source: basicnet/netutils/ethereal.xml@ 775c349a

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
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   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.3/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        "eebd6cc45a45d68332b2c053aac0c484">
  <!ENTITY ethereal-size          "5.1 MB">
  <!ENTITY ethereal-buildsize     "179 MB">
  <!ENTITY ethereal-time          "3.61 SBU">
]>

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

<sect2>
<title>Introduction to <application>Ethereal</application></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 <acronym>GUI</acronym> and 
<acronym>TTY</acronym>-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>

<sect3><title>Package information</title>
<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>
</sect3>

<sect3><title><application>Ethereal</application> dependencies</title>
<sect4><title>Required</title>
<para><xref linkend="GLib"/> or <xref linkend="glib2"/> (to build the 
<acronym>TTY</acronym>-mode front-end only)</para>
</sect4>

<sect4><title>Recommended</title>
<para><xref linkend="libpcap"/> (required to capture data)</para>
</sect4>

<sect4><title>Optional</title>
<para><xref linkend="pkgconfig"/>, 
<xref linkend="GTK"/> or <xref linkend="gtk2"/> (to build the 
<acronym>GUI</acronym> 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>
</sect4>
</sect3>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Installation of <application>Ethereal</application></title>

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

<screen><userinput><command>./configure --prefix=/usr --sysconfdir=/etc \
    --enable-randpkt --enable-threads &amp;&amp;
make &amp;&amp;
make install</command></userinput></screen>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Command explanations</title>

<para><option>--enable-randpkt</option>: This parameter builds the random 
capture program.</para>

<para><option>--enable-threads</option>: This parameter enables the use 
of threads in <command>ethereal</command>.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Configuring <application>Ethereal</application></title>

<sect3><title>Config files</title>
<para><filename>/etc/ethereal.conf</filename> and 
<filename>~/.ethereal/preferences</filename></para>
</sect3>

<sect3><title>Configuration Information</title>
<sect4><title>Package configuration</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> 
<acronym>GUI</acronym> interface.</para>
</sect4>

<sect4><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>

<para>Note: 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>
</sect4>
</sect3>

</sect2>

<sect2>
<title>Contents</title>

<para>The <application>Ethereal</application> package contains 
<command>capinfos</command>, 
<command>dftest</command>, 
<command>editcap</command>, 
<command>ethereal</command>, 
<command>idl2eth</command>, 
<command>mergecap</command>, 
<command>randpkt</command>, 
<command>tethereal</command>, 
<command>text2pcap</command>, 
<filename class='libraryfile'>libethereal</filename>, 
<filename class='libraryfile'>libwiretap</filename> and 
many dissector plugin modules.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2><title>Description</title>

<sect3><title>capinfos</title>
<para><command>capinfos</command> 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>
</sect3>

<sect3><title>dftest</title>
<para><command>dftest</command> is a display-filter-compiler test 
program.</para>
</sect3>

<sect3><title>editcap</title>
<para><command>editcap</command> 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>
</sect3>

<sect3><title>ethereal</title>
<para><command>ethereal</command> is a <acronym>GUI</acronym> network protocol 
analyzer. It lets you interactively browse packet data from a live network or 
from a previously saved capture file.</para>
</sect3>

<sect3><title>idl2eth</title>
<para><command>idl2eth</command> takes a user specified 
<acronym>CORBA</acronym> <acronym>IDL</acronym> file and generates 
<quote>C</quote> source code that can be used to create an 
<application>Ethereal</application> plugin.</para>
</sect3>

<sect3><title>mergecap</title>
<para><command>mergecap</command> combines multiple saved capture files into a 
single output file.</para>
</sect3>

<sect3><title>randpkt</title>
<para><command>randpkt</command> creates random-packet capture files.</para>
</sect3>

<sect3><title>tethereal</title>
<para><command>tethereal</command> is a <acronym>TTY</acronym>-mode network 
protocol analyzer. It lets you capture packet data from a live network or
read packets from a previously saved capture file.</para>
</sect3>

<sect3><title>text2pcap</title>
<para><command>text2pcap</command> reads in an <acronym>ASCII</acronym> hex 
dump and writes the data described into a 
<application>libpcap</application>-style capture file.</para>
</sect3>

</sect2>

</sect1>