netsniff-ng
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| Original author(s) | Daniel Borkmann |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Daniel Borkmann, Tobias Klauser, Herbert Haas, Emmanuel Roullit, Markus Amend and many others |
| Initial release | December, 2009 |
| Stable release | 0.6.8[1] / 11 January 2021 |
| Repository | https://github.com/netsniff-ng/netsniff-ng |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Linux |
| Available in | English |
| Type | |
| License | GPLv2[2] |
| Website | http://netsniff-ng.org[3] |
netsniff-ng is a free Linux network analyzer and networking toolkit originally written by Daniel Borkmann. Its gain of performance is reached by zero-copy mechanisms for network packets (RX_RING, TX_RING),[4] so that the Linux kernel does not need to copy packets from kernel space to user space via system calls such as recvmsg().[5] libpcap, starting with release 1.0.0, also supports the zero-copy mechanism on Linux for capturing (RX_RING), so programs using libpcap also use that mechanism on Linux.
Overview[edit]
netsniff-ng was initially created as a network sniffer with support of the Linux kernel packet-mmap interface for network packets, but later on, more tools have been added to make it a useful toolkit such as the iproute2 suite, for instance. Through the kernel's zero-copy interface, efficient packet processing can be reached even on commodity hardware. For instance, Gigabit Ethernet wire-speed has been reached with netsniff-ng's trafgen.[6][7] The netsniff-ng toolkit does not depend on the libpcap library. Moreover, no special operating system patches are needed to run the toolkit. netsniff-ng is free software and has been released under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2.
The toolkit currently consists of a network analyzer, packet capturer and replayer, a wire-rate traffic generator, an encrypted multiuser IP tunnel, a Berkeley Packet Filter compiler, networking statistic tools, an autonomous system trace route and more:[8]
- netsniff-ng: a zero-copy analyzer, packet capturer and replayer, itself supporting the pcap file format
- trafgen: a zero-copy wire-rate traffic generator
- mausezahn: a packet generator and analyzer for HW/SW appliances with a Cisco-CLI
- bpfc: a Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) compiler
- ifpps: a top-like kernel networking statistics tool
- flowtop: a top-like netfilter connection tracking tool with Geo-IP information
- curvetun: a lightweight multiuser IP tunnel based on elliptic-curve cryptography
- astraceroute: an autonomous system trace route utility with Geo-IP information
Distribution specific packages are available for all major operating system distributions such as Debian[9] or Fedora Linux. It has also been added to Xplico's Network Forensic Toolkit,[10] GRML Linux, SecurityOnion,[11] and to the Network Security Toolkit.[12] The netsniff-ng toolkit is also used in academia.[13][14]
Basic commands working in netsniff-ng[edit]
In these examples, it is assumed that eth0 is the used network interface. Programs in the netsniff-ng suite accept long options, e.g. --in ( -i ), --out ( -o ), --dev ( -d ).
astraceroute -d eth0 -N -S -H <host e.g., netsniff-ng.org> - For kernel networking statistics within promiscuous mode:
ifpps -d eth0 -p - For high-speed network packet traffic generation,
trafgen.txfis the packet configuration:
trafgen -d eth0 -c trafgen.txf - For compiling a Berkeley Packet Filter fubar.bpf:
bpfc fubar.bpf - For live-tracking of current TCP connections (including protocol, application name, city and country of source and destination):
flowtop - For efficiently dumping network traffic in a pcap file:
netsniff-ng -i eth0 -o dump.pcap -s -b 0 Platforms[edit]
The netsniff-ng toolkit currently runs only on Linux systems. Its developers decline a port to Microsoft Windows.[15]
See also[edit]
- Comparison of packet analyzers
- OpenVPN
- Packet generator
- Tcpdump
- Traceroute
- Traffic generation model
- Wireshark
- Xplico
References[edit]
- ^ "Release 0.6.8". 11 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
- ^ "netsniff-ng license". GitHub. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
- ^ Error: Unable to display the reference properly. See the documentation for details.
- ^ "Description of the Linux packet-mmap mechanism". Retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ^ "netsniff-ng homepage, abstract, zero-copy". Archived from the original on 8 September 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ^ "Network Security Toolkit Article about trafgen's performance capabilities". Retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ^ "Developer's blog about trafgen's performance". 16 October 2011. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ^ "netsniff-ng README". GitHub. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
- ^ "netsnif-ng in Debian".
- ^ "Xplico support of netsniff-ng". Retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ^ "Security Onion 12.04 RC1 available now!". Retrieved 16 December 2012.
- ^ "Network Security Toolkit adds netsniff-ng". Retrieved 6 November 2011.
- ^ "netsniff-ng's trafgen at University of Napoli Federico II". Archived from the original on 10 November 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
- ^ "netsniff-ng's trafgen at Columbia University". Retrieved 7 November 2011.
- ^ "netsniff-ng FAQ declining a port to Microsoft Windows". Retrieved 21 June 2015.
External links[edit]
- Official netsniff-ng website
- netsniff-ng FAQ
- netsniff-ng at GitHub
- netsniff-ng mailing list archive
- Linux' packet mmap(), BPF, and the netsniff-ng toolkit, talk at DevConf (long)
- Packet sockets, BPF, netsniff-ng, talk at OpenSourceDays (short)
- – Linux Administration and Privileged Commands Manual