12 Tcpdump Commands – A Network Sniffer Tool
In our previous article, we have seen 20 Netstat Commands to monitor or mange Linux network. This is our another ongoing series of packet sniffer tool called tcpdump. Here, we are going to show you how to installtcpdump and then we discuss and cover some useful commands with their practical examples.
tcpdump is a most powerful and widely used command-line packets sniffer or package analyzer tool which is used to capture or filter TCP/IP packets that received or transferred over a network on a specific interface. It is available under most of the Linux/Unix based operating systems. tcpdump also gives us a option to save captured packets in a file for future analysis. It saves the file in a pcap format, that can be viewed by tcpdump command or a open source GUI based tool called Wireshark (Network Protocol Analyzier) that reads tcpdumppcap format files.
How to Install tcpdump in Linux
Many of Linux distributions already shipped with tcpdump tool, if in case you don’t have it on systems, you can install it using following Yum command.
# yum install tcpdump
Once tcpdump tool is installed on systems, you can continue to browse following commands with their examples.
1. Capture Packets from Specific Interface
The command screen will scroll up until you interrupt and when we execute tcpdump command it will captures from all the interfaces, however with -i switch only capture from desire interface.
# tcpdump -i eth0 tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes 11:33:31.976358 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 3500440357:3500440553, ack 3652628334, win 18760, length 196 11:33:31.976603 IP 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler > 172.16.25.126.ssh: Flags [.], ack 196, win 64487, length 0 11:33:31.977243 ARP, Request who-has tecmint.com tell 172.16.25.126, length 28 11:33:31.977359 ARP, Reply tecmint.com is-at 00:14:5e:67:26:1d (oui Unknown), length 46 11:33:31.977367 IP 172.16.25.126.54807 > tecmint.com: 4240+ PTR? 125.25.16.172.in-addr.arpa. (44) 11:33:31.977599 IP tecmint.com > 172.16.25.126.54807: 4240 NXDomain 0/1/0 (121) 11:33:31.977742 IP 172.16.25.126.44519 > tecmint.com: 40988+ PTR? 126.25.16.172.in-addr.arpa. (44) 11:33:32.028747 IP 172.16.20.33.netbios-ns > 172.16.31.255.netbios-ns: NBT UDP PACKET(137): QUERY; REQUEST; BROADCAST 11:33:32.112045 IP 172.16.21.153.netbios-ns > 172.16.31.255.netbios-ns: NBT UDP PACKET(137): QUERY; REQUEST; BROADCAST 11:33:32.115606 IP 172.16.21.144.netbios-ns > 172.16.31.255.netbios-ns: NBT UDP PACKET(137): QUERY; REQUEST; BROADCAST 11:33:32.156576 ARP, Request who-has 172.16.16.37 tell old-oraclehp1.midcorp.mid-day.com, length 46 11:33:32.348738 IP tecmint.com > 172.16.25.126.44519: 40988 NXDomain 0/1/0 (121)
2. Capture Only N Number of Packets
When you run tcpdump command it will capture all the packets for specified interface, until you Hit cancel button. But using -c option, you can capture specified number of packets. The below example will only capture 6packets.
# tcpdump -c 5 -i eth0 tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes 11:40:20.281355 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 3500447285:3500447481, ack 3652629474, win 18760, length 196 11:40:20.281586 IP 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler > 172.16.25.126.ssh: Flags [.], ack 196, win 65235, length 0 11:40:20.282244 ARP, Request who-has tecmint.com tell 172.16.25.126, length 28 11:40:20.282360 ARP, Reply tecmint.com is-at 00:14:5e:67:26:1d (oui Unknown), length 46 11:40:20.282369 IP 172.16.25.126.53216 > tecmint.com.domain: 49504+ PTR? 125.25.16.172.in-addr.arpa. (44) 11:40:20.332494 IP tecmint.com.netbios-ssn > 172.16.26.17.nimaux: Flags [P.], seq 3058424861:3058424914, ack 693912021, win 64190, length 53 NBT Session Packet: Session Message 6 packets captured 23 packets received by filter 0 packets dropped by kernel
3. Print Captured Packets in ASCII
The below tcpdump command with option -A displays the package in ASCII format. It is a character-encoding scheme format.
# tcpdump -A -i eth0 tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes 09:31:31.347508 IP 192.168.0.2.ssh > 192.168.0.1.nokia-ann-ch1: Flags [P.], seq 3329372346:3329372542, ack 4193416789, win 17688, length 196 M.r0...vUP.E.X.......~.%..>N..oFk.........KQ..)Eq.d.,....r^l......m\.oyE....-....g~m..Xy.6..1.....c.O.@...o_..J....i.*.....2f.mQH...Q.c...6....9.v.gb........;..4.).UiCY]..9..x.)..Z.XF....'|..E......M..u.5.......ul 09:31:31.347760 IP 192.168.0.1.nokia-ann-ch1 > 192.168.0.2.ssh: Flags [.], ack 196, win 64351, length 0 M....vU.r1~P.._.......... ^C09:31:31.349560 IP 192.168.0.2.46393 > b.resolvers.Level3.net.domain: 11148+ PTR? 1.0.168.192.in-addr.arpa. (42) E..F..@.@............9.5.2.f+............1.0.168.192.in-addr.arpa..... 3 packets captured 11 packets received by filter 0 packets dropped by kernel
4. Display Available Interfaces
To list number of available interfaces on the system, run the following command with -D option.
# tcpdump -D 1.eth0 2.eth1 3.usbmon1 (USB bus number 1) 4.usbmon2 (USB bus number 2) 5.usbmon3 (USB bus number 3) 6.usbmon4 (USB bus number 4) 7.usbmon5 (USB bus number 5) 8.any (Pseudo-device that captures on all interfaces) 9.lo
5. Display Captured Packets in HEX and ASCII
The following command with option -XX capture the data of each packet, including its link level header in HEXand ASCII format.
# tcpdump -XX -i eth0
11:51:18.974360 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 3509235537:3509235733, ack 3652638190, win 18760, length 196
0x0000: b8ac 6f2e 57b3 0001 6c99 1468 0800 4510 ..o.W...l..h..E.
0x0010: 00ec 8783 4000 4006 275d ac10 197e ac10 ....@.@.']...~..
0x0020: 197d 0016 1129 d12a af51 d9b6 d5ee 5018 .}...).*.Q....P.
0x0030: 4948 8bfa 0000 0e12 ea4d 22d1 67c0 f123 IH.......M".g..#
0x0040: 9013 8f68 aa70 29f3 2efc c512 5660 4fe8 ...h.p).....V`O.
0x0050: 590a d631 f939 dd06 e36a 69ed cac2 95b6 Y..1.9...ji.....
0x0060: f8ba b42a 344b 8e56 a5c4 b3a2 ed82 c3a1 ...*4K.V........
0x0070: 80c8 7980 11ac 9bd7 5b01 18d5 8180 4536 ..y.....[.....E6
0x0080: 30fd 4f6d 4190 f66f 2e24 e877 ed23 8eb0 0.OmA..o.$.w.#..
0x0090: 5a1d f3ec 4be4 e0fb 8553 7c85 17d9 866f Z...K....S|....o
0x00a0: c279 0d9c 8f9d 445b 7b01 81eb 1b63 7f12 .y....D[{....c..
0x00b0: 71b3 1357 52c7 cf00 95c6 c9f6 63b1 ca51 q..WR.......c..Q
0x00c0: 0ac6 456e 0620 38e6 10cb 6139 fb2a a756 ..En..8...a9.*.V
0x00d0: 37d6 c5f3 f5f3 d8e8 3316 d14f d7ab fd93 7.......3..O....
0x00e0: 1137 61c1 6a5c b4d1 ddda 380a f782 d983 .7a.j\....8.....
0x00f0: 62ff a5a9 bb39 4f80 668a b....9O.f.
11:51:18.974759 IP 172.16.25.126.60952 > mddc-01.midcorp.mid-day.com.domain: 14620+ PTR? 125.25.16.172.in-addr.arpa. (44)
0x0000: 0014 5e67 261d 0001 6c99 1468 0800 4500 ..^g&...l..h..E.
0x0010: 0048 5a83 4000 4011 5e25 ac10 197e ac10 .HZ.@.@.^%...~..
0x0020: 105e ee18 0035 0034 8242 391c 0100 0001 .^...5.4.B9.....
0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0331 3235 0232 3502 3136 .......125.25.16
0x0040: 0331 3732 0769 6e2d 6164 6472 0461 7270 .172.in-addr.arp
0x0050: 6100 000c 0001 a.....
6. Capture and Save Packets in a File
As we said, that tcpdump has a feature to capture and save the file in a .pcap format, to do this just execute command with -w option.
# tcpdump -w 0001.pcap -i eth0 tcpdump: listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes 4 packets captured 4 packets received by filter 0 packets dropped by kernel
7. Read Captured Packets File
To read and analyze captured packet 0001.pcap file use the command with -r option, as shown below.
# tcpdump -r 0001.pcap reading from file 0001.pcap, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet) 09:59:34.839117 IP 192.168.0.2.ssh > 192.168.0.1.nokia-ann-ch1: Flags [P.], seq 3353041614:3353041746, ack 4193563273, win 18760, length 132 09:59:34.963022 IP 192.168.0.1.nokia-ann-ch1 > 192.168.0.2.ssh: Flags [.], ack 132, win 65351, length 0 09:59:36.935309 IP 192.168.0.1.netbios-dgm > 192.168.0.255.netbios-dgm: NBT UDP PACKET(138) 09:59:37.528731 IP 192.168.0.1.nokia-ann-ch1 > 192.168.0.2.ssh: Flags [P.], seq 1:53, ack 132, win 65351, length 5
8. Capture IP address Packets
To capture packets for a specific interface, run the following command with option -n.
# tcpdump -n -i eth0 tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes 12:07:03.952358 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 3509512873:3509513069, ack 3652639034, win 18760, length 196 12:07:03.952602 IP 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler > 172.16.25.126.ssh: Flags [.], ack 196, win 64171, length 0 12:07:03.953311 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 196:504, ack 1, win 18760, length 308 12:07:03.954288 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 504:668, ack 1, win 18760, length 164 12:07:03.954502 IP 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler > 172.16.25.126.ssh: Flags [.], ack 668, win 65535, length 0 12:07:03.955298 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 668:944, ack 1, win 18760, length 276 12:07:03.955425 IP 172.16.23.16.netbios-ns > 172.16.31.255.netbios-ns: NBT UDP PACKET(137): REGISTRATION; REQUEST; BROADCAST 12:07:03.956299 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 944:1236, ack 1, win 18760, length 292 12:07:03.956535 IP 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler > 172.16.25.126.ssh: Flags [.], ack 1236, win 64967, length 0
9. Capture only TCP Packets.
To capture packets based on TCP port, run the following command with option tcp.
# tcpdump -i eth0 tcp tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes 12:10:36.216358 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 3509646029:3509646225, ack 3652640142, win 18760, length 196 12:10:36.216592 IP 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler > 172.16.25.126.ssh: Flags [.], ack 196, win 64687, length 0 12:10:36.219069 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 196:504, ack 1, win 18760, length 308 12:10:36.220039 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 504:668, ack 1, win 18760, length 164 12:10:36.220260 IP 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler > 172.16.25.126.ssh: Flags [.], ack 668, win 64215, length 0 12:10:36.222045 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 668:944, ack 1, win 18760, length 276 12:10:36.223036 IP 172.16.25.126.ssh > 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler: Flags [P.], seq 944:1108, ack 1, win 18760, length 164 12:10:36.223252 IP 172.16.25.125.apwi-rxspooler > 172.16.25.126.ssh: Flags [.], ack 1108, win 65535, length 0 ^C12:10:36.223461 IP mid-pay.midcorp.mid-day.com.netbios-ssn > 172.16.22.183.recipe: Flags [.], seq 283256512:283256513, ack 550465221, win 65531, length 1[|SMB]
10. Capture Packet from Specific Port
Let’s say you want to capture packets for specific port 22, execute the below command by specifying port number 22 as shown below.
# tcpdump -i eth0 port 22 tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes 10:37:49.056927 IP 192.168.0.2.ssh > 192.168.0.1.nokia-ann-ch1: Flags [P.], seq 3364204694:3364204890, ack 4193655445, win 20904, length 196 10:37:49.196436 IP 192.168.0.2.ssh > 192.168.0.1.nokia-ann-ch1: Flags [P.], seq 4294967244:196, ack 1, win 20904, length 248 10:37:49.196615 IP 192.168.0.1.nokia-ann-ch1 > 192.168.0.2.ssh: Flags [.], ack 196, win 64491, length 0 10:37:49.379298 IP 192.168.0.2.ssh > 192.168.0.1.nokia-ann-ch1: Flags [P.], seq 196:616, ack 1, win 20904, length 420 10:37:49.381080 IP 192.168.0.2.ssh > 192.168.0.1.nokia-ann-ch1: Flags [P.], seq 616:780, ack 1, win 20904, length 164 10:37:49.381322 IP 192.168.0.1.nokia-ann-ch1 > 192.168.0.2.ssh: Flags [.], ack 780, win 65535, length 0
11. Capture Packets from source IP
To capture packets from source IP, say you want to capture packets for 192.168.0.2, use the command as follows.
# tcpdump -i eth0 src 192.168.0.2 tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes 10:49:15.746474 IP 192.168.0.2.ssh > 192.168.0.1.nokia-ann-ch1: Flags [P.], seq 3364578842:3364579038, ack 4193668445, win 20904, length 196 10:49:15.748554 IP 192.168.0.2.56200 > b.resolvers.Level3.net.domain: 11289+ PTR? 1.0.168.192.in-addr.arpa. (42) 10:49:15.912165 IP 192.168.0.2.56234 > b.resolvers.Level3.net.domain: 53106+ PTR? 2.0.168.192.in-addr.arpa. (42) 10:49:16.074720 IP 192.168.0.2.33961 > b.resolvers.Level3.net.domain: 38447+ PTR? 2.2.2.4.in-addr.arpa. (38)
12. Capture Packets from destination IP
To capture packets from destination IP, say you want to capture packets for 50.116.66.139, use the command as follows.
# tcpdump -i eth0 dst 50.116.66.139 tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 65535 bytes 10:55:01.798591 IP 192.168.0.2.59896 > 50.116.66.139.http: Flags [.], ack 2480401451, win 318, options [nop,nop,TS val 7955710 ecr 804759402], length 0 10:55:05.527476 IP 192.168.0.2.59894 > 50.116.66.139.http: Flags [F.], seq 2521556029, ack 2164168606, win 245, options [nop,nop,TS val 7959439 ecr 804759284], length 0 10:55:05.626027 IP 192.168.0.2.59894 > 50.116.66.139.http: Flags [.], ack 2, win 245, options [nop,nop,TS val 7959537 ecr 804759787], length 0
This article may help you to explore tcpdump command in depth and also to capture and analysis packets in future. There are number of options available, you can use the options as per your requirement. Please share if you find this article useful through our comment box.
Packet Analyzer: 15 TCPDUMP Command Examples
tcpdump command is also called as packet analyzer.
tcpdump command will work on most flavors of unix operating system. tcpdump allows us to save the packets that are captured, so that we can use it for future analysis. The saved file can be viewed by the same tcpdump command. We can also use open source software like wireshark to read the tcpdump pcap files.
In this tcpdump tutorial, let us discuss some practical examples on how to use the tcpdump command.
1. Capture packets from a particular ethernet interface using tcpdump -i
When you execute tcpdump command without any option, it will capture all the packets flowing through all the interfaces. -i option with tcpdump command, allows you to filter on a particular ethernet interface.
$ tcpdump -i eth1 14:59:26.608728 IP xx.domain.netbcp.net.52497 > valh4.lell.net.ssh: . ack 540 win 16554 14:59:26.610602 IP resolver.lell.net.domain > valh4.lell.net.24151: 4278 1/0/0 (73) 14:59:26.611262 IP valh4.lell.net.38527 > resolver.lell.net.domain: 26364+ PTR? 244.207.104.10.in-addr.arpa. (45)
In this example, tcpdump captured all the packets flows in the interface eth1 and displays in the standard output.
Note: Editcap utility is used to select or remove specific packets from dump file and translate them into a given format.
2. Capture only N number of packets using tcpdump -c
When you execute tcpdump command it gives packets until you cancel the tcpdump command. Using -c option you can specify the number of packets to capture.
$ tcpdump -c 2 -i eth0 listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 96 bytes 14:38:38.184913 IP valh4.lell.net.ssh > yy.domain.innetbcp.net.11006: P 1457255642:1457255758(116) ack 1561463966 win 63652 14:38:38.690919 IP valh4.lell.net.ssh > yy.domain.innetbcp.net.11006: P 116:232(116) ack 1 win 63652 2 packets captured 13 packets received by filter 0 packets dropped by kernel
The above tcpdump command captured only 2 packets from interface eth0.
Note: Mergecap and TShark: Mergecap is a packet dump combining tool, which will combine multiple dumps into a single dump file. Tshark is a powerful tool to capture network packets, which can be used to analyze the network traffic. It comes with wireshark network analyzer distribution.
3. Display Captured Packets in ASCII using tcpdump -A
The following tcpdump syntax prints the packet in ASCII.
$ tcpdump -A -i eth0
tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode
listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 96 bytes
14:34:50.913995 IP valh4.lell.net.ssh > yy.domain.innetbcp.net.11006: P 1457239478:1457239594(116) ack 1561461262 win 63652
E.....@.@..]..i...9...*.V...]...P....h....E...>{..U=...g.
......G..7\+KA....A...L.
14:34:51.423640 IP valh4.lell.net.ssh > yy.domain.innetbcp.net.11006: P 116:232(116) ack 1 win 63652
E.....@.@..\..i...9...*.V..*]...P....h....7......X..!....Im.S.g.u:*..O&....^#Ba...
E..(R.@.|.....9...i.*...]...V..*P..OWp........
Note: Ifconfig command is used to configure network interfaces
4. Display Captured Packets in HEX and ASCII using tcpdump -XX
Some users might want to analyse the packets in hex values. tcpdump provides a way to print packets in both ASCII and HEX format.
$tcpdump -XX -i eth0
18:52:54.859697 IP zz.domain.innetbcp.net.63897 > valh4.lell.net.ssh: . ack 232 win 16511
0x0000: 0050 569c 35a3 0019 bb1c 0c00 0800 4500 .PV.5.........E.
0x0010: 0028 042a 4000 7906 c89c 10b5 aaf6 0f9a .(.*@.y.........
0x0020: 69c4 f999 0016 57db 6e08 c712 ea2e 5010 i.....W.n.....P.
0x0030: 407f c976 0000 0000 0000 0000 @..v........
18:52:54.877713 IP 10.0.0.0 > all-systems.mcast.net: igmp query v3 [max resp time 1s]
0x0000: 0050 569c 35a3 0000 0000 0000 0800 4600 .PV.5.........F.
0x0010: 0024 0000 0000 0102 3ad3 0a00 0000 e000 .$......:.......
0x0020: 0001 9404 0000 1101 ebfe 0000 0000 0300 ................
0x0030: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 ............
5. Capture the packets and write into a file using tcpdump -w
tcpdump allows you to save the packets to a file, and later you can use the packet file for further analysis.
$ tcpdump -w 08232010.pcap -i eth0 tcpdump: listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 96 bytes 32 packets captured 32 packets received by filter 0 packets dropped by kernel
-w option writes the packets into a given file. The file extension should be .pcap, which can be read by any network protocol
analyzer.
6. Reading the packets from a saved file using tcpdump -r
You can read the captured pcap file and view the packets for analysis, as shown below.
$tcpdump -tttt -r data.pcap
2010-08-22 21:35:26.571793 00:50:56:9c:69:38 (oui Unknown) > Broadcast, ethertype Unknown (0xcafe), length 74:
0x0000: 0200 000a ffff 0000 ffff 0c00 3c00 0000 ............<...
0x0010: 0000 0000 0100 0080 3e9e 2900 0000 0000 ........>.).....
0x0020: 0000 0000 ffff ffff ad00 996b 0600 0050 ...........k...P
0x0030: 569c 6938 0000 0000 8e07 0000 V.i8........
2010-08-22 21:35:26.571797 IP valh4.lell.net.ssh > zz.domain.innetbcp.net.50570: P 800464396:800464448(52) ack 203316566 win 71
2010-08-22 21:35:26.571800 IP valh4.lell.net.ssh > zz.domain.innetbcp.net.50570: P 52:168(116) ack 1 win 71
2010-08-22 21:35:26.584865 IP valh5.lell.net.ssh > 11.154.12.255.netbios-ns: NBT UDP PACKET(137): QUERY; REQUEST; BROADC
7. Capture packets with IP address using tcpdump -n
In all the above examples, it prints packets with the DNS address, but not the ip address. The following example captures the packets and it will display the IP address of the machines involved.
$ tcpdump -n -i eth0 15:01:35.170763 IP 10.0.19.121.52497 > 11.154.12.121.ssh: P 105:157(52) ack 18060 win 16549 15:01:35.170776 IP 11.154.12.121.ssh > 10.0.19.121.52497: P 23988:24136(148) ack 157 win 113 15:01:35.170894 IP 11.154.12.121.ssh > 10.0.19.121.52497: P 24136:24380(244) ack 157 win 113
8. Capture packets with proper readable timestamp using tcpdump -tttt
$ tcpdump -n -tttt -i eth0 2010-08-22 15:10:39.162830 IP 10.0.19.121.52497 > 11.154.12.121.ssh: . ack 49800 win 16390 2010-08-22 15:10:39.162833 IP 10.0.19.121.52497 > 11.154.12.121.ssh: . ack 50288 win 16660 2010-08-22 15:10:39.162867 IP 10.0.19.121.52497 > 11.154.12.121.ssh: . ack 50584 win 16586
9. Read packets longer than N bytes
You can receive only the packets greater than n number of bytes using a filter ‘greater’ through tcpdump command
$ tcpdump -w g_1024.pcap greater 1024
10. Receive only the packets of a specific protocol type
You can receive the packets based on the protocol type. You can specify one of these protocols — fddi, tr, wlan, ip, ip6, arp, rarp, decnet, tcp and udp. The following example captures only arp packets flowing through the eth0 interface.
$ tcpdump -i eth0 arp tcpdump: verbose output suppressed, use -v or -vv for full protocol decode listening on eth0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 96 bytes 19:41:52.809642 arp who-has valh5.lell.net tell valh9.lell.net 19:41:52.863689 arp who-has 11.154.12.1 tell valh6.lell.net 19:41:53.024769 arp who-has 11.154.12.1 tell valh7.lell.net
11. Read packets lesser than N bytes
You can receive only the packets lesser than n number of bytes using a filter ‘less’ through tcpdump command
$ tcpdump -w l_1024.pcap less 1024
12. Receive packets flows on a particular port using tcpdump port
If you want to know all the packets received by a particular port on a machine, you can use tcpdump command as shown below.
$ tcpdump -i eth0 port 22 19:44:44.934459 IP valh4.lell.net.ssh > zz.domain.innetbcp.net.63897: P 18932:19096(164) ack 105 win 71 19:44:44.934533 IP valh4.lell.net.ssh > zz.domain.innetbcp.net.63897: P 19096:19260(164) ack 105 win 71 19:44:44.934612 IP valh4.lell.net.ssh > zz.domain.innetbcp.net.63897: P 19260:19424(164) ack 105 win 71
13. Capture packets for particular destination IP and Port
The packets will have source and destination IP and port numbers. Using tcpdump we can apply filters on source or destination IP and port number. The following command captures packets flows in eth0, with a particular destination ip and port number 22.
$ tcpdump -w xpackets.pcap -i eth0 dst 10.181.140.216 and port 22
14. Capture TCP communication packets between two hosts
If two different process from two different machines are communicating through tcp protocol, we can capture those packets using tcpdump as shown below.
$tcpdump -w comm.pcap -i eth0 dst 16.181.170.246 and port 22
You can open the file comm.pcap using any network protocol analyzer tool to debug any potential issues.
15. tcpdump Filter Packets – Capture all the packets other than arp and rarp
In tcpdump command, you can give “and”, “or” and “not” condition to filter the packets accordingly.
$ tcpdump -i eth0 not arp and not rarp 20:33:15.479278 IP resolver.lell.net.domain > valh4.lell.net.64639: 26929 1/0/0 (73) 20:33:15.479890 IP valh4.lell.net.16053 > resolver.lell.net.domain: 56556+ PTR? 255.107.154.15.in-addr.arpa. (45) 20:33:15.480197 IP valh4.lell.net.ssh > zz.domain.innetbcp.net.63897: P 540:1504(964) ack 1 win 96 20:33:15.487118 IP zz.domain.innetbcp.net.63897 > valh4.lell.net.ssh: . ack 540 win 16486 20:33:15.668599 IP 10.0.0.0 > all-systems.mcast.net: igmp query v3 [max resp time 1s]
Network and CyberSecurity Professional 