source: basicnet/netutils/ethereal.xml@ a56c29d

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.3//EN"
   "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        "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;">
<sect1info>
<othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
<date>$Date$</date>
</sect1info>
<?dbhtml filename="ethereal.html"?>
<title>Ethereal-&ethereal-version;</title>
<indexterm zone="ethereal">
<primary sortas="a-Ethereal">Ethereal</primary>
</indexterm>

<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</command></userinput></screen>

<para>Now, as the root user:</para>

<screen><userinput role='root'><command>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>

<para><option>--with-ssl</option>: This parameter enables the use of the 
<application>Open<acronym>SSL</acronym></application> 
<filename class='libraryfile'>libcrypto</filename> library.</para>

</sect2>

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

<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>

<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"?>

<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 <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>
<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 <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>
<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 <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>
<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 <acronym>ASCII</acronym> 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>