One of the tools in this package is netcap. When you run this tool in the first time, the Network Monitor Driver will automatically be installed on your system. Starting from version 1. The new version of Microsoft Network Monitor 3.
You can also use SmartSniff with the capture driver of Microsoft Network Monitor, if it's installed on your system. If you only see the outgoing traffic, try to turn off Windows firewall, or add smsniff.
Version 2. SmartSniff now tries to load the dll of Network Monitor Driver 3. This change should solve the problem with loading the Network Monitor Driver 3.
Added secondary sorting support: You can now get a secondary sorting, by holding down the shift key while clicking the column header. To sort the first column you should not hold down the Shift key.
This option is needed when using the 'Raw Socket' capture method while Windows firewall is turned on, because if SmartSniff is not added to Windows firewall, the incoming traffic is not captured at all. Fixed the window title of 'Display Filter' option. When it's turned on, the odd and even rows are displayed in different color, to make it easier to read a single line.
Version 1. Fixed issue: The properties dialog-box and other windows opened in the wrong monitor, on multi-monitors system. The internal DNS cache of Windows is also used. When it's turned on, HTTP responses compressed with gzip are automatically detected, and displayed in decompressed form. When this options is turned on, SmartSniff automatically hide all streams that their connection was closed.
This means that SmartSniff will only display the streams that their connection is still opened. When this option is turned on, the column names are added as the first line when you export to csv or tab-delimited file.
When you switch the wireless card to monitor mode, SmartSniff can capture all unencrypted wireless TCP streams in the channel that you chose to monitor. Added support for opening the capture file. In the previous version, SmartSniff always turned on the 'Promiscuous Mode', but in some wireless adapters, the capture doesn't work at all if Promiscuous Mode is turned on. The configuration is now saved to a file, instead of the Registry. New option: Retrieve process information while capturing packets.
A tooltip is displayed when a string in a column is longer than the column length. When running SmartSniff in the first time, the first found network adapter with IP address is now automatically selected. In previous versions, the user had to select an adapter in order to start capturing Version 1. Filters are now saved when you exit from SmartSniff, and loaded again in the next time that you run it. Capture and display filters. New option: Resolve IP Addresses to host names displayed in 'Local Host' and 'Remote Host' columns New option: On Automatic display mode, don't display data in hex format if the data size is larger than The default is KB New option: In the lower pane, don't display items with data size larger than The default is KB Added more accelerator keys.
XP style support. After running SmartSniff, select "Start Capture" from the File menu, or simply click the green play button in the toolbar.
If it's the first time that you use SmartSniff, you'll be asked to select the capture method and the network adapter that you want to use. The fundamental tool of almost all network traffic collection is tcpdump. It is an open-source application that comes installed on almost all Unix-like operating systems.
Tcpdump is an excellent collection tool and comes complete with a very complex filtering language. Capturing all data from a network device on even a moderately busy network can create too much data to analyze efficiently. For example, in writing this article, I captured some traffic and noticed that my machine was sending traffic to an IP address I did not recognize.
It turns out that my machine was sending data to a Google IP address of Since I did not have any Google products running, nor Gmail open, I did not know why this was happening. I examined my system and found this:. It seems that even when Chrome is not running in the foreground it remains running as a service. I would not have necessarily noticed this without a packet analysis to tip me off. I re-captured some more tcpdump data but this time told tcpdump to write the data to a file that I opened in Wireshark more on that later.
Tcpdump is a favorite tool among sysadmins because it is a command-line tool. It is unusual for production servers to provide a desktop because of the resources that would take, so command-line tools are preferred. As with many advanced tools, tcpdump has a very rich and arcane language that takes some time to master. A few of the very basic commands involve selecting the network interface from which to collect data, and writing that data to a file so it can be exported for analysis elsewhere.
The -i and -w switches are used for this. The standard TCP capture file is a pcap file. It is not text so it can only be read by an analysis program that knows how to read pcap files. Most useful open source tools are eventually cloned to other operating systems.
When this happens, the application is said to have been ported over. WinDump is a port of tcpdump and behaves in very similar ways. One major difference between WinDump and tcpdump is that Windump needs the WinpCap library installed prior to being able to run WinDump.
Despite both WinDump and WinpCap being provided by the same maintainer, they are separate downloads. WinpCap is an actual library that needs to be installed. But, once it is installed, WinDump is an. As with tcpdump, WinDump can output network data to the screen for analysis, be filtered in the same way, and also write data to a pcap file for analysis offsite. It can not only capture data, but also provides some advanced analysis tools.
Adding to its appeal, Wireshark is open source, and has been ported over to almost every server operating system that exists. Starting life named Ethereal, Wireshark now runs everywhere, including as a standalone portable app.
The collected packets can then be analyzed all in one spot. At first launch, Wireshark allows you to either load an existing pcap file, or start capturing.
If you elect to capture network traffic, you can optionally specify filters to pare down the amount of data Wireshark collects. One of the most useful tools Wireshark provides is the ability to follow a stream. In the screenshot below we can see a lot of data has been captured, but what I am most interested in is that Google IP address. The same filters and tools that can be used for natively captured network data are available for imported files. TShark is a handy cross between tcpdump and Wireshark.
Tcpdump excels at collecting data packets and can very surgically extract only the data you want, however it is limited in how helpful it can be for analysis. Enter TShark; it captures and analyzes but does the latter on the command line. This command tells TShark only to bother capturing the destination IP address as well as some other interesting fields from the HTTP part of the packet. NetworkMiner is a fascinating tool that falls more into the category of a forensic tool rather than a straight-up network sniffer.
The field of forensics typically deals with the investigation and collection of evidence and Network Miner does that job well for network traffic.
Network Miner can also operate in offline mode. You can use the tried and true tcpdump tool to capture packets at a point of interest on your network, and then import the pcap files into Network Miner. It will then attempt to reconstruct any files or certificates it finds in the capture file. Fiddler is not technically a network packet capture tool, but it is so incredibly useful that it made the list. Unlike the other tools listed here which are designed to capture ad-hoc traffic on the network from any source, Fiddler is more of a desktop debugging tool.
It captures HTTP traffic and while many browsers already have this capability in their developer tools, Fiddler is not limited to browser traffic. Fiddler can capture any HTTP traffic on the desktop including that of non-web applications.
Many desktop network applications use HTTP to connect to web services and without a tool like Fiddler, the only way to capture that traffic for analysis is using tools like tcpdump or WireShark.
However, those tools operate at the packet level so analysis includes reconstruction of those packets into HTTP streams. Fiddler can help discover cookies, certificates, and packet payload data coming in or out of those apps.
It helps that Fiddler is free and, much like NetworkMiner, it can be run within Mono on any other operating system with a Mono framework. Capsa Network Analyzer has several editions, each with varying capabilities.
At the first level, Capsa free, the software essentially just captures packets and allows some very graphical analysis of them. The dashboard is very unique and can help novice sysadmins pinpoint network issues quickly even with little actual packet knowledge.
The free level is aimed at people who want to know more about packets and build up their skills into full-fledged analysts. The free version knows how to monitor over protocols, it allows for email monitoring and also it can save email content and also supports triggers.
The triggers can be used to set alerts for specific situations which means Capsa standard can also be used in a support capacity to some extent. With the packet sniffing tools I have mentioned, it is not a big leap to see how a systems administrator could build an on-demand network monitoring infrastructure. Tcpdump, or Windump, could be installed on all servers. A scheduler, such as cron or Windows scheduler, could kick off a packet collection session at some time of interest and write those collections to a pcap file.
At some later time, a sysadmin can transfer those packets to a central machine and use Wireshark to analyze them. The captured packets are displayed in a viewer within the tool, stored to a file, or both.
PCAP tools that capture packets in their entirety create very large files and are stored with the. There are also some industry favorites such as tcpdump, Windump, and Wireshark. A packet analyzer captures packets as they travel around the network.
Some packet analyzers also include more sophisticated analysis tools. Packet sniffing can be detected in certain circumstances. The solution to finding packet capture depends on the location of the packet sniffer and the method it uses.
Issuing a Ping with the right IP address but the wrong MAC address for each computer on the network should spot the hosts that are in promiscuous mode and therefore likely to be in use for packet sniffing. Full packet capture copies all of a packet including the data payload. Typically full packet capture data gets stored in a file with the. Allowing IT department staff to use full packet capture capabilities can break the confidentiality of data held by the enterprise and invalidate data security standards compliance.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Comparitech uses cookies. More info. Menu Close. We are reader supported and may receive a commission when you make purchases using the links on our site. Looking at ways to get a birds-eye view of your network's traffic and establish some control of data loss and flows?
In this article, we round up the best packet sniffers and software tools. Jon Watson Linux and internet security expert. You can identify traffic by application, category and risk level to eliminate and filter problem traffic.
Download a day free trial. Omnipeek Network Protocol Analyzer A network monitor that can be extended to capture packets. Windump A free clone of tcpdump written for Windows systems. Wireshark A well-known free packet capture and data analysis tool. NetworkMiner A Windows-based network analyzer with a no-frills free version. Capsa Written for Windows, the free packet capture tool can be upgraded for payment to add on analytical features. The main benefits are that they: Identify congested links Identify applications that generate the most traffic Collect data for predictive analysis Highlight peaks and troughs in network demand The actions you take depend on your available budget.
Promiscuous mode It is important to understand how the network card on your computer operates when you install packet sniffing software. Network traffic types Network traffic analysis requires an understanding of how networking works.
Hacker tools Packet sniffers are also used by hackers. Invest in intrusion detection systems to protect your network from these forms of unauthorized access How do Packet Sniffers and Network Analyzers work? What should you look for in a packet sniffer? We reviewed the market for packet sniffers and analyzed the options based on the following criteria: The ability to read packet headers and identify source and destination addresses A protocol analyzer that can categorize traffic by app The option to capture all packets or sample every nth packet The ability to communicate with switches and routers through NetFlow and other traffic analysis protocol languages Capacity planning and traffic shaping tools A free trial period or money-back guarantee for no-risk assessment A free tool that is worth installing or a paid tool that is worth the price.
Pros: Offers a combination of DPI and analysis features, making this a great all-in-one option for detailed troubleshooting and security audits Built for the enterprise, the suite offers robust data collection and a variety of options to visualize and search collected data Supports both NetFlow and sFlow collection, giving it more flexibility for higher volume networks Color-coding and other visual clues help administrators find issues quickly prior to an in-depth analysis.
Cons: Very advanced tool, built with network professionals in mind, not ideal for home users or hobbyists. Pros: Designed to be an infrastructure monitoring tool that supports multiple sensors types such as NetFlow, sFlow, and J-Flow Gives users the ability to customize sensors based on the type of application or server they are testing Captures packet headers only, helps speed up analysis and keep storage costs down for long term collection Uses simple yet intuitive graphing for traffic visualization.
Cons: Very detailed platform — takes time to learn and fully utilize all of the features available. Pros: Excellent user interface, easy to navigate, and remains uncluttered even when used on high volume networks Supports multiple networking technologies such as Cisco Netflow, Juniper Networks J-Flow, and Huawei Netstream, making it a hardware-agnostic solution Pre-built templates allow you to pull insights from packet capture right away Installs on Windows as well as on multiple flavors of Linux Built for the enterprise, offers SLA tracking and monitoring features.
Cons: Built for enterprise companies who process a lot of data, not the best fit for small LANs or home users. Pros: Lightweight install, additional features can be extended through plug-ins Supports ethernet and wireless packet capture Offers packet replay for testing and capacity planning.
Cons: Interface could be improved, especially around the toolbar section. Pros: Open-source tool backed by a large and dedicated community Lightweight application — utilizes CLI for most commands Completely free.
Pros: Open-source tool, very similar to tcpdump in terms of interface and functionality Runs via executable, no lengthy installations necessary Large supportive community.
Pros: One of the most popular sniffer tools, with a massive community behind it Open-source project that adds new features and plugins Supports packet collection and analysis in the same program.
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