[plug] Network Monitoring

[Craig Ringer]

Aaron Devenny wrote:
[moved to bottom]
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: plug-bounces at plug.linux.org.au [mailto:plug-bounces at plug.linux.org.au]
> 
>> I am studying at TAFE doing website design. My current security 
>> assignment is to obtain a network monitor, install, and write up the 
>> details of installation & configuration.
>>
>> Why am I posting this here, you ask? Because the example given was 
>> Microsoft Network Monitor...
>>
>> i asked the lecturer if I was restricted to windows and he said NO... 
>> write it on any program as long as I understand the principles.. groovy

[snip]

 > Ethereal is perfect if you are running X.  It will let you see
 > contents of packets etc in a nice GUI.  Ethereal also has a Win32
 > and Linux port, so you can use it on either OS.

Agreed, it's an invaluable tool. It's great for inspecting packets, 
tracing tcp/ip connections, etc. It also has some nice tools like a 
time/throughput graph and a tool to grab just the plain text of a TCP/IP 
session.

A program called etherape can also be useful for network visualisaion.

 > If you want to go more hardcore, tcpdump is a CLI version of a packet
 > dump and a program called iptraf is also a nice ncurses based version
 > to view source/dest packets.  Usability of these programs depends on
 > how much detail  you want to see things in though.

Ethereal also has a good text version, tethereal, that I like a _lot_ 
more than tcpdump. It lets you use ethereal filters, and has much more 
sensible default output IMO.

--
Craig Ringer