopback interfaces, and
246 choosing the first loopback interface if there are no non-loopback
247 interfaces; if there are no interfaces, B<Ethereal> reports an error and
248 doesn't start the capture.
252 Turn on automatic scrolling if the packet display is being updated
253 automatically as packets arrive during a capture (as specified by the
258 List the data link types supported by the interface and exit.
262 Set the name of the font used by B<Ethereal> for most text. B<Ethereal>
263 will construct the name of the bold font used for the data in the byte
264 view pane that corresponds to the field selected in the packet details
265 pane from the name of the main text font.
269 Disable network object name resolution (such as hostname, TCP and UDP port
274 Turn on name resolving for particular types of addresses and port
275 numbers, with name resolving for other types of addresses and port
276 numbers turned off; the argument is a string that may contain the
277 letters B<m> to enable MAC address resolution, B<n> to enable network
278 address resolution, and B<t> to enable transport-layer port number
279 resolution. This overrides B<-n> if both B<-N> and B<-n> are present.
280 The letter B<C> enables concurrent (asynchronous) DNS lookups.
284 Set a preference value, overriding the default value and any value read
285 from a preference file. The argument to the flag is a string of the
286 form I<prefname>B<:>I<value>, where I<prefname> is the name of the
287 preference (which is the same name that would appear in the preference
288 file), and I<value> is the value to which it should be set.
292 I<Don't> put the interface into promiscuous mode. Note that the
293 interface might be in promiscuous mode for some other reason; hence,
294 B<-p> cannot be used to ensure that the only traffic that is captured is
295 traffic sent to or from the machine on which B<Ethereal> is running,
296 broadcast traffic, and multicast traffic to addresses received by that
301 Set the initial height of the packet list (top) pane.
305 Cause B<Ethereal> to exit after the end of capture session (useful in
306 batch mode with B<-c> option for instance); this option requires the
307 B<-i> and B<-w> parameters.
311 Read packet data from I<infile>.
315 When reading a capture file specified with the B<-r> flag, causes the
316 specified filter (which uses the syntax of display filters, rather than
317 that of capture filters) to be applied to all packets read from the
318 capture file; packets not matching the filter are discarded.
322 Perform the live packet capture in a separate process, and automatically
323 update the packet display as packets are seen.
327 Set the default snapshot length to use when capturing live data.
328 No more than I<snaplen> bytes of each network packet will be read into
329 memory, or saved to disk.
333 Set the initial height of the packet details (middle) pane.
337 Set the format of the packet timestamp displayed in the packet list
338 window. The format can be one of 'r' (relative), 'a' (absolute), 'ad'
339 (absolute with date), or 'd' (delta). The relative time is the time
340 elapsed between the first packet and the current packet. The absolute
341 time is the actual time the packet was captured, with no date displayed;
342 the absolute date and time is the actual time and date the packet was
343 captured. The delta time is the time since the previous packet was
344 captured. The default is relative.
348 Print the version and exit.
352 Set the default capture file name.
356 If a capture is started from the command line with B<-k>, set the data
357 link type to use while capturing packets. The values reported by B<-L>
358 are the values that can be used.
362 Get B<Ethereal> to collect various types of statistics and display the result
363 in a window that updates in semi-real time.
364 Currently implemented statistics are:
366 B<-z> dcerpc,srt,I<uuid>,I<major>.I<minor>[,I<filter>]
368 Collect call/reply SRT (Service Response Time) data for DCERPC interface I<uuid>,
369 version I<major>.I<minor>.
370 Data collected is number of calls for each procedure, MinSRT, MaxSRT
372 Example: use B<-z dcerpc,srt,12345778-1234-abcd-ef00-0123456789ac,1.0> to collect data for CIFS SAMR Interface.
373 This option can be used multiple times on the command line.
375 If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
376 on those calls that match that filter.
377 Example: use B<-z dcerpc,srt,12345778-1234-abcd-ef00-0123456789ac,1.0,ip.addr==1.2.3.4> to collect SAMR
378 SRT statistics for a specific host.
382 Collect packet/bytes statistics for the capture in intervals of 1 seconds.
383 This option will open a window with up to 5 color-coded graphs where
384 number-of-packets-per-second or number-of-bytes-per-second statistics
385 can be calculated and displayed.
387 This option can be used multiple times on the command line.
389 This graph window can also be opened from the Analyze:Statistics:Traffic:IO-Stat
393 B<-z> rpc,srt,I<program>,I<version>[,<filter>]
395 Collect call/reply SRT (Service Response Time) data for I<program>/I<version>. Data collected
396 is number of calls for each procedure, MinSRT, MaxSRT and AvgSRT.
397 Example: use B<-z rpc,srt,100003,3> to collect data for NFS v3. This
398 option can be used multiple times on the command line.
400 If the optional filter string is provided, the stats will only be calculated
401 on those calls that match that filter.
402 Example: use B<-z rpc,srt,100003,3,nfs.fh.hash==0x12345678> to collect NFS v3
403 SRT statistics for a specific file.
407 Collect call/reply RTT data for all known ONC-RPC programs/versions.
408 Data collected is number of calls for each protocol/version, MinRTT,
411 B<-z> smb,srt[,I<filter>]
413 Collect call/reply SRT (Service Response Time) data for SMB. Data collected
414 is number of calls for each SMB command, MinSRT, MaxSRT and AvgSRT.
415 Example: use B<-z smb,srt>.
417 The data will be presented as separate tables for all normal SMB commands,
418 all Transaction2 commands and all NT Transaction commands.
419 Only those commands that are seen in the capture will have its stats
421 Only the first command in a xAndX command chain will be used in the
422 calculation. So for common SessionSetupAndX + TreeConnectAndX chains,
423 only the SessionSetupAndX call will be used in the statistics.
424 This is a flaw that might be fixed in the future.
426 This option can be used multiple times on the command line.
428 If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
429 on those calls that match that filter.
430 Example: use B<-z "smb,srt,ip.addr==1.2.3.4"> to only collect stats for
431 SMB packets echanged by the host at IP address 1.2.3.4 .
433 B<-z> fc,srt[,I<filter>]
435 Collect call/reply SRT (Service Response Time) data for FC. Data collected
436 is number of calls for each Fibre Channel command, MinSRT, MaxSRT and AvgSRT.
437 Example: use B<-z fc,srt>.
438 The Service Response Time is calculated as the time delta between the
439 First packet of the exchange and the Last packet of the exchange.
441 The data will be presented as separate tables for all normal FC commands,
442 Only those commands that are seen in the capture will have its stats
445 This option can be used multiple times on the command line.
447 If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
448 on those calls that match that filter.
449 Example: use B<-z "fc,srt,fc.id==01.02.03"> to only collect stats for
450 FC packets echanged by the host at FC address 01.02.03 .
452 B<-z> ldap,srt[,I<filter>]
454 Collect call/reply SRT (Service Response Time) data for LDAP. Data collected
455 is number of calls for each implemented LDAP command, MinSRT, MaxSRT and AvgSRT.
456 Example: use B<-z ldap,srt>.
457 The Service Response Time is calculated as the time delta between the
458 Request and the Response.
460 The data will be presented as separate tables for all implemented LDAP commands,
461 Only those commands that are seen in the capture will have its stats
464 This option can be used multiple times on the command line.
466 If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
467 on those calls that match that filter.
468 Example: use B<-z "ldap,srt,ip.addr==10.1.1.1"> to only collect stats for
469 LDAP packets echanged by the host at IP address 10.1.1.1 .
471 The only LDAP command that are currently implemented and the stats will be available for are:
482 B<-z> mgcp,srt[I<,filter>]
484 Collect requests/response SRT (Service Response Time) data for MGCP.
485 This is similar to B<-z smb,srt>). Data collected is number of calls
486 for each known MGCP Type, Minimum SRT, Maximum SRT and Average SRT.
487 Example: use B<-z mgcp,srt>.
489 This option can be used multiple times on the command line.
491 If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
492 on those calls that match that filter.
493 Example: use B<-z "mgcp,srt,ip.addr==1.2.3.4"> to only collect stats for
494 MGCP packets exchanged by the host at IP address 1.2.3.4 .
496 B<-z> conv,I<type>[,I<filter>]
498 Create a table that lists all conversations that could be seen in the
499 capture. I<type> specifies for which type of conversation we want to
500 generate the statistics; currently the supported ones are
503 "fc" Fibre Channel addresses
504 "fddi" FDDI addresses
507 "tcp" TCP/IP socket pairs Both IPv4 and IPv6 are supported
509 "udp" UDP/IP socket pairs Both IPv4 and IPv6 are supported
511 If the optional filter string is specified, only those packets that match the
512 filter will be used in the calculations.
514 The table is presented with one line for each conversation and displays
515 number of packets/bytes in each direction as well as total number of
516 packets/bytes. By default, the table is sorted according to total number
519 These tables can also be generated at runtime by selecting the appropriate
520 conversation type from the menu "Tools/Statistics/Conversation List/".
522 B<-z> h225,counter[I<,filter>]
524 Count ITU-T H.225 messages and their reasons. In the first column you get a
525 list of H.225 messages and H.225 message reasons, which occur in the current
526 capture file. The number of occurences of each message or reason is displayed
527 in the second column.
529 Example: use B<-z h225,counter>.
531 This option can be used multiple times on the command line.
533 If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
534 on those calls that match that filter.
535 Example: use B<-z "h225,counter,ip.addr==1.2.3.4"> to only collect stats for
536 H.225 packets exchanged by the host at IP address 1.2.3.4 .
539 B<-z> h225,srt[I<,filter>]
541 Collect requests/response SRT (Service Response Time) data for ITU-T H.225 RAS.
542 Data collected is number of calls of each ITU-T H.225 RAS Message Type,
543 Minimum SRT, Maximum SRT, Average SRT, Minimum in Packet, and Maximum in Packet.
544 You will also get the number of Open Requests (Unresponded Requests),
545 Discarded Responses (Responses without matching request) and Duplicate Messages.
546 Example: use B<-z h225,srt>.
548 This option can be used multiple times on the command line.
550 If the optional filterstring is provided, the stats will only be calculated
551 on those calls that match that filter.
552 Example: use B<-z "h225,srt,ip.addr==1.2.3.4"> to only collect stats for
553 ITU-T H.225 RAS packets exchanged by the host at IP address 1.2.3.4 .
555 B<-z> sip,stat[I<,filter>]
557 This option will activate a counter for SIP messages. You will get the number
558 of occurences of each SIP Method and of each SIP Status-Code. Additionally you
559 also get the number of resent SIP Messages (only for SIP over UDP).
561 Example: use B<-z sip,stat>.
563 This option can be used multiple times on the command line.
565 If the optional filter string is provided, the stats will only be calculated
566 on those calls that match that filter.
567 Example: use B<-z "sip,stat,ip.addr==1.2.3.4"> to only collect stats for
568 SIP packets exchanged by the host at IP address 1.2.3.4 .
580 =item File:Open Recent
584 Open or close a capture file. The I<File:Open> dialog box
585 allows a filter to be specified; when the capture file is read, the
586 filter is applied to all packets read from the file, and packets not
587 matching the filter are discarded. The I<File:Open Recent> is a submenu
588 and will show a list of previously opened files.
594 Save the current capture, or the packets currently displayed from that
595 capture, to a file. Check boxes let you select whether to save all
596 packets, or just those that have passed the current display filter and/or
597 those that are currently marked, and an option menu lets you select (from
598 a list of file formats in which at particular capture, or the packets
599 currently displayed from that capture, can be saved), a file format in
604 Export captured data into an external format. Note: the data cannot be
605 imported back into Ethereal, so be sure to keep the capture file.
609 Print packet data from the current capture. You can select the range of
610 packets to be printed (which packets are printed), and the output format of
611 each packet (how each packet is printed). The output format will be similar
612 to the displayed values, so a summary line, the packet details view, and/or
613 the hex dump of the packet can be printed.
615 Printing options can be set with the I<Edit:Preferences> menu item, or in the
616 dialog box popped up by this menu item.
620 Exit the application.
622 =item Edit:Find Packet
624 Search forward or backward, starting with the currently selected packet
625 (or the most recently selected packet, if no packet is selected). Search
626 criteria can be a display filter expression, a string of hexadecimal
627 digits, or a text string.
629 When searching for a text string, you can search the packet data, or you
630 can search the text in the Info column in the packet list pane or in the
633 Hexadecimal digits can be separated by colons, periods, or dashes.
634 Text string searches can be ASCII or Unicode (or both), and may be
639 =item Edit:Find Previous
641 Search forward / backward for a packet matching the filter from the previous
642 search, starting with the currently selected packet (or the most recently
643 selected packet, if no packet is selected).
645 =item Edit:Time Reference:Set Time Reference
647 Set (or unset if currently set) the selected packet as a Time Reference packet.
648 When a packet is set as a Time Reference packet, the timestamps in the packet
649 list pane will be replaced with the string "*REF*".
650 The relative time timestamp in later packets will then be calculated relative
651 to the timestamp of this Time Reference packet and not the first packet in
654 Packets that have been selected as Time Reference packets will always be
655 displayed in the packet list pane. Display filters will not affect or
658 If there is a column displayed for "Culmulative Bytes" this counter will
659 be reset at every Time Reference packet.
661 =item Edit:Time Reference:Find Next
663 =item Edit:Time Reference:Find Previous
665 Search forward / backward for a time referenced packet.
667 =item Edit:Mark Packet
669 Mark (or unmark if currently marked) the selected packet. The field
670 "frame.marked" is set for packets that are marked, so that, for example,
671 a display filters can be used to display only marked packets, and so that
672 the L<Edit:Find Packet|/item_edit_3afind_packet> dialog can be used to find the next or previous
675 =item Edit:Mark All Packets
677 =item Edit:Unmark All Packets
679 Mark / Unmark all packets that are currently displayed.
681 =item Edit:Preferences
683 Set the packet printing, column display, TCP stream coloring, and GUI
684 options (see L<Preferences|/item_preferences> dialog below).
686 =item View:Main Toolbar
688 =item View:Filter Toolbar
692 Show or hide the main window controls.
694 =item View:Packet List
696 =item View:Packet Details
698 =item View:Packet Bytes
700 Show or hide the main window panes.
702 =item View:Time Display Format
704 Set the format of the packet timestamp displayed in the packet list window
705 to relative, absolute, absolute date and time, or delta.
707 =item View:Name Resolution
709 Enable or disable translation of addresses to names in the display.
711 =item View:Auto Scroll in Live Capture
713 Enable or disable the automatic scrolling of the
714 packet list while a live capture is in progress.
720 Zoom into / out of the main window data (by changing the font size).
722 =item View:Normal Size
724 Reset the zoom factor of zoom in / zoom out back to normal font size.
726 =item View:Collapse All
728 =item View:Expand All
730 Collapse / Expand all branches of the packet details.
732 =item View:Expand Tree
734 Expands the currently selected item in the packet details.
736 =item View:Coloring Rules
738 Change the foreground and background colors of the packet information in
739 the list of packets, based upon display filters. The list of display
740 filters is applied to each packet sequentially. After the first display
741 filter matches a packet, any additional display filters in the list are
742 ignored. Therefore, if you are filtering on the existence of protocols,
743 you should list the higher-level protocols first, and the lower-level
748 =item How Colorization Works
750 Packets are colored according to a list of color filters. Each filter
751 consists of a name, a filter expression and a coloration. A packet is
752 colored according to the first filter that it matches, Color filter
753 expressions use exactly the same syntax as display filter expressions.
755 When Ethereal starts, the color filters are loaded from:
759 1. The user's personal color filters file or, if that does not exist,
761 2. The global color filters file.
765 If neither of these exist then the packets will not be colored.
769 =item View:Show Packet In New Window
771 Create a new window containing a packet details view and a hex dump
772 window of the currently selected packet; this window will continue to
773 display that packet's details and data even if another packet is
778 Reload a capture file. Same as I<File:Close> and I<File:Open> the same
781 =item Go:Go To Packet
783 Go to a particular numbered packet.
785 =item Go:Go To Corresponding Packet
787 If a field in the packet details pane containing a packet number is
788 selected, go to the packet number specified by that field. (This works
789 only if the dissector that put that entry into the packet details put it
790 into the details as a filterable field rather than just as text.) This
791 can be used, for example, to go to the packet for the request
792 corresponding to a reply, or the reply corresponding to a request, if
793 that packet number has been put into the packet details.
795 =item Go:First Packet
799 Go to the first / last packet in the capture.
803 Initiate a live packet capture (see L<Capture Options|/item_capture_options> dialog below). A
804 temporary file will be created to hold the capture. The location of the
805 file can be chosen by setting your TMPDIR environment variable before
806 starting B<Ethereal>. Otherwise, the default TMPDIR location is
807 system-dependent, but is likely either F</var/tmp> or F</tmp>.
811 In a capture that updates the packet display as packets arrive (so that
812 Ethereal responds to user input other than pressing the "Stop" button in
813 the capture packet statistics dialog box), stop the capture.
815 =item Capture:Capture Filters
817 Edit the saved list of capture filters, allowing filters to be added,
820 =item Analyze:Display Filters
822 Edit the saved list of display filters, allowing filters to be added,
825 =item Analyze:Apply as Filter
827 Create a display filter, or add to the display filter strip at the
828 bottom, a display filter based on the data currently highlighted in the
829 packe details, and apply the filter.
831 If that data is a field that can be tested in a display filter
832 expression, the display filter will test that field; otherwise, the
833 display filter will be based on absolute offset within the packet, and
834 so could be unreliable if the packet contains protocols with
835 variable-length headers, such as a source-routed token-ring packet.
837 The B<Selected> option creates a display filter that tests for a match
838 of the data; the B<Not Selected> option creates a display filter that
839 tests for a non-match of the data. The B<And Selected>, B<Or Selected>,
840 B<And Not Selected>, and B<Or Not Selected> options add to the end of
841 the display filter in the strip at the bottom an AND or OR operator
842 followed by the new display filter expression.
844 =item Analyze:Prepare a Filter
846 Create a display filter, or add to the display filter strip at the
847 bottom, a display filter based on the data currently highlighted in the
848 packet details, but don't apply the filter.
850 =item Analyze:Enabled Protocols
852 Allow protocol dissection to be enabled or disabled for a specific
853 protocol. Individual protocols can be enabled or disabled by clicking
854 on them in the list or by highlighting them and pressing the space bar.
855 The entire list can be enabled, disabled, or inverted using the buttons
858 When a protocol is disabled, dissection in a particular packet stops
859 when that protocol is reached, and Ethereal moves on to the next packet.
860 Any higher-layer protocols that would otherwise have been processed will
861 not be displayed. For example, disabling TCP will prevent the dissection
862 and display of TCP, HTTP, SMTP, Telnet, and any other protocol exclusively
865 The list of protocols can be saved, so that Ethereal will start up with
866 the protocols in that list disabled.
868 =item Analyze:Decode As
870 If you have a packet selected, present a dialog allowing you to change
871 which dissectors are used to decode this packet. The dialog has one
872 panel each for the link layer, network layer and transport layer
873 protocol/port numbers, and will allow each of these to be changed
874 independently. For example, if the selected packet is a TCP packet to
875 port 12345, using this dialog you can instruct Ethereal to decode all
876 packets to or from that TCP port as HTTP packets.
878 =item Analyze:User Specified Decodes
880 Create a new window showing whether any protocol ID to dissector
881 mappings have been changed by the user. This window also allows the
882 user to reset all decodes to their default values.
884 =item Analyze:Follow TCP Stream
886 If you have a TCP packet selected, display the contents of the data
887 stream for the TCP connection to which that packet belongs, as text, in
888 a separate window, and leave the list of packets in a filtered state,
889 with only those packets that are part of that TCP connection being
890 displayed. You can revert to your old view by pressing ENTER in the
891 display filter text box, thereby invoking your old display filter (or
892 resetting it back to no display filter).
894 The window in which the data stream is displayed lets you select:
900 whether to display the entire conversation, or one or the other side of
905 whether the data being displayed is to be treated as ASCII or EBCDIC
906 text or as raw hex data;
910 and lets you print what's currently being displayed, using the same
911 print options that are used for the I<File:Print Packet> menu item, or
912 save it as text to a file.
914 =item Statistics:Summary
916 Show summary information about the capture, including elapsed time,
917 packet counts, byte counts, and the like. If a display filter is in
918 effect, summary information will be shown about the capture and about
919 the packets currently being displayed.
921 =item Statistics:Protocol Hierarchy
923 Show the number of packets, and the number of bytes in those packets,
924 for each protocol in the trace. It organizes the protocols in the same
925 hierarchy in which they were found in the trace. Besides counting the
926 packets in which the protocol exists, a count is also made for packets
927 in which the protocol is the last protocol in the stack. These
928 last-protocol counts show you how many packets (and the byte count
929 associated with those packets) B<ended> in a particular protocol. In
930 the table, they are listed under "End Packets" and "End Bytes".
932 =item Statistics:IO Graphs
934 Open a window where up to 5 graphs in different colors can be displayed
935 to indicate number of packets or number of bytes per second for all packets
936 matching the specified filter.
937 By default only one graph will be displayed showing number of packets per second.
939 The top part of the window contains the graphs and scales for the X and
940 Y axis. If the graph is too long to fit inside the window there is a
941 horizontal scrollbar below the drawing area that can scroll the graphs
942 to the left or the right. The horizontal axis displays the time into
943 the capture and the vertical axis will display the measured quantity at
946 Below the drawing area and the scrollbar are the controls. On the
947 bottom left there will be five similar sets of controls to control each
948 induvidual graph such as "Display:<button>" which button will toggle
949 that individual graph on/off. If <button> is ticked, the graph will be
950 displayed. "Color:<color>" which is just a button to show which color
951 will be used to draw that graph (color is only available in Gtk2
952 version) and finally "Filter:<filter-text>" which can be used to specify
953 a display filter for that particular graph.
955 If filter-text is empty then all packets will be used to calculate the
956 quantity for that graph. If filter-text is specified only those packets
957 that match that display filter will be considered in the calculation of
960 To the right of the 5 graph controls there are four menus to control
961 global aspects of the draw area and graphs. The "Unit:" menu is used to
962 control what to measure; "packets/tick", "bytes/tick" or "advanced..."
964 packets/tick will measure the number of packets matching the (if
965 specified) display filter for the graph in each measurement interval.
967 bytes/tick will measure the total number of bytes in all packets matching
968 the (if specified) display filter for the graph in each measurement
971 advanced... see below
973 "Tick interval:" specifies what measurement intervals to use. The
974 default is 1 second and means that the data will be counted over 1
977 "Pixels per tick:" specifies how many pixels wide each measurement
978 interval will be in the drawing area. The default is 5 pixels per tick.
980 "Y-scale:" controls the max value for the y-axis. Default value is
981 "auto" which means that B<Ethereal> will try to adjust the maxvalue
984 "advanced..." If Unit:advanced... is selected the window will display
985 two more controls for each of the five graphs. One control will be a
986 menu where the type of calculation can be selected from
987 SUM,COUNT,MAX,MIN,AVG and LOAD, and one control, textbox, where the name of a
988 single display filter field can be specified.
990 The following restrictions apply to type and field combinations:
992 SUM: available for all types of integers and will calculate the SUM of
993 all occurences of this field in the measurement interval. Note that
994 some field can occur multiple times in the same packet and then all
995 instances will be summed up. Example: 'tcp.len' which will count the
996 amount of payload data transferred across TCP in each interval.
998 COUNT: available for all field types. This will COUNT the number of times
999 certain field occurs in each interval. Note that some fields
1000 may occur multiple times in each packet and if that is the case
1001 then each instance will be counted independently and COUNT
1002 will be greater than the number of packets.
1004 MAX: available for all integer and relative time fields. This will calculate
1005 the max seen integer/time value seen for the field during the interval.
1006 Example: 'smb.time' which will plot the maximum SMB response time.
1008 MIN: available for all integer and relative time fields. This will calculate
1009 the min seen integer/time value seen for the field during the interval.
1010 Example: 'smb.time' which will plot the minimum SMB response time.
1012 AVG: available for all integer and relative time fields.This will
1013 calculate the average seen integer/time value seen for the field during
1014 the interval. Example: 'smb.time' which will plot the average SMB
1017 LOAD: available only for relative time fields (response times).
1019 Example of advanced:
1020 Display how NFS response time MAX/MIN/AVG changes over time:
1024 filter:nfs&&rpc.time
1029 filter:nfs&&rpc.time
1034 filter:nfs&&rpc.time
1037 Example of advanced:
1038 Display how the average packet size from host a.b.c.d changes over time.
1042 filter:ip.addr==a.b.c.d&&frame.pkt_len
1043 Calc:AVG frame.pkt_len
1046 The LOAD io-stat type is very different from anything you have ever seen
1047 before! While the response times themself as plotted by MIN,MAX,AVG are
1048 indications on the Server load (which affects the Server response time),
1049 the LOAD measurement measures the Client LOAD.
1050 What this measures is how much workload the client generates,
1051 i.e. how fast will the client issue new commands when the previous ones
1053 i.e. the level of concurrency the client can maintain.
1054 The higher the number, the more and faster is the client issuing new
1055 commands. When the LOAD goes down, it may be due to client load making
1056 the client slower in issuing new commands (there may be other reasons as
1057 well, maybe the client just doesn't have any commands it wants to issue
1060 Load is measured in concurrency/number of overlapping i/o and the value
1061 1000 means there is a constant load of one i/o.
1063 In each tick interval the amount of overlap is measured.
1064 See the graph below containing three commands:
1065 Below the graph are the LOAD values for each interval that would be calculated.
1069 | | o=====* | | | | | |
1071 | o========* | o============* | | |
1073 --------------------------------------------------> Time
1074 500 1500 500 750 1000 500 0 0
1076 =item Statistics:Conversation List
1078 This option will open a new window that displays a list of all
1079 conversations between two endpoints. The list has one row for each
1080 unique conversation and displays total number of packets/bytes seen as
1081 well as number of packets/bytes in each direction.
1083 By default the list is sorted according to the number of packets but by
1084 clicking on the column header; it is possible to re-sort the list in
1085 ascending or descending order by any column.
1087 By first selecting a conversation by clicking on it and then using the
1088 right mouse button (on those platforms that have a right
1089 mouse button) ethereal will display a popup menu offering several different
1090 filter operations to apply to the capture.
1092 These statistics windows can also be invoked from the Ethereal command
1093 line using the B<-z conv> argument.
1095 =item Statistics:Service Response Time:DCE-RPC
1097 Open a window to display Service Response Time statistics for an
1098 arbitrary DCE-RPC program
1099 interface and display B<Procedure>, B<Number of Calls>, B<Minimum SRT>,
1100 B<Maximum SRT> and B<Average SRT> for all procedures for that
1101 program/version. These windows opened will update in semi-real time to
1102 reflect changes when doing live captures or when reading new capture
1103 files into B<Ethereal>.
1105 This dialog will also allow an optional filter string to be used.
1106 If an optional filter string is used only such DCE-RPC request/response pairs
1107 that match that filter will be used to calculate the statistics. If no filter
1108 string is specified all request/response pairs will be used.
1110 =item Statistics:Service Response Time:Fibre Channel
1112 Open a window to display Service Response Time statistics for Fibre Channel
1113 and display B<FC Type>, B<Number of Calls>, B<Minimum SRT>,
1114 B<Maximum SRT> and B<Average SRT> for all FC types.
1115 These windows opened will update in semi-real time to
1116 reflect changes when doing live captures or when reading new capture
1117 files into B<Ethereal>.
1118 The Service Response Time is calculated as the time delta between the
1119 First packet of the exchange and the Last packet of the exchange.
1121 This dialog will also allow an optional filter string to be used.
1122 If an optional filter string is used only such FC first/last exchange pairs
1123 that match that filter will be used to calculate the statistics. If no filter
1124 string is specified all request/response pairs will be used.
1126 =item Statistics:Service Response Time:ONC-RPC
1128 Open a window to display statistics for an arbitrary ONC-RPC program interface
1129 and display B<Procedure>, B<Number of Calls>, B<Minimum SRT>, B<Maximum SRT> and B<Average SRT> for all procedures for that program/version.
1130 These windows opened will update in semi-real time to reflect changes when
1131 doing live captures or when reading new capture files into B<Ethereal>.
1133 This dialog will also allow an optional filter string to be used.
1134 If an optional filter string is used only such ONC-RPC request/response pairs
1135 that match that filter will be used to calculate the statistics. If no filter
1136 string is specified all request/response pairs will be used.
1138 By first selecting a conversation by clicking on it and then using the
1139 right mouse button (on those platforms that have a right
1140 mouse button) ethereal will display a popup menu offering several different
1141 filter operations to apply to the capture.
1143 =item Statistics:Service Response Time:SMB
1145 Collect call/reply SRT (Service Response Time) data for SMB. Data collected
1146 is number of calls for each SMB command, MinSRT, MaxSRT and AvgSRT.
1148 The data will be presented as separate tables for all normal SMB commands,
1149 all Transaction2 commands and all NT Transaction commands.
1150 Only those commands that are seen in the capture will have its stats
1152 Only the first command in a xAndX command chain will be used in the
1153 calculation. So for common SessionSetupAndX + TreeConnectAndX chains,
1154 only the SessionSetupAndX call will be used in the statistics.
1155 This is a flaw that might be fixed in the future.
1157 You can apply an optional filter string in a dialog box, before starting
1158 the calculation. The stats will only be calculated
1159 on those calls matching that filter.
1161 By first selecting a conversation by clicking on it and then using the
1162 right mouse button (on those platforms that have a right
1163 mouse button) ethereal will display a popup menu offering several different
1164 filter operations to apply to the capture.
1166 =item Statistics:Service Response Time:MGCP
1168 Collect requests/response SRT (Service Response Time) data for MGCP.
1169 Data collected is B<number of calls> for each known MGCP Type,
1170 B<Minimum SRT>, B<Maximum SRT>, B<Average SRT>, B<Minimum in Packet>, and B<Maximum in Packet>.
1171 These windows opened will update in semi-real time to reflect changes when
1172 doing live captures or when reading new capture files into B<Ethereal>.
1174 You can apply an optional filter string in a dialog box, before starting
1175 the calculation. The statistics will only be calculated
1176 on those calls matching that filter.
1178 =item Statistics:Service Response Time:ITU-T H.225 RAS
1180 Collect requests/response SRT (Service Response Time) data for ITU-T H.225 RAS.
1181 Data collected is B<number of calls> for each known ITU-T H.225 RAS Message Type,
1182 B<Minimum SRT>, B<Maximum SRT>, B<Average SRT>, B<Minimum in Packet>, and B<Maximum in Packet>.
1183 You will also get the number of B<Open Requests> (Unresponded Requests),
1184 B<Discarded Responses> (Responses without matching request) and Duplicate Messages.
1185 These windows opened will update in semi-real time to reflect changes when
1186 doing live captures or when reading new capture files into B<Ethereal>.
1188 You can apply an optional filter string in a dialog box, before starting
1189 the calculation. The statistics will only be calculated
1190 on those calls matching that filter.
1192 =item Statistics:ITU-T H.225
1194 Count ITU-T H.225 messages and their reasons. In the first column you get a
1195 list of H.225 messages and H.225 message reasons, which occur in the current
1196 capture file. The number of occurences of each message or reason will be displayed
1197 in the second column.
1198 This window opened will update in semi-real time to reflect changes when
1199 doing live captures or when reading new capture files into B<Ethereal>.
1201 You can apply an optional filter string in a dialog box, before starting
1202 the counter. The statistics will only be calculated
1203 on those calls matching that filter.
1205 =item Statistics:SIP
1207 Activate a counter for SIP messages. You will get the number of occurences of each
1208 SIP Method and of each SIP Status-Code. Additionally you also get the number of
1209 resent SIP Messages (only for SIP over UDP).
1211 This window opened will update in semi-real time to reflect changes when
1212 doing live captures or when reading new capture files into B<Ethereal>.
1214 You can apply an optional filter string in a dialog box, before starting
1215 the counter. The statistics will only be calculated
1216 on those calls matching that filter.
1218 =item Statistics:ONC-RPC Programs
1220 This dialog will open a window showing aggregated RTT statistics for all
1221 ONC-RPC Programs/versions that exist in the capture file.
1227 =item Help:Supported Protocols
1229 List of supported protocols and display filter protocol fields.
1231 =item Help:About Ethereal
1233 See various information about Ethereal (see L<About|/item_about> dialog below), like the
1234 version, the folders used, the available plugins, ...
1244 The main window contains the usual things like the menu, some toolbars, the
1245 main area and a statusbar. The main area is split into three panes, you can
1246 resize each pane using a "thumb" at the right end of each divider line.
1248 The main window is much more flexible than before. The layout of the main
1249 window can be customized by the I<Layout> page in the dialog box popped
1250 up by I<Edit:Preferences>, the following will describe the layout with the
1257 Some menu items are available for quick access here. There is no way to
1258 customize the items in the toolbar, however the toolbar can be hidden by
1259 I<View:Main Toolbar>.
1261 =item Filter Toolbar
1263 A display filter can be entered into the filter toolbar.
1264 A filter for HTTP, HTTPS, and DNS traffic might look like this:
1266 tcp.port == 80 || tcp.port == 443 || tcp.port == 53
1268 Selecting the I<Filter:> button lets you choose from a list of named
1269 filters that you can optionally save. Pressing the Return or Enter
1270 keys, or selecting the I<Apply> button, will cause the filter to be
1271 applied to the current list of packets. Selecting the I<Reset> button
1272 clears the display filter so that all packets are displayed (again).
1274 There is no way to customize the items in the toolbar, however the toolbar
1275 can be hidden by I<View:Filter Toolbar>.
1277 =item Packet List Pane
1279 The top pane contains the list of network packets that you can scroll
1280 through and select. By default, the packet number, packet timestamp,
1281 source and destination addresses, protocol, and description are
1282 displayed for each packet; the I<Columns> page in the dialog box popped
1283 up by I<Edit:Preferences> lets you change this (although, unfortunately,
1284 you currently have to save the preferences, and exit and restart
1285 Ethereal, for those changes to take effect).
1287 If you click on the heading for a column, the display will be sorted by
1288 that column; clicking on the heading again will reverse the sort order
1291 An effort is made to display information as high up the protocol stack
1292 as possible, e.g. IP addresses are displayed for IP packets, but the
1293 MAC layer address is displayed for unknown packet types.
1295 The right mouse button can be used to pop up a menu of operations.
1297 The middle mouse button can be used to mark a packet.
1299 =item Packet Details Pane
1301 The middle pane contains a display of the details of the
1302 currently-selected packet. The display shows each field and its value
1303 in each protocol header in the stack. The right mouse button can be
1304 used to pop up a menu of operations.
1306 =item Packet Bytes Pane
1308 The lowest pane contains a hex and ASCII dump of the actual packet data.
1309 Selecting a field in the packet details highlights the corresponding
1310 bytes in this section.
1312 The right mouse button can be used to pop up a menu of operations.
1316 The statusbar is divided into two parts, on the left some context dependant
1317 things are shown, like information about the loaded file, on the right the
1318 number of packets are displayed: P = Packets captured/loaded, D = Displayed
1319 in packet list (after filtering), M = Marked by user.
1321 The statusbar can be hidden by I<View:Statusbar>.
1327 The I<Preferences> dialog lets you control various personal preferences
1328 for the behavior of B<Ethereal>.
1332 =item User Interface Preferences
1334 The I<User Interface> page is used to modify small aspects of the GUI to
1335 your own personal taste:
1341 The vertical scrollbars in the three panes can be set to be either on
1342 the left or the right.
1344 =item Selection Bars
1346 The selection bar in the packet list and packet details can have either
1347 a "browse" or "select" behavior. If the selection bar has a "browse"
1348 behavior, the arrow keys will move an outline of the selection bar,
1349 allowing you to browse the rest of the list or details without changing
1350 the selection until you press the space bar. If the selection bar has a
1351 "select" behavior, the arrow keys will move the selection bar and change
1352 the selection to the new item in the packet list or packet details.
1354 =item Tree Line Style
1356 Trees can be drawn with no lines, solid lines, or dotted lines between
1357 items, or can be drawn with "tab" headings.
1359 =item Tree Expander Style
1361 The expander item that can be clicked to show or hide items under a tree
1362 item can be omitted (note that this will prevent you from changing
1363 whether those items are shown or hidden!), or can be drawn as squares,
1364 triangles, or circles.
1368 The highlight method in the hex dump display for the selected protocol
1369 item can be set to use either inverse video, or bold characters.
1371 =item Save Window Position
1373 If this item is selected, the position of the main Ethereal window will
1374 be saved when Ethereal exits, and used when Ethereal is started again.
1376 =item Save Window Size
1378 If this item is selected, the size of the main Ethereal window will
1379 be saved when Ethereal exits, and used when Ethereal is started again.
1381 =item File Open Dialog Behavior
1383 This item allows the user to select how Ethereal handles the listing
1384 of the "File Open" Dialog when opening trace files. "Remember Last
1385 Directory" causes Ethereal to automatically position the dialog in the
1386 directory of the most recently opened file, even between launches of Ethereal.
1387 "Always Open in Directory" allows the user to define a persistent directory
1388 that the dialog will always default to.
1392 Allows the user to specify a persistent File Open directory. Trailing
1393 slashes or backslashes will automatically be added.
1397 =item Layout Preferences
1399 The I<Layout> page lets you specify the general layout of the main window.
1400 You can choose from six different layouts and fill the three panes with the
1403 =item Column Preferences
1405 The I<Columns> page lets you specify the number, title, and format
1406 of each column in the packet list.
1408 The I<Column title> entry is used to specify the title of the column
1409 displayed at the top of the packet list. The type of data that the column
1410 displays can be specified using the I<Column format> option menu.
1411 The row of buttons on the left perform the following actions:
1417 Adds a new column to the list.
1421 Deletes the currently selected list item.
1425 Moves the selected list item up or down one position.
1429 =item Font Preferences
1431 The I<Font> page lets you select the font to be used for most text.
1433 =item Color Preferences
1435 The I<Colors> page can be used to change the color of the text
1436 displayed in the TCP stream window and for marked packets. To change a color,
1437 simply select an attribute from the "Set:" menu and use the color selector to
1438 get the desired color. The new text colors are displayed as a sample text.
1440 =item Capture Preferences
1442 The I<Capture> page lets you specify various parameters for capturing
1443 live packet data; these are used the first time a capture is started.
1445 The I<Interface:> combo box lets you specify the interface from which to
1446 capture packet data, or the name of a FIFO from which to get the packet
1449 The I<Data link type:> option menu lets you, for some interfaces, select
1450 the data link header you want to see on the packets you capture. For
1451 example, in some OSes and with some versions of libpcap, you can choose,
1452 on an 802.11 interface, whether the packets should appear as Ethernet
1453 packets (with a fake Ethernet header) or as 802.11 packets.
1455 The I<Limit each packet to ... bytes> check box lets you set the
1456 snapshot length to use when capturing live data; turn on the check box,
1457 and then set the number of bytes to use as the snapshot length.
1459 The I<Filter:> text entry lets you set a capture filter expression to be
1460 used when capturing.
1462 If any of the environment variables SSH_CONNECTION, SSH_CLIENT,
1463 REMOTEHOST, DISPLAY, or CLIENTNAME are set, Ethereal will create a
1464 default capture filter that excludes traffic from the hosts and ports
1465 defined in those variables.
1467 The I<Capture packets in promiscuous mode> check box lets you specify
1468 whether to put the interface in promiscuous mode when capturing.
1470 The I<Update list of packets in real time> check box lets you specify
1471 that the display should be updated as packets are seen.
1473 The I<Automatic scrolling in live capture> check box lets you specify
1474 whether, in an "Update list of packets in real time" capture, the packet
1475 list pane should automatically scroll to show the most recently captured
1478 =item Printing Preferences
1480 The radio buttons at the top of the I<Printing> page allow you choose
1481 between printing packets with the I<File:Print Packet> menu item as text
1482 or PostScript, and sending the output directly to a command or saving it
1483 to a file. The I<Command:> text entry box, on UNIX-compatible systems,
1484 is the command to send files to (usually B<lpr>), and the I<File:> entry
1485 box lets you enter the name of the file you wish to save to.
1486 Additionally, you can select the I<File:> button to browse the file
1487 system for a particular save file.
1489 =item Protocol Preferences
1491 There are also pages for various protocols that Ethereal dissects,
1492 controlling the way Ethereal handles those protocols.
1496 =item Edit Capture Filter List
1498 =item Edit Display Filter List
1500 =item Capture Filter
1502 =item Display Filter
1508 The I<Edit Capture Filter List> dialog lets you create, modify, and
1509 delete capture filters, and the I<Edit Display Filter List> dialog lets
1510 you create, modify, and delete display filters.
1512 The I<Capture Filter> dialog lets you do all of the editing operations
1513 listed, and also lets you choose or construct a filter to be used when
1516 The I<Display Filter> dialog lets you do all of the editing operations
1517 listed, and also lets you choose or construct a filter to be used to
1518 filter the current capture being viewed.
1520 The I<Read Filter> dialog lets you do all of the editing operations
1521 listed, and also lets you choose or construct a filter to be used to
1522 as a read filter for a capture file you open.
1524 The I<Search Filter> dialog lets you do all of the editing operations
1525 listed, and also lets you choose or construct a filter expression to be
1526 used in a find operation.
1528 In all of those dialogs, the I<Filter name> entry specifies a
1529 descriptive name for a filter, e.g. B<Web and DNS traffic>. The
1530 I<Filter string> entry is the text that actually describes the filtering
1531 action to take, as described above.The dialog buttons perform the
1538 If there is text in the two entry boxes, creates a new associated list
1543 Modifies the currently selected list item to match what's in the entry
1548 Deletes the currently selected list item.
1550 =item Add Expression...
1552 For display filter expressions, pops up a dialog box to allow you to
1553 construct a filter expression to test a particular field; it offers
1554 lists of field names, and, when appropriate, lists from which to select
1555 tests to perform on the field and values with which to compare it. In
1556 that dialog box, the OK button will cause the filter expression you
1557 constructed to be entered into the I<Filter string> entry at the current
1562 In the I<Capture Filter> dialog, closes the dialog box and makes the
1563 filter in the I<Filter string> entry the filter in the I<Capture
1564 Preferences> dialog. In the I<Display Filter> dialog, closes the dialog
1565 box and makes the filter in the I<Filter string> entry the current
1566 display filter, and applies it to the current capture. In the I<Read
1567 Filter> dialog, closes the dialog box and makes the filter in the
1568 I<Filter string> entry the filter in the I<Open Capture File> dialog.
1569 In the I<Search Filter> dialog, closes the dialog box and makes the
1570 filter in the I<Filter string> entry the filter in the I<Find Packet>
1575 Makes the filter in the I<Filter string> entry the current display
1576 filter, and applies it to the current capture.
1580 If the list of filters being edited is the list of
1581 capture filters, saves the current filter list to the personal capture
1582 filters file, and if the list of filters being edited is the list of
1583 display filters, saves the current filter list to the personal display
1588 Closes the dialog without doing anything with the filter in the I<Filter
1593 =item The Color Filters Dialog
1595 This dialog displays a list of color filters and allows it to be
1600 =item THE FILTER LIST
1602 Single rows may be selected by clicking. Multiple rows may be selected
1603 by using the ctrl and shift keys in combination with the mouse button.
1607 Adds a new filter at the bottom of the list and opens the Edit Color
1608 Filter dialog box. You will have to alter the filter expression at
1609 least before the filter will be accepted. The format of color filter
1610 expressions is identical to that of display filters. The new filter is
1611 selected, so it may immediately be moved up and down, deleted or edited.
1612 To avoid confusion all filters are unselected before the new filter is
1617 Opens the Edit Color Filter dialog box for the selected filter. (If this
1618 button is disabled you may have more than one filter selected, making it
1619 ambiguous which is to be edited.)
1623 Deletes the selected color filter(s).
1627 Allows you to choose a file in which to save the current list of color
1628 filters. You may also choose to save only the selected filters. A
1629 button is provided to save the filters in the global color filters file
1630 (you must have sufficient permissions to write this file, of course).
1634 Allows you to choose a file containing color filters which are then
1635 added to the bottom of the current list. All the added filters are
1636 selected, so they may be moved to the correct position in the list as a
1637 group. To avoid confusion, all filters are unselected before the new
1638 filters are imported. A button is provided to load the filters from the
1639 global color filters file.
1643 Deletes your personal color filters file, reloads the global
1644 color filters file, if any, and closes the dialog.
1648 Moves the selected filter(s) up the list, making it more likely that
1649 they will be used to color packets.
1653 Moves the selected filter(s) down the list, making it less likely that
1654 they will be used to color packets.
1658 Closes the dialog and uses the color filters as they stand.
1662 Colors the packets according to the current list of color filters, but
1663 does not close the dialog.
1667 Saves the current list of color filters in your personal color filters
1668 file. Unless you do this they will not be used the next time you start
1673 Closes the dialog without changing the coloration of the packets. Note
1674 that changes you have made to the current list of color filters are not
1679 =item Capture Options
1681 The I<Capture Options> dialog lets you specify various parameters for
1682 capturing live packet data.
1684 The I<Interface:> field lets you specify the interface from which to
1685 capture packet data or a command from which to get the packet data via a
1688 The I<Link layer header type:> field lets you specify the interfaces link
1689 layer header type. This field is usually disabled, as most interface have
1690 only one header type.
1692 The I<Capture packets in promiscuous mode> check box lets you specify
1693 whether the interface should be put into promiscuous mode when
1696 The I<Limit each packet to ... bytes> check box and field lets you
1697 specify a maximum number of bytes per packet to capture and save; if the
1698 check box is not checked, the limit will be 65535 bytes.
1700 The I<Capture Filter:> entry lets you specify the capture filter using a
1701 tcpdump-style filter string as described above.
1703 The I<File:> entry lets you specify the file into which captured packets
1704 should be saved, as in the I<Printer Options> dialog above. If not
1705 specified, the captured packets will be saved in a temporary file; you
1706 can save those packets to a file with the I<File:Save As> menu item.
1708 The I<Use multiple files> check box lets you specify that the capture
1709 should be done in "multiple files" mode. This option is disabled, if the
1710 I<Update list of packets in real time> option is checked.
1712 The I<Next file every ... megabyte(s)> check box and fields lets
1713 you specify that a switch to a next file should be done
1714 if the specified filesize is reached. You can also select the appriate
1715 unit, but beware that the filesize has a maximum of 2 GB.
1716 The check box is forced to be checked, as "multiple files" mode requires a
1717 file size to be specified.
1719 The I<Next file every ... minute(s)> check box and fields lets
1720 you specify that the switch to a next file should be done after the specified
1721 time has elapsed, even if the specified capture size is not reached.
1723 The I<Ring buffer with ... files> field lets you specify the number
1724 of files of a ring buffer. This feature will capture into to the first file
1725 again, after the specified amount of files were used.
1727 The I<Stop capture after ... files> field lets you specify the number
1728 of capture files used, until the capture is stopped.
1730 The I<Stop capture after ... packet(s)> check box and field let
1731 you specify that Ethereal should stop capturing after having captured
1732 some number of packets; if the check box is not checked, Ethereal will
1733 not stop capturing at some fixed number of captured packets.
1735 The I<Stop capture after ... megabyte(s)> check box and field lets
1736 you specify that Ethereal should stop capturing after the file to which
1737 captured packets are being saved grows as large as or larger than some
1738 specified number of megabytes. If the check box is not checked, Ethereal
1739 will not stop capturing at some capture file size (although the operating
1740 system on which Ethereal is running, or the available disk space, may still
1741 limit the maximum size of a capture file). This option is disabled, if
1742 "multiple files" mode is used,
1744 The I<Stop capture after ... second(s)> check box and field let you
1745 specify that Ethereal should stop capturing after it has been capturing
1746 for some number of seconds; if the check box is not checked, Ethereal
1747 will not stop capturing after some fixed time has elapsed.
1749 The I<Update list of packets in real time> check box lets you specify
1750 whether the display should be updated as packets are captured and, if
1751 you specify that, the I<Automatic scrolling in live capture> check box
1752 lets you specify the packet list pane should automatically scroll to
1753 show the most recently captured packets as new packets arrive.
1755 The I<Enable MAC name resolution>, I<Enable network name resolution> and
1756 I<Enable transport name resolution> check boxes let you specify whether
1757 MAC addresses, network addresses, and transport-layer port numbers
1758 should be translated to names.
1762 The I<About> dialog lets you view various information about Ethereal.
1764 =item About:Ethereal
1766 The I<Ethereal> page lets you view general information about Ethereal,
1767 like the installed version, licensing information and such.
1771 The I<Authors> page shows the author and all contributors.
1775 The I<Folders> page lets you view the directory names where Ethereal is
1776 searching it's various configuration and other files.
1780 The I<Plugins> page lets you view the dissector plugin modules
1781 available on your system.
1783 The I<Plugins List> shows the name and version of each dissector plugin
1784 module found on your system. The plugins are searched in the following
1785 directories: the F<lib/ethereal/plugins/$VERSION> directory under the
1786 main installation directory (for example,
1787 F</usr/local/lib/ethereal/plugins/$VERSION>),
1788 F</usr/lib/ethereal/plugins/$VERSION>,
1789 F</usr/local/lib/ethereal/plugins/$VERSION>, and
1790 F<$HOME/.ethereal/plugins> on UNIX-compatible systems, and in the
1791 F<plugins\$VERSION> directory under the main installation directory (for
1792 example, F<C:\Program Files\Ethereal\plugins\$VERSION>) and
1793 F<%APPDATA%\Ethereal\plugins\$VERSION> (or, if %APPDATA% isn't defined,
1794 F<%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Ethereal\plugins\$VERSION>) on Windows
1795 systems; $VERSION is the version number of the plugin interface, which
1796 is typically the version number of Ethereal. Note that a dissector
1797 plugin module may support more than one protocol; there is not
1798 necessarily a one-to-one correspondence between dissector plugin modules
1799 and protocols. Protocols supported by a dissector plugin module are
1800 enabled and disabled using the I<Edit:Protocols> dialog box, just as
1801 protocols built into Ethereal are.
1805 =head1 CAPTURE FILTER SYNTAX
1807 See the tcpdump(8) manual page.
1809 =head1 DISPLAY FILTER SYNTAX
1811 For a complete table of protocol and protocol fields that are filterable
1812 in B<Ethereal> see ethereal-filter(4).
1816 The F<ethereal.conf> file, which is installed in the F<etc> directory
1817 under the main installation directory (for example, F</usr/local/etc>)
1818 on UNIX-compatible systems, and in the main installation directory (for
1819 example, F<C:\Program Files\Ethereal>) on Windows systems, and the
1820 personal preferences file, which is F<$HOME/.ethereal/preferences> on
1821 UNIX-compatible systems and F<%APPDATA%\Ethereal\preferences> (or, if
1822 %APPDATA% isn't defined,
1823 F<%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Ethereal\preferences>) on
1824 Windows systems, contain system-wide and personal preference settings,
1825 respectively. The file contains preference settings of the form
1826 I<prefname>B<:>I<value>, one per line, where I<prefname> is the name of
1827 the preference (which is the same name that would appear in the
1828 preference file), and I<value> is the value to which it should be set;
1829 white space is allowed between B<:> and I<value>. A preference setting
1830 can be continued on subsequent lines by indenting the continuation lines
1831 with white space. A B<#> character starts a comment that runs to the
1834 The system-wide preference file is read first, if it exists, overriding
1835 B<Ethereal>'s default values; the personal preferences file is then
1836 read, if it exists, overriding default values and values read from the
1837 system-wide preference file.
1839 Note that whenever the preferences are saved by using the I<Save> button
1840 in the I<Edit:Preferences> dialog box, your personal preferences file
1841 will be overwritten with the new settings, destroying any comments that
1844 The disabled protocols file, which is F<$HOME/.ethereal/disabled_protos>
1845 on UNIX-compatible systems and F<%APPDATA%\Ethereal\disabled_protos>
1846 (or, if %APPDATA% isn't defined, F<%USERPROFILE%\Application
1847 Data\Ethereal\disabled_protos>) on Windows systems, contain a list of
1848 protocols that have been disabled, so that their dissectors are never
1849 called. The file contains protocol names, one per line, where the
1850 protocol name is the same name that would be used in a display filter
1851 for the protocol. A B<#> character starts a comment that runs to the
1854 Note that whenever the disabled protocols list is saved by using the
1855 I<Save> button in the I<Edit:Protocols> dialog box, your disabled
1856 protocols file will be overwritten with the new settings, destroying any
1857 comments that were in the file.
1859 If the personal F<hosts> file, in F<$HOME/.ethereal/hosts> file on
1860 UNIX-compatible systems, or the F<%APPDATA%\Ethereal\hosts> file (or, if
1861 %APPDATA% isn't defined, the F<%USERPROFILE%\Application
1862 Data\Ethereal\hosts> file) on Windows systems, exists, the entries in
1863 that file are used to resolve IPv4 and IPv6 addresses before any other
1864 attempts are made to resolve them. That file has the standard F<hosts>
1865 file syntax; each line contains one IP address and name, separated by
1868 The global F<ethers> file, which is found in the F</etc> directory on
1869 UNIX-compatible systems, and in the main installation directory (for
1870 example, F<C:\Program Files\Ethereal>) on Windows systems, is consulted
1871 to correlate 6-byte hardware addresses to names. If an address is not
1872 found in the global F<ethers> file, the personal F<ethers> file, in
1873 F<$HOME/.ethereal/ethers> on UNIX-compatible systems, and in
1874 F<%APPDATA%\Ethereal\ethers> (or, if %APPDATA% isn't defined, the
1875 F<%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Ethereal\ethers> file) on Windows
1876 systems is consulted next. Each line contains one hardware address and
1877 name, separated by whitespace. The digits of the hardware address are
1878 separated by either a colon (:), a dash (-), or a period (.). The
1879 following three lines are valid lines of an F<ethers> file:
1881 ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff Broadcast
1882 c0-00-ff-ff-ff-ff TR_broadcast
1883 00.00.00.00.00.00 Zero_broadcast
1885 The F<manuf> file, which is installed in the F<etc> directory under the
1886 main installation directory (for example, F</usr/local/etc>) on
1887 UNIX-compatible systems, and in the main installation directory (for
1888 example, F<C:\Program Files\Ethereal>) on Windows systems, matches the
1889 3-byte vendor portion of a 6-byte hardware address with the
1890 manufacturer's name; it can also contain well-known MAC addresses and
1891 address ranges specified with a netmask. The format of the file is the
1892 same as the F<ethers> file, except that entries of the form
1896 can be provided, with the 3-byte OUI and the name for a vendor, and
1899 00-00-0C-07-AC/40 All-HSRP-routers
1901 can be specified, with a MAC address and a mask indicating how many bits
1902 of the address must match. Trailing zero bytes can be omitted from
1903 address ranges. That entry, for example, will match addresses from
1904 00-00-0C-07-AC-00 through 00-00-0C-07-AC-FF. The mask need not be a
1907 The global F<ipxnets> file, which is found in the F</etc> directory on
1908 UNIX-compatible systems, and in the main installation directory (for
1909 example, F<C:\Program Files\Ethereal>) on Windows systems, correlates
1910 4-byte IPX network numbers to names. If a network number is not found
1911 in the global F<ipxnets> file, the personal F<ipxnets> file, in
1912 F<$HOME/.ethereal/ipxnets> on UNIX-compatible systems, and in
1913 F<%APPDATA%\Ethereal\ipxnets> (or, if %APPDATA% isn't defined, the
1914 F<%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Ethereal\ipxnets> file) on Windows
1915 systems, is consulted next. The format is the same as the F<ethers>
1916 file, except that each address if four bytes instead of six.
1917 Additionally, the address can be represented a single hexadecimal
1918 number, as is more common in the IPX world, rather than four hex octets.
1919 For example, these four lines are valid lines of an F<ipxnets> file:
1923 00:00:BE:EF IT_Server1
1926 The personal capture filters file, in F<$HOME/.ethereal/cfilters> on
1927 UNIX-compatible systems, and F<%APPDATA%\Ethereal\cfilters> (or, if
1928 %APPDATA% isn't defined, F<%USERPROFILE%\Application
1929 Data\Ethereal\cfilters>) on Windows systems, and the personal display
1930 filters file, in F<$HOME/.ethereal/dfilters> on UNIX-compatible systems,
1931 and F<%APPDATA%\Ethereal\dfilters> (or, if %APPDATA% isn't defined,
1932 F<%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Ethereal\dfilters>) on Windows systems,
1933 contain personal capture and display filters, respectively.
1935 The global color filters file, F<colorfilters>, which is installed in
1936 the F<etc> directory under the main installation directory (for example,
1937 F</usr/local/etc>) on UNIX-compatible systems, and in the main
1938 installation directory (for example, F<C:\Program Files\Ethereal>) on
1939 Windows systems, and the personal color filters file, which is
1940 F<$HOME/.ethereal/colorfilters> on UNIX-compatible systems and
1941 F<%APPDATA%\Ethereal\colorfilters> (or, if %APPDATA% isn't defined,
1942 F<%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Ethereal\color filters>) on Windows
1943 systems, contain system-wide and personal color filters,
1948 I<ethereal-filter(4)> I<tethereal(1)>, I<editcap(1)>, I<tcpdump(8)>, I<pcap(3)>
1952 The latest version of B<Ethereal> can be found at
1953 B<http://www.ethereal.com>.