source: basicnet/netutils/ethereal.xml@ 0710d944

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
  %general-entities;

  <!ENTITY ethereal-download-http "http://www.ethereal.com/distribution/ethereal-&ethereal-version;.tar.bz2">
  <!ENTITY ethereal-download-ftp  "ftp://ftp.ethereal.com/pub/ethereal/all-versions/ethereal-&ethereal-version;.tar.bz2">
  <!ENTITY ethereal-md5sum        "f8b7a2c2dcf273e7fd755f972167dacb">
  <!ENTITY ethereal-size          "5.4 MB">
  <!ENTITY ethereal-buildsize     "194 MB">
  <!ENTITY ethereal-time          "3.78 SBU">
]>

<sect1 id="ethereal" xreflabel="Ethereal-&ethereal-version;">
  <?dbhtml filename="ethereal.html"?>
  
  <sect1info>
    <othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
    <date>$Date$</date>
  </sect1info>
  
  <title>Ethereal-&ethereal-version;</title>
  
  <indexterm zone="ethereal">
    <primary sortas="a-Ethereal">Ethereal</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <sect2 role="package">
    <title>Introduction to Ethereal</title>

    <para>The <application>Ethereal</application> package contains a network 
    protocol analyzer, also known as a <quote>sniffer</quote>. This is useful for 
    analyzing data captured <quote>off the wire</quote> from a live network 
    connection, or data read from a capture file. <application>Ethereal</application> 
    provides both GUI and TTY-mode programs for examining captured network packets 
    from over 500 protocols, as well as the capability to read capture files from 
    many other popular network analyzers.</para>
    
    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Package Information</bridgehead>
    <itemizedlist spacing="compact">
      <listitem>
        <para>Download (HTTP): <ulink url="&ethereal-download-http;"/></para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Download (FTP): <ulink url="&ethereal-download-ftp;"/></para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Download MD5 sum: &ethereal-md5sum;</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Download size: &ethereal-size;</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Estimated disk space required: &ethereal-buildsize;</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Estimated build time: &ethereal-time;</para></listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    
    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Ethereal dependencies</bridgehead>
    
    <bridgehead renderas="sect4">Required</bridgehead>
    <para><xref linkend="GLib"/> or <xref linkend="glib2"/> (to build the 
    TTY-mode front-end only)</para>
    
    <bridgehead renderas="sect4">Recommended</bridgehead>
    <para><xref linkend="libpcap"/> (required to capture data)</para>
    
    <bridgehead renderas="sect4">Optional</bridgehead>
    <para><xref linkend="pkgconfig"/>, 
    <xref linkend="GTK"/> or <xref linkend="gtk2"/> (to build the 
    GUI front-end), 
    <xref linkend="openssl"/>, 
    <xref linkend="heimdal"/> or <xref linkend="mitkrb"/>, 
    <xref linkend="python"/>, 
    <xref linkend="pcre"/>, 
    <xref linkend="doxygen"/>, 
    <ulink url="http://www.net-snmp.org/">Net-SNMP</ulink> and 
    <ulink url="http://www.gnu.org/software/adns/adns.html">adns</ulink></para>
    
  </sect2>
  
  <sect2 role="kernel" id="ethereal-kernel">
    <title>Kernel Configuration</title>
    
      <para>The kernel must have the Packet protocol enabled for 
      <application>Ethereal</application> to capture live packets from the network. 
      Enable the Packet protocol by choosing <quote>Y</quote> in the 
      <quote>Device Drivers</quote> &ndash; <quote>Networking support</quote> 
      &ndash; <quote>Networking options</quote> &ndash; <quote>Packet socket</quote> 
      configuration parameter. Alternatively, build the af_packet module by choosing 
      <quote>M</quote> in this parameter.</para>
      
      <indexterm zone="ethereal ethereal-kernel">
        <primary sortas="d-Capturing-network-packets">Capturing network 
        packets</primary>
      </indexterm>
    
  </sect2>
  
  <sect2 role="installation">
    <title>Installation of Ethereal</title>

    <para>Install <application>Ethereal</application> by running the following 
    commands:</para>

<screen><userinput>./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc \
    --enable-randpkt --enable-threads &amp;&amp;
make</userinput></screen>
    
    <para>Now, as the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user:</para>
    
<screen role="root"><userinput>make install</userinput></screen>
    
  </sect2>
  
  <sect2 role="commands">
    <title>Command Explanations</title>
    
    <para><parameter>--enable-randpkt</parameter>: This parameter builds the random 
    capture program.</para>
    
    <para><parameter>--enable-threads</parameter>: This parameter enables the use 
    of threads in <command>ethereal</command>.</para>
    
    <para><option>--with-ssl</option>: This parameter enables the use of the 
    <application>OpenSSL</application> 
    <filename class='libraryfile'>libcrypto</filename> library.</para>
    
  </sect2>
  
  <sect2 role="configuration">
    <title>Configuring Ethereal</title>

    <sect3 id="ethereal-config">
      <title>Config Files</title>
      
      <para><filename>/etc/ethereal.conf</filename> and 
      <filename>~/.ethereal/preferences</filename></para>
      
      <indexterm zone="ethereal ethereal-config">
        <primary sortas="e-AA.ethereal-preferences">~/.ethereal/preferences</primary>
      </indexterm>
      
      <indexterm zone="ethereal ethereal-config">
        <primary sortas="e-etc-ethereal.conf">/etc/ethereal.conf</primary>
      </indexterm>
    
    </sect3>
    
    <sect3>
      <title>Configuration Information</title>
      
      <para>Though the default configuration parameters are very sane, 
      reference the configuration section of the 
      <ulink url="http://www.ethereal.com/docs/user-guide/">Ethereal User's 
      Guide</ulink> for configuration information. Most of 
      <application>Ethereal</application>'s configuration can be accomplished 
      using the menu options of the <command>ethereal</command> 
      GUI interface.</para>
      
      <note>
        <para>If you want to look at packets, make sure you don't filter 
        them out with <xref linkend="iptables"/>. If you want to exclude 
        certain classes of packets, it is more efficient to do it with 
        <application>iptables</application> than 
        <application>Ethereal</application>.</para>
      </note>
    
    </sect3>
    
  </sect2>
  
  <sect2 role="content">
    <title>Contents</title>

    <segmentedlist>
      <segtitle>Installed Programs</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed Libraries</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed Directories</segtitle>
      
      <seglistitem>
        <seg>capinfos, dftest, editcap, ethereal, idl2eth, mergecap, randpkt, 
        tethereal and text2pcap</seg>
        <seg>libethereal.so, libwiretap.so and numerous dissector plugin modules</seg>
        <seg>/usr/lib/ethereal and /usr/share/ethereal</seg>
      </seglistitem>
    </segmentedlist>
    
    <variablelist>
      <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Short Descriptions</bridgehead>
      <?dbfo list-presentation="list"?>
      <?dbhtml list-presentation="table"?>
      
      <varlistentry id="capinfos">
        <term><command>capinfos</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>reads a saved capture file and returns any or all of several 
          statistics about that file. It is able to detect and read any capture 
          supported by the <application>Ethereal</application> package.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ethereal capinfos">
            <primary sortas="b-capinfos">capinfos</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      
      <varlistentry id="dftest">
        <term><command>dftest</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a display-filter-compiler test program.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ethereal dftest">
            <primary sortas="b-dftest">dftest</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      
      <varlistentry id="editcap">
        <term><command>editcap</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>edits and/or translates the format of capture files. It knows 
          how to read <application>libpcap</application> capture files, including those 
          of <command>tcpdump</command>, <application>Ethereal</application> and other 
          tools that write captures in that format.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ethereal editcap">
            <primary sortas="b-editcap">editcap</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      
      <varlistentry id="ethereal-prog">
        <term><command>ethereal</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a GUI network protocol analyzer. It lets 
          you interactively browse packet data from a live network or from a previously 
          saved capture file.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ethereal ethereal-prog">
            <primary sortas="b-ethereal">ethereal</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      
      <varlistentry id="idl2eth">
        <term><command>idl2eth</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>takes a user specified CORBA 
          IDL file and generates <quote>C</quote> source code that 
          can be used to create an <application>Ethereal</application> plugin.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ethereal idl2eth">
            <primary sortas="b-idl2eth">idl2eth</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      
      <varlistentry id="mergecap">
        <term><command>mergecap</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>combines multiple saved capture files into a single output 
          file.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ethereal mergecap">
            <primary sortas="b-mergecap">mergecap</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      
      <varlistentry id="randpkt">
        <term><command>randpkt</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>creates random-packet capture files.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ethereal randpkt">
            <primary sortas="b-randpkt">randpkt</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      
      <varlistentry id="tethereal">
        <term><command>tethereal</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a TTY-mode network protocol analyzer. 
          It lets you capture packet data from a live network or read packets from a 
          previously saved capture file.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ethereal tethereal">
            <primary sortas="b-tethereal">tethereal</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      
      <varlistentry id="text2pcap">
        <term><command>text2pcap</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>reads in an ASCII hex dump and writes the 
          data described into a <application>libpcap</application>-style capture 
          file.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ethereal text2pcap">
            <primary sortas="b-text2pcap">text2pcap</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      
      <varlistentry id="libethereal">
        <term><filename class='libraryfile'>libethereal.so</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>contains functions used by the 
          <application>Ethereal</application> programs to perform filtering and 
          packet capturing.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ethereal libethereal">
            <primary sortas="c-libethereal">libethereal.so</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
      
      <varlistentry id="libwiretap">
        <term><filename class='libraryfile'>libwiretap.so</filename></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a library being developed as a future replacement for 
          <filename class='libraryfile'>libpcap</filename>, the current standard Unix 
          library for packet capturing. For more information, see the 
          <filename>README</filename> file in the source 
          <filename class='directory'>wiretap</filename> directory.</para>
          <indexterm zone="ethereal libwiretap">
            <primary sortas="c-libwiretap">libwiretap.so</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
    
    </variablelist>

  </sect2>

</sect1>