1 .\" @(#) $Header: /tcpdump/master/tcpdump/Attic/tcpdump.1,v 1.160 2004-01-26 02:05:18 guy Exp $ (LBL)
3 .\" $NetBSD: tcpdump.8,v 1.9 2003/03/31 00:18:17 perry Exp $
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25 .TH TCPDUMP 1 "25 January 2004"
27 tcpdump \- dump traffic on a network
32 .B \-AdDeflLnNOpqRStuUvxX
82 .I spi@ipaddr algo:secret,...
102 \fITcpdump\fP prints out the headers of packets on a network interface
103 that match the boolean \fIexpression\fP. It can also be run with the
105 flag, which causes it to save the packet data to a file for later
106 analysis, and/or with the
108 flag, which causes it to read from a saved packet file rather than to
109 read packets from a network interface. In all cases, only packets that
116 will, if not run with the
118 flag, continue capturing packets until it is interrupted by a SIGINT
119 signal (generated, for example, by typing your interrupt character,
120 typically control-C) or a SIGTERM signal (typically generated with the
122 command); if run with the
124 flag, it will capture packets until it is interrupted by a SIGINT or
125 SIGTERM signal or the specified number of packets have been processed.
129 finishes capturing packets, it will report counts of:
131 packets ``captured'' (this is the number of packets that
133 has received and processed);
135 packets ``received by filter'' (the meaning of this depends on the OS on
138 and possibly on the way the OS was configured - if a filter was
139 specified on the command line, on some OSes it counts packets regardless
140 of whether they were matched by the filter expression and, even if they
141 were matched by the filter expression, regardless of whether
143 has read and processed them yet, on other OSes it counts only packets that were
144 matched by the filter expression regardless of whether
146 has read and processed them yet, and on other OSes it counts only
147 packets that were matched by the filter expression and were processed by
150 packets ``dropped by kernel'' (this is the number of packets that were
151 dropped, due to a lack of buffer space, by the packet capture mechanism
154 is running, if the OS reports that information to applications; if not,
155 it will be reported as 0).
157 On platforms that support the SIGINFO signal, such as most BSDs
158 (including Mac OS X) and Digital/Tru64 UNIX, it will report those counts
159 when it receives a SIGINFO signal (generated, for example, by typing
160 your ``status'' character, typically control-T, although on some
161 platforms, such as Mac OS X, the ``status'' character is not set by
162 default, so you must set it with
164 in order to use it) and will continue capturing packets.
166 Reading packets from a network interface may require that you have
169 .B Under SunOS 3.x or 4.x with NIT or BPF:
170 You must have read access to
175 .B Under Solaris with DLPI:
176 You must have read/write access to the network pseudo device, e.g.
178 On at least some versions of Solaris, however, this is not sufficient to
181 to capture in promiscuous mode; on those versions of Solaris, you must
184 must be installed setuid to root, in order to capture in promiscuous
185 mode. Note that, on many (perhaps all) interfaces, if you don't capture
186 in promiscuous mode, you will not see any outgoing packets, so a capture
187 not done in promiscuous mode may not be very useful.
189 .B Under HP-UX with DLPI:
192 must be installed setuid to root.
194 .B Under IRIX with snoop:
197 must be installed setuid to root.
202 must be installed setuid to root (unless your distribution has a kernel
203 that supports capability bits such as CAP_NET_RAW and code to allow
204 those capability bits to be given to particular accounts and to cause
205 those bits to be set on a user's initial processes when they log in, in
206 which case you must have CAP_NET_RAW in order to capture and
207 CAP_NET_ADMIN to enumerate network devices with, for example, the
211 .B Under ULTRIX and Digital UNIX/Tru64 UNIX:
212 Any user may capture network traffic with
214 However, no user (not even the super-user) can capture in promiscuous
215 mode on an interface unless the super-user has enabled promiscuous-mode
216 operation on that interface using
218 and no user (not even the super-user) can capture unicast traffic
219 received by or sent by the machine on an interface unless the super-user
220 has enabled copy-all-mode operation on that interface using
224 packet capture on an interface probably requires that either
225 promiscuous-mode or copy-all-mode operation, or both modes of
226 operation, be enabled on that interface.
228 .B Under BSD (this includes Mac OS X):
229 You must have read access to
231 On BSDs with a devfs (this includes Mac OS X), this might involve more
232 than just having somebody with super-user access setting the ownership
233 or permissions on the BPF devices - it might involve configuring devfs
234 to set the ownership or permissions every time the system is booted,
235 if the system even supports that; if it doesn't support that, you might
236 have to find some other way to make that happen at boot time.
238 Reading a saved packet file doesn't require special privileges.
242 Print each packet (minus its link level header) in ASCII. Handy for
246 Exit after receiving \fIcount\fP packets.
249 Before writing a raw packet to a savefile, check whether the file is
250 currently larger than \fIfile_size\fP and, if so, close the current
251 savefile and open a new one. Savefiles after the first savefile will
252 have the name specified with the
254 flag, with a number after it, starting at 1 and continuing upward.
255 The units of \fIfile_size\fP are millions of bytes (1,000,000 bytes,
256 not 1,048,576 bytes).
259 Dump the compiled packet-matching code in a human readable form to
260 standard output and stop.
263 Dump packet-matching code as a
268 Dump packet-matching code as decimal numbers (preceded with a count).
271 Print the list of the network interfaces available on the system and on
274 can capture packets. For each network interface, a number and an
275 interface name, possibly followed by a text description of the
276 interface, is printed. The interface name or the number can be supplied
279 flag to specify an interface on which to capture.
281 This can be useful on systems that don't have a command to list them
282 (e.g., Windows systems, or UNIX systems lacking
283 .BR "ifconfig \-a" );
284 the number can be useful on Windows 2000 and later systems, where the
285 interface name is a somewhat complex string.
289 flag will not be supported if
291 was built with an older version of
294 .B pcap_findalldevs()
298 Print the link-level header on each dump line.
301 Use \fIspi@ipaddr algo:secret\fP for decrypting IPsec ESP packets that
302 are addressed to \fIaddr\fP and contain Security Parameter Index value
303 \fIspi\fP. This combination may be repeated with comma or newline seperation.
305 Note that setting the secret for IPv4 ESP packets is supported at this time.
312 \fBcast128-cbc\fP, or
314 The default is \fBdes-cbc\fP.
315 The ability to decrypt packets is only present if \fItcpdump\fP was compiled
316 with cryptography enabled.
318 \fIsecret\fP is the ASCII text for ESP secret key.
319 If preceeded by 0x, then a hex value will be read.
321 The option assumes RFC2406 ESP, not RFC1827 ESP.
322 The option is only for debugging purposes, and
323 the use of this option with a true `secret' key is discouraged.
324 By presenting IPsec secret key onto command line
325 you make it visible to others, via
329 In addition to the above syntax, the syntax \fIfile name\fP may be used
330 to have tcpdump read the provided file in. The file is opened upon
331 receiving the first ESP packet, so any special permissions that tcpdump
332 may have been given should already have been given up.
335 Print `foreign' IPv4 addresses numerically rather than symbolically
336 (this option is intended to get around serious brain damage in
337 Sun's NIS server \(em usually it hangs forever translating non-local
340 The test for `foreign' IPv4 addresses is done using the IPv4 address and
341 netmask of the interface on which capture is being done. If that
342 address or netmask are not available, available, either because the
343 interface on which capture is being done has no address or netmask or
344 because the capture is being done on the Linux "any" interface, which
345 can capture on more than one interface, this option will not work
349 Use \fIfile\fP as input for the filter expression.
350 An additional expression given on the command line is ignored.
353 Listen on \fIinterface\fP.
354 If unspecified, \fItcpdump\fP searches the system interface list for the
355 lowest numbered, configured up interface (excluding loopback).
356 Ties are broken by choosing the earliest match.
358 On Linux systems with 2.2 or later kernels, an
360 argument of ``any'' can be used to capture packets from all interfaces.
361 Note that captures on the ``any'' device will not be done in promiscuous
366 flag is supported, an interface number as printed by that flag can be
372 Make stdout line buffered.
373 Useful if you want to see the data
377 ``tcpdump\ \ \-l\ \ |\ \ tee dat'' or
378 ``tcpdump\ \ \-l \ \ > dat\ \ &\ \ tail\ \ \-f\ \ dat''.
381 List the known data link types for the interface and exit.
384 Load SMI MIB module definitions from file \fImodule\fR.
386 can be used several times to load several MIB modules into \fItcpdump\fP.
389 Don't convert addresses (i.e., host addresses, port numbers, etc.) to names.
392 Don't print domain name qualification of host names.
394 if you give this flag then \fItcpdump\fP will print ``nic''
395 instead of ``nic.ddn.mil''.
398 Do not run the packet-matching code optimizer.
400 if you suspect a bug in the optimizer.
403 \fIDon't\fP put the interface
404 into promiscuous mode.
405 Note that the interface might be in promiscuous
406 mode for some other reason; hence, `-p' cannot be used as an abbreviation for
407 `ether host {local-hw-addr} or ether broadcast'.
410 Quick (quiet?) output.
411 Print less protocol information so output
415 Assume ESP/AH packets to be based on old specification (RFC1825 to RFC1829).
416 If specified, \fItcpdump\fP will not print replay prevention field.
417 Since there is no protocol version field in ESP/AH specification,
418 \fItcpdump\fP cannot deduce the version of ESP/AH protocol.
421 Read packets from \fIfile\fR (which was created with the
424 Standard input is used if \fIfile\fR is ``-''.
427 Print absolute, rather than relative, TCP sequence numbers.
430 Snarf \fIsnaplen\fP bytes of data from each packet rather than the
431 default of 68 (with SunOS's NIT, the minimum is actually 96).
432 68 bytes is adequate for IP, ICMP, TCP
433 and UDP but may truncate protocol information from name server and NFS
435 Packets truncated because of a limited snapshot
436 are indicated in the output with ``[|\fIproto\fP]'', where \fIproto\fP
437 is the name of the protocol level at which the truncation has occurred.
438 Note that taking larger snapshots both increases
439 the amount of time it takes to process packets and, effectively,
440 decreases the amount of packet buffering.
441 This may cause packets to be
443 You should limit \fIsnaplen\fP to the smallest number that will
444 capture the protocol information you're interested in.
446 \fIsnaplen\fP to 0 means use the required length to catch whole packets.
449 Force packets selected by "\fIexpression\fP" to be interpreted the
450 specified \fItype\fR.
451 Currently known types are
452 \fBaodv\fR (Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector protocol),
453 \fBcnfp\fR (Cisco NetFlow protocol),
454 \fBrpc\fR (Remote Procedure Call),
455 \fBrtp\fR (Real-Time Applications protocol),
456 \fBrtcp\fR (Real-Time Applications control protocol),
457 \fBsnmp\fR (Simple Network Management Protocol),
458 \fBtftp\fR (Trivial File Transfer Protocol),
459 \fBvat\fR (Visual Audio Tool),
461 \fBwb\fR (distributed White Board).
464 \fIDon't\fP print a timestamp on each dump line.
467 Print an unformatted timestamp on each dump line.
470 Print a delta (in micro-seconds) between current and previous line
474 Print a timestamp in default format proceeded by date on each dump line.
477 Print undecoded NFS handles.
480 Make output saved via the
482 option ``packet-buffered''; i.e., as each packet is saved, it will be
483 written to the output file, rather than being written only when the
488 flag will not be supported if
490 was built with an older version of
497 When parsing and printing, produce (slightly more) verbose output.
498 For example, the time to live,
499 identification, total length and options in an IP packet are printed.
500 Also enables additional packet integrity checks such as verifying the
501 IP and ICMP header checksum.
503 When writing to a file with the
505 option, report, every 10 seconds, the number of packets captured.
508 Even more verbose output.
509 For example, additional fields are
510 printed from NFS reply packets, and SMB packets are fully decoded.
513 Even more verbose output.
515 telnet \fBSB\fP ... \fBSE\fP options
519 Telnet options are printed in hex as well.
522 Write the raw packets to \fIfile\fR rather than parsing and printing
524 They can later be printed with the \-r option.
525 Standard output is used if \fIfile\fR is ``-''.
528 Used in conjunction with the
530 option, this will limit the number
531 of files created to the specified number, and begin overwriting files
532 from the beginning, thus creating a 'rotating' buffer.
533 In addition, it will name
534 the files with enough leading 0s to support the maximum number of
535 files, allowing them to sort correctly.
538 Print each packet (minus its link level header) in hex.
539 The smaller of the entire packet or
541 bytes will be printed. Note that this is the entire link-layer
542 packet, so for link layers that pad (e.g. Ethernet), the padding bytes
543 will also be printed when the higher layer packet is shorter than the
549 its link level header, in hex.
552 Print each packet (minus its link level header) in hex and ASCII.
553 This is very handy for analysing new protocols.
558 its link level header, in hex and ASCII.
561 Set the data link type to use while capturing packets to \fIdatalinktype\fP.
564 Drops privileges (if root) and changes user ID to
566 and the group ID to the primary group of
569 This behavior can also be enabled by default at compile time.
570 .IP "\fI expression\fP"
572 selects which packets will be dumped.
573 If no \fIexpression\fP
574 is given, all packets on the net will be dumped.
576 only packets for which \fIexpression\fP is `true' will be dumped.
578 The \fIexpression\fP consists of one or more
580 Primitives usually consist of an
582 (name or number) preceded by one or more qualifiers.
584 different kinds of qualifier:
586 qualifiers say what kind of thing the id name or number refers to.
592 E.g., `host foo', `net 128.3', `port 20'.
598 qualifiers specify a particular transfer direction to and/or from
600 Possible directions are
607 E.g., `src foo', `dst net 128.3', `src or dst port ftp-data'.
609 there is no dir qualifier,
612 For some link layers, such as SLIP and the ``cooked'' Linux capture mode
613 used for the ``any'' device and for some other device types, the
617 qualifiers can be used to specify a desired direction.
619 qualifiers restrict the match to a particular protocol.
634 E.g., `ether src foo', `arp net 128.3', `tcp port 21'.
636 no proto qualifier, all protocols consistent with the type are
638 E.g., `src foo' means `(ip or arp or rarp) src foo'
639 (except the latter is not legal syntax), `net bar' means `(ip or
640 arp or rarp) net bar' and `port 53' means `(tcp or udp) port 53'.
642 [`fddi' is actually an alias for `ether'; the parser treats them
643 identically as meaning ``the data link level used on the specified
644 network interface.'' FDDI headers contain Ethernet-like source
645 and destination addresses, and often contain Ethernet-like packet
646 types, so you can filter on these FDDI fields just as with the
647 analogous Ethernet fields.
648 FDDI headers also contain other fields,
649 but you cannot name them explicitly in a filter expression.
651 Similarly, `tr' and `wlan' are aliases for `ether'; the previous
652 paragraph's statements about FDDI headers also apply to Token Ring
653 and 802.11 wireless LAN headers. For 802.11 headers, the destination
654 address is the DA field and the source address is the SA field; the
655 BSSID, RA, and TA fields aren't tested.]
657 In addition to the above, there are some special `primitive' keywords
658 that don't follow the pattern:
663 and arithmetic expressions.
664 All of these are described below.
666 More complex filter expressions are built up by using the words
671 to combine primitives.
672 E.g., `host foo and not port ftp and not port ftp-data'.
673 To save typing, identical qualifier lists can be omitted.
675 `tcp dst port ftp or ftp-data or domain' is exactly the same as
676 `tcp dst port ftp or tcp dst port ftp-data or tcp dst port domain'.
678 Allowable primitives are:
679 .IP "\fBdst host \fIhost\fR"
680 True if the IPv4/v6 destination field of the packet is \fIhost\fP,
681 which may be either an address or a name.
682 .IP "\fBsrc host \fIhost\fR"
683 True if the IPv4/v6 source field of the packet is \fIhost\fP.
684 .IP "\fBhost \fIhost\fP
685 True if either the IPv4/v6 source or destination of the packet is \fIhost\fP.
686 Any of the above host expressions can be prepended with the keywords,
687 \fBip\fP, \fBarp\fP, \fBrarp\fP, or \fBip6\fP as in:
690 \fBip host \fIhost\fR
693 which is equivalent to:
696 \fBether proto \fI\\ip\fB and host \fIhost\fR
699 If \fIhost\fR is a name with multiple IP addresses, each address will
700 be checked for a match.
701 .IP "\fBether dst \fIehost\fP
702 True if the ethernet destination address is \fIehost\fP.
704 may be either a name from /etc/ethers or a number (see
707 .IP "\fBether src \fIehost\fP
708 True if the ethernet source address is \fIehost\fP.
709 .IP "\fBether host \fIehost\fP
710 True if either the ethernet source or destination address is \fIehost\fP.
711 .IP "\fBgateway\fP \fIhost\fP
712 True if the packet used \fIhost\fP as a gateway.
714 source or destination address was \fIhost\fP but neither the IP source
715 nor the IP destination was \fIhost\fP.
716 \fIHost\fP must be a name and
717 must be found both by the machine's host-name-to-IP-address resolution
718 mechanisms (host name file, DNS, NIS, etc.) and by the machine's
719 host-name-to-Ethernet-address resolution mechanism (/etc/ethers, etc.).
720 (An equivalent expression is
723 \fBether host \fIehost \fBand not host \fIhost\fR
726 which can be used with either names or numbers for \fIhost / ehost\fP.)
727 This syntax does not work in IPv6-enabled configuration at this moment.
728 .IP "\fBdst net \fInet\fR"
729 True if the IPv4/v6 destination address of the packet has a network
731 \fINet\fP may be either a name from /etc/networks
732 or a network number (see \fInetworks(4)\fP for details).
733 .IP "\fBsrc net \fInet\fR"
734 True if the IPv4/v6 source address of the packet has a network
736 .IP "\fBnet \fInet\fR"
737 True if either the IPv4/v6 source or destination address of the packet has a network
739 .IP "\fBnet \fInet\fR \fBmask \fInetmask\fR"
740 True if the IP address matches \fInet\fR with the specific \fInetmask\fR.
741 May be qualified with \fBsrc\fR or \fBdst\fR.
742 Note that this syntax is not valid for IPv6 \fInet\fR.
743 .IP "\fBnet \fInet\fR/\fIlen\fR"
744 True if the IPv4/v6 address matches \fInet\fR with a netmask \fIlen\fR
746 May be qualified with \fBsrc\fR or \fBdst\fR.
747 .IP "\fBdst port \fIport\fR"
748 True if the packet is ip/tcp, ip/udp, ip6/tcp or ip6/udp and has a
749 destination port value of \fIport\fP.
750 The \fIport\fP can be a number or a name used in /etc/services (see
754 If a name is used, both the port
755 number and protocol are checked.
756 If a number or ambiguous name is used,
757 only the port number is checked (e.g., \fBdst port 513\fR will print both
758 tcp/login traffic and udp/who traffic, and \fBport domain\fR will print
759 both tcp/domain and udp/domain traffic).
760 .IP "\fBsrc port \fIport\fR"
761 True if the packet has a source port value of \fIport\fP.
762 .IP "\fBport \fIport\fR"
763 True if either the source or destination port of the packet is \fIport\fP.
764 Any of the above port expressions can be prepended with the keywords,
765 \fBtcp\fP or \fBudp\fP, as in:
768 \fBtcp src port \fIport\fR
771 which matches only tcp packets whose source port is \fIport\fP.
772 .IP "\fBless \fIlength\fR"
773 True if the packet has a length less than or equal to \fIlength\fP.
774 This is equivalent to:
777 \fBlen <= \fIlength\fP.
780 .IP "\fBgreater \fIlength\fR"
781 True if the packet has a length greater than or equal to \fIlength\fP.
782 This is equivalent to:
785 \fBlen >= \fIlength\fP.
788 .IP "\fBip proto \fIprotocol\fR"
789 True if the packet is an IP packet (see
791 of protocol type \fIprotocol\fP.
792 \fIProtocol\fP can be a number or one of the names
793 \fIicmp\fP, \fIicmp6\fP, \fIigmp\fP, \fIigrp\fP, \fIpim\fP, \fIah\fP,
794 \fIesp\fP, \fIvrrp\fP, \fIudp\fP, or \fItcp\fP.
795 Note that the identifiers \fItcp\fP, \fIudp\fP, and \fIicmp\fP are also
796 keywords and must be escaped via backslash (\\), which is \\\\ in the C-shell.
797 Note that this primitive does not chase the protocol header chain.
798 .IP "\fBip6 proto \fIprotocol\fR"
799 True if the packet is an IPv6 packet of protocol type \fIprotocol\fP.
800 Note that this primitive does not chase the protocol header chain.
801 .IP "\fBip6 protochain \fIprotocol\fR"
802 True if the packet is IPv6 packet,
803 and contains protocol header with type \fIprotocol\fR
804 in its protocol header chain.
808 \fBip6 protochain 6\fR
811 matches any IPv6 packet with TCP protocol header in the protocol header chain.
812 The packet may contain, for example,
813 authentication header, routing header, or hop-by-hop option header,
814 between IPv6 header and TCP header.
815 The BPF code emitted by this primitive is complex and
816 cannot be optimized by BPF optimizer code in \fItcpdump\fP,
817 so this can be somewhat slow.
818 .IP "\fBip protochain \fIprotocol\fR"
819 Equivalent to \fBip6 protochain \fIprotocol\fR, but this is for IPv4.
820 .IP "\fBether broadcast\fR"
821 True if the packet is an ethernet broadcast packet.
824 .IP "\fBip broadcast\fR"
825 True if the packet is an IPv4 broadcast packet.
826 It checks for both the all-zeroes and all-ones broadcast conventions,
827 and looks up the subnet mask on the interface on which the capture is
830 If the subnet mask of the interface on which the capture is being done
831 is not available, either because the interface on which capture is being
832 done has no netmask or because the capture is being done on the Linux
833 "any" interface, which can capture on more than one interface, this
834 check will not work correctly.
835 .IP "\fBether multicast\fR"
836 True if the packet is an ethernet multicast packet.
839 This is shorthand for `\fBether[0] & 1 != 0\fP'.
840 .IP "\fBip multicast\fR"
841 True if the packet is an IP multicast packet.
842 .IP "\fBip6 multicast\fR"
843 True if the packet is an IPv6 multicast packet.
844 .IP "\fBether proto \fIprotocol\fR"
845 True if the packet is of ether type \fIprotocol\fR.
846 \fIProtocol\fP can be a number or one of the names
847 \fIip\fP, \fIip6\fP, \fIarp\fP, \fIrarp\fP, \fIatalk\fP, \fIaarp\fP,
848 \fIdecnet\fP, \fIsca\fP, \fIlat\fP, \fImopdl\fP, \fImoprc\fP,
849 \fIiso\fP, \fIstp\fP, \fIipx\fP, or \fInetbeui\fP.
850 Note these identifiers are also keywords
851 and must be escaped via backslash (\\).
853 [In the case of FDDI (e.g., `\fBfddi protocol arp\fR'), Token Ring
854 (e.g., `\fBtr protocol arp\fR'), and IEEE 802.11 wireless LANS (e.g.,
855 `\fBwlan protocol arp\fR'), for most of those protocols, the
856 protocol identification comes from the 802.2 Logical Link Control (LLC)
857 header, which is usually layered on top of the FDDI, Token Ring, or
860 When filtering for most protocol identifiers on FDDI, Token Ring, or
861 802.11, \fItcpdump\fR checks only the protocol ID field of an LLC header
862 in so-called SNAP format with an Organizational Unit Identifier (OUI) of
863 0x000000, for encapsulated Ethernet; it doesn't check whether the packet
864 is in SNAP format with an OUI of 0x000000.
869 \fItcpdump\fR checks the DSAP (Destination Service Access Point) and
870 SSAP (Source Service Access Point) fields of the LLC header;
872 \fBstp\fP and \fInetbeui\fP
873 \fItcpdump\fR checks the DSAP of the LLC header;
876 \fItcpdump\fR checks for a SNAP-format packet with an OUI of 0x080007
877 and the AppleTalk etype.
880 In the case of Ethernet, \fItcpdump\fR checks the Ethernet type field
881 for most of those protocols. The exceptions are:
884 \fBiso\fP, \fBsap\fP, and \fBnetbeui\fP
885 \fItcpdump\fR checks for an 802.3 frame and then checks the LLC header as
886 it does for FDDI, Token Ring, and 802.11;
889 \fItcpdump\fR checks both for the AppleTalk etype in an Ethernet frame and
890 for a SNAP-format packet as it does for FDDI, Token Ring, and 802.11;
893 \fItcpdump\fR checks for the AppleTalk ARP etype in either an Ethernet
894 frame or an 802.2 SNAP frame with an OUI of 0x000000;
897 \fItcpdump\fR checks for the IPX etype in an Ethernet frame, the IPX
898 DSAP in the LLC header, the 802.3-with-no-LLC-header encapsulation of
899 IPX, and the IPX etype in a SNAP frame.
901 .IP "\fBdecnet src \fIhost\fR"
902 True if the DECNET source address is
904 which may be an address of the form ``10.123'', or a DECNET host
906 [DECNET host name support is only available on ULTRIX systems
907 that are configured to run DECNET.]
908 .IP "\fBdecnet dst \fIhost\fR"
909 True if the DECNET destination address is
911 .IP "\fBdecnet host \fIhost\fR"
912 True if either the DECNET source or destination address is
914 .IP "\fBifname \fIinterface\fR"
915 True if the packet was logged as coming from the specified interface (applies
916 only to packets logged by OpenBSD's
918 .IP "\fBon \fIinterface\fR"
922 .IP "\fBrnr \fInum\fR"
923 True if the packet was logged as matching the specified PF rule number
924 (applies only to packets logged by OpenBSD's
926 .IP "\fBrulenum \fInum\fR"
930 .IP "\fBreason \fIcode\fR"
931 True if the packet was logged with the specified PF reason code. The known
940 (applies only to packets logged by OpenBSD's
942 .IP "\fBaction \fIact\fR"
943 True if PF took the specified action when the packet was logged. Known actions
948 (applies only to packets logged by OpenBSD's
950 .IP "\fBip\fR, \fBip6\fR, \fBarp\fR, \fBrarp\fR, \fBatalk\fR, \fBaarp\fR, \fBdecnet\fR, \fBiso\fR, \fBstp\fR, \fBipx\fR, \fInetbeui\fP"
954 \fBether proto \fIp\fR
957 where \fIp\fR is one of the above protocols.
958 .IP "\fBlat\fR, \fBmoprc\fR, \fBmopdl\fR"
962 \fBether proto \fIp\fR
965 where \fIp\fR is one of the above protocols.
967 \fItcpdump\fP does not currently know how to parse these protocols.
968 .IP "\fBvlan \fI[vlan_id]\fR"
969 True if the packet is an IEEE 802.1Q VLAN packet.
970 If \fI[vlan_id]\fR is specified, only true is the packet has the specified
972 Note that the first \fBvlan\fR keyword encountered in \fIexpression\fR
973 changes the decoding offsets for the remainder of \fIexpression\fR
974 on the assumption that the packet is a VLAN packet.
975 .IP "\fBtcp\fR, \fBudp\fR, \fBicmp\fR"
979 \fBip proto \fIp\fR\fB or ip6 proto \fIp\fR
982 where \fIp\fR is one of the above protocols.
983 .IP "\fBiso proto \fIprotocol\fR"
984 True if the packet is an OSI packet of protocol type \fIprotocol\fP.
985 \fIProtocol\fP can be a number or one of the names
986 \fIclnp\fP, \fIesis\fP, or \fIisis\fP.
987 .IP "\fBclnp\fR, \fBesis\fR, \fBisis\fR"
994 where \fIp\fR is one of the above protocols.
995 .IP "\fBl1\fR, \fBl2\fR, \fBiih\fR, \fBlsp\fR, \fBsnp\fR, \fBcsnp\fR, \fBpsnp\fR"
996 Abbreviations for IS-IS PDU types.
997 .IP "\fBvpi\fP \fIn\fR
998 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, with a
999 virtual path identifier of
1001 .IP "\fBvci\fP \fIn\fR
1002 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, with a
1003 virtual channel identifier of
1006 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1008 Note that the first \fBlane\fR keyword encountered in \fIexpression\fR
1009 changes the tests done in the remainder of \fIexpression\fR
1010 on the assumption that the packet is either a LANE emulated Ethernet
1011 packet or a LANE LE Control packet. If \fBlane\fR isn't specified, the
1012 tests are done under the assumption that the packet is an
1013 LLC-encapsulated packet.
1015 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1016 an LLC-encapsulated packet.
1018 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1019 a segment OAM F4 flow cell (VPI=0 & VCI=3).
1021 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1022 an end-to-end OAM F4 flow cell (VPI=0 & VCI=4).
1024 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1025 a segment or end-to-end OAM F4 flow cell (VPI=0 & (VCI=3 | VCI=4)).
1027 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1028 a segment or end-to-end OAM F4 flow cell (VPI=0 & (VCI=3 | VCI=4)).
1030 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1031 on a meta signaling circuit (VPI=0 & VCI=1).
1033 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1034 on a broadcast signaling circuit (VPI=0 & VCI=2).
1036 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1037 on a signaling circuit (VPI=0 & VCI=5).
1039 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1040 on an ILMI circuit (VPI=0 & VCI=16).
1041 .IP \fBconnectmsg\fP
1042 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1043 on a signaling circuit and is a Q.2931 Setup, Call Proceeding, Connect,
1044 Connect Ack, Release, or Release Done message.
1045 .IP \fBmetaconnect\fP
1046 True if the packet is an ATM packet, for SunATM on Solaris, and is
1047 on a meta signaling circuit and is a Q.2931 Setup, Call Proceeding, Connect,
1048 Release, or Release Done message.
1049 .IP "\fIexpr relop expr\fR"
1050 True if the relation holds, where \fIrelop\fR is one of >, <, >=, <=, =,
1051 !=, and \fIexpr\fR is an arithmetic expression composed of integer
1052 constants (expressed in standard C syntax), the normal binary operators
1053 [+, -, *, /, &, |, <<, >>], a length operator, and special packet data
1056 data inside the packet, use the following syntax:
1059 \fIproto\fB [ \fIexpr\fB : \fIsize\fB ]\fR
1062 \fIProto\fR is one of \fBether, fddi, tr, wlan, ppp, slip, link,
1063 ip, arp, rarp, tcp, udp, icmp\fR or \fBip6\fR, and
1064 indicates the protocol layer for the index operation.
1065 (\fBether, fddi, wlan, tr, ppp, slip\fR and \fBlink\fR all refer to the
1067 Note that \fItcp, udp\fR and other upper-layer protocol types only
1068 apply to IPv4, not IPv6 (this will be fixed in the future).
1069 The byte offset, relative to the indicated protocol layer, is
1070 given by \fIexpr\fR.
1071 \fISize\fR is optional and indicates the number of bytes in the
1072 field of interest; it can be either one, two, or four, and defaults to one.
1073 The length operator, indicated by the keyword \fBlen\fP, gives the
1074 length of the packet.
1076 For example, `\fBether[0] & 1 != 0\fP' catches all multicast traffic.
1077 The expression `\fBip[0] & 0xf != 5\fP'
1078 catches all IP packets with options.
1080 `\fBip[6:2] & 0x1fff = 0\fP'
1081 catches only unfragmented datagrams and frag zero of fragmented datagrams.
1082 This check is implicitly applied to the \fBtcp\fP and \fBudp\fP
1084 For instance, \fBtcp[0]\fP always means the first
1085 byte of the TCP \fIheader\fP, and never means the first byte of an
1086 intervening fragment.
1088 Some offsets and field values may be expressed as names rather than
1090 The following protocol header field offsets are
1091 available: \fBicmptype\fP (ICMP type field), \fBicmpcode\fP (ICMP
1092 code field), and \fBtcpflags\fP (TCP flags field).
1094 The following ICMP type field values are available: \fBicmp-echoreply\fP,
1095 \fBicmp-unreach\fP, \fBicmp-sourcequench\fP, \fBicmp-redirect\fP,
1096 \fBicmp-echo\fP, \fBicmp-routeradvert\fP, \fBicmp-routersolicit\fP,
1097 \fBicmp-timxceed\fP, \fBicmp-paramprob\fP, \fBicmp-tstamp\fP,
1098 \fBicmp-tstampreply\fP, \fBicmp-ireq\fP, \fBicmp-ireqreply\fP,
1099 \fBicmp-maskreq\fP, \fBicmp-maskreply\fP.
1101 The following TCP flags field values are available: \fBtcp-fin\fP,
1102 \fBtcp-syn\fP, \fBtcp-rst\fP, \fBtcp-push\fP,
1103 \fBtcp-ack\fP, \fBtcp-urg\fP.
1105 Primitives may be combined using:
1107 A parenthesized group of primitives and operators
1108 (parentheses are special to the Shell and must be escaped).
1110 Negation (`\fB!\fP' or `\fBnot\fP').
1112 Concatenation (`\fB&&\fP' or `\fBand\fP').
1114 Alternation (`\fB||\fP' or `\fBor\fP').
1116 Negation has highest precedence.
1117 Alternation and concatenation have equal precedence and associate
1119 Note that explicit \fBand\fR tokens, not juxtaposition,
1120 are now required for concatenation.
1122 If an identifier is given without a keyword, the most recent keyword
1127 \fBnot host vs and ace\fR
1133 \fBnot host vs and host ace\fR
1136 which should not be confused with
1139 \fBnot ( host vs or ace )\fR
1143 Expression arguments can be passed to \fItcpdump\fP as either a single
1144 argument or as multiple arguments, whichever is more convenient.
1145 Generally, if the expression contains Shell metacharacters, it is
1146 easier to pass it as a single, quoted argument.
1147 Multiple arguments are concatenated with spaces before being parsed.
1150 To print all packets arriving at or departing from \fIsundown\fP:
1153 \fBtcpdump host sundown\fP
1157 To print traffic between \fIhelios\fR and either \fIhot\fR or \fIace\fR:
1160 \fBtcpdump host helios and \\( hot or ace \\)\fP
1164 To print all IP packets between \fIace\fR and any host except \fIhelios\fR:
1167 \fBtcpdump ip host ace and not helios\fP
1171 To print all traffic between local hosts and hosts at Berkeley:
1175 tcpdump net ucb-ether
1179 To print all ftp traffic through internet gateway \fIsnup\fP:
1180 (note that the expression is quoted to prevent the shell from
1181 (mis-)interpreting the parentheses):
1185 tcpdump 'gateway snup and (port ftp or ftp-data)'
1189 To print traffic neither sourced from nor destined for local hosts
1190 (if you gateway to one other net, this stuff should never make it
1191 onto your local net).
1195 tcpdump ip and not net \fIlocalnet\fP
1199 To print the start and end packets (the SYN and FIN packets) of each
1200 TCP conversation that involves a non-local host.
1204 tcpdump 'tcp[tcpflags] & (tcp-syn|tcp-fin) != 0 and not src and dst net \fIlocalnet\fP'
1208 To print IP packets longer than 576 bytes sent through gateway \fIsnup\fP:
1212 tcpdump 'gateway snup and ip[2:2] > 576'
1216 To print IP broadcast or multicast packets that were
1218 sent via ethernet broadcast or multicast:
1222 tcpdump 'ether[0] & 1 = 0 and ip[16] >= 224'
1226 To print all ICMP packets that are not echo requests/replies (i.e., not
1231 tcpdump 'icmp[icmptype] != icmp-echo and icmp[icmptype] != icmp-echoreply'
1236 The output of \fItcpdump\fP is protocol dependent.
1238 gives a brief description and examples of most of the formats.
1246 If the '-e' option is given, the link level header is printed out.
1247 On ethernets, the source and destination addresses, protocol,
1248 and packet length are printed.
1250 On FDDI networks, the '-e' option causes \fItcpdump\fP to print
1251 the `frame control' field, the source and destination addresses,
1252 and the packet length.
1253 (The `frame control' field governs the
1254 interpretation of the rest of the packet.
1255 Normal packets (such
1256 as those containing IP datagrams) are `async' packets, with a priority
1257 value between 0 and 7; for example, `\fBasync4\fR'.
1259 are assumed to contain an 802.2 Logical Link Control (LLC) packet;
1260 the LLC header is printed if it is \fInot\fR an ISO datagram or a
1261 so-called SNAP packet.
1263 On Token Ring networks, the '-e' option causes \fItcpdump\fP to print
1264 the `access control' and `frame control' fields, the source and
1265 destination addresses, and the packet length.
1266 As on FDDI networks,
1267 packets are assumed to contain an LLC packet.
1268 Regardless of whether
1269 the '-e' option is specified or not, the source routing information is
1270 printed for source-routed packets.
1272 On 802.11 networks, the '-e' option causes \fItcpdump\fP to print
1273 the `frame control' fields, all of the addresses in the 802.11 header,
1274 and the packet length.
1275 As on FDDI networks,
1276 packets are assumed to contain an LLC packet.
1278 \fI(N.B.: The following description assumes familiarity with
1279 the SLIP compression algorithm described in RFC-1144.)\fP
1281 On SLIP links, a direction indicator (``I'' for inbound, ``O'' for outbound),
1282 packet type, and compression information are printed out.
1283 The packet type is printed first.
1284 The three types are \fIip\fP, \fIutcp\fP, and \fIctcp\fP.
1285 No further link information is printed for \fIip\fR packets.
1286 For TCP packets, the connection identifier is printed following the type.
1287 If the packet is compressed, its encoded header is printed out.
1288 The special cases are printed out as
1289 \fB*S+\fIn\fR and \fB*SA+\fIn\fR, where \fIn\fR is the amount by which
1290 the sequence number (or sequence number and ack) has changed.
1291 If it is not a special case,
1292 zero or more changes are printed.
1293 A change is indicated by U (urgent pointer), W (window), A (ack),
1294 S (sequence number), and I (packet ID), followed by a delta (+n or -n),
1295 or a new value (=n).
1296 Finally, the amount of data in the packet and compressed header length
1299 For example, the following line shows an outbound compressed TCP packet,
1300 with an implicit connection identifier; the ack has changed by 6,
1301 the sequence number by 49, and the packet ID by 6; there are 3 bytes of
1302 data and 6 bytes of compressed header:
1305 \fBO ctcp * A+6 S+49 I+6 3 (6)\fP
1311 Arp/rarp output shows the type of request and its arguments.
1313 format is intended to be self explanatory.
1314 Here is a short sample taken from the start of an `rlogin' from
1315 host \fIrtsg\fP to host \fIcsam\fP:
1319 \f(CWarp who-has csam tell rtsg
1320 arp reply csam is-at CSAM\fR
1324 The first line says that rtsg sent an arp packet asking
1325 for the ethernet address of internet host csam.
1327 replies with its ethernet address (in this example, ethernet addresses
1328 are in caps and internet addresses in lower case).
1330 This would look less redundant if we had done \fItcpdump \-n\fP:
1334 \f(CWarp who-has 128.3.254.6 tell 128.3.254.68
1335 arp reply 128.3.254.6 is-at 02:07:01:00:01:c4\fP
1339 If we had done \fItcpdump \-e\fP, the fact that the first packet is
1340 broadcast and the second is point-to-point would be visible:
1344 \f(CWRTSG Broadcast 0806 64: arp who-has csam tell rtsg
1345 CSAM RTSG 0806 64: arp reply csam is-at CSAM\fR
1349 For the first packet this says the ethernet source address is RTSG, the
1350 destination is the ethernet broadcast address, the type field
1351 contained hex 0806 (type ETHER_ARP) and the total length was 64 bytes.
1355 \fI(N.B.:The following description assumes familiarity with
1356 the TCP protocol described in RFC-793.
1357 If you are not familiar
1358 with the protocol, neither this description nor \fItcpdump\fP will
1359 be of much use to you.)\fP
1361 The general format of a tcp protocol line is:
1365 \fIsrc > dst: flags data-seqno ack window urgent options\fP
1369 \fISrc\fP and \fIdst\fP are the source and destination IP
1370 addresses and ports.
1371 \fIFlags\fP are some combination of S (SYN),
1372 F (FIN), P (PUSH), R (RST), W (ECN CWR) or E (ECN-Echo), or a single
1374 \fIData-seqno\fP describes the portion of sequence space covered
1375 by the data in this packet (see example below).
1376 \fIAck\fP is sequence number of the next data expected the other
1377 direction on this connection.
1378 \fIWindow\fP is the number of bytes of receive buffer space available
1379 the other direction on this connection.
1380 \fIUrg\fP indicates there is `urgent' data in the packet.
1381 \fIOptions\fP are tcp options enclosed in angle brackets (e.g., <mss 1024>).
1383 \fISrc, dst\fP and \fIflags\fP are always present.
1385 depend on the contents of the packet's tcp protocol header and
1386 are output only if appropriate.
1388 Here is the opening portion of an rlogin from host \fIrtsg\fP to
1393 \s-2\f(CWrtsg.1023 > csam.login: S 768512:768512(0) win 4096 <mss 1024>
1394 csam.login > rtsg.1023: S 947648:947648(0) ack 768513 win 4096 <mss 1024>
1395 rtsg.1023 > csam.login: . ack 1 win 4096
1396 rtsg.1023 > csam.login: P 1:2(1) ack 1 win 4096
1397 csam.login > rtsg.1023: . ack 2 win 4096
1398 rtsg.1023 > csam.login: P 2:21(19) ack 1 win 4096
1399 csam.login > rtsg.1023: P 1:2(1) ack 21 win 4077
1400 csam.login > rtsg.1023: P 2:3(1) ack 21 win 4077 urg 1
1401 csam.login > rtsg.1023: P 3:4(1) ack 21 win 4077 urg 1\fR\s+2
1405 The first line says that tcp port 1023 on rtsg sent a packet
1408 The \fBS\fP indicates that the \fISYN\fP flag was set.
1409 The packet sequence number was 768512 and it contained no data.
1410 (The notation is `first:last(nbytes)' which means `sequence
1412 up to but not including \fIlast\fP which is \fInbytes\fP bytes of user data'.)
1413 There was no piggy-backed ack, the available receive window was 4096
1414 bytes and there was a max-segment-size option requesting an mss of
1417 Csam replies with a similar packet except it includes a piggy-backed
1419 Rtsg then acks csam's SYN.
1422 The packet contained no data so there is no data sequence number.
1423 Note that the ack sequence
1424 number is a small integer (1).
1425 The first time \fItcpdump\fP sees a
1426 tcp `conversation', it prints the sequence number from the packet.
1427 On subsequent packets of the conversation, the difference between
1428 the current packet's sequence number and this initial sequence number
1430 This means that sequence numbers after the
1431 first can be interpreted
1432 as relative byte positions in the conversation's data stream (with the
1433 first data byte each direction being `1').
1434 `-S' will override this
1435 feature, causing the original sequence numbers to be output.
1437 On the 6th line, rtsg sends csam 19 bytes of data (bytes 2 through 20
1438 in the rtsg \(-> csam side of the conversation).
1439 The PUSH flag is set in the packet.
1440 On the 7th line, csam says it's received data sent by rtsg up to
1441 but not including byte 21.
1442 Most of this data is apparently sitting in the
1443 socket buffer since csam's receive window has gotten 19 bytes smaller.
1444 Csam also sends one byte of data to rtsg in this packet.
1445 On the 8th and 9th lines,
1446 csam sends two bytes of urgent, pushed data to rtsg.
1448 If the snapshot was small enough that \fItcpdump\fP didn't capture
1449 the full TCP header, it interprets as much of the header as it can
1450 and then reports ``[|\fItcp\fP]'' to indicate the remainder could not
1452 If the header contains a bogus option (one with a length
1453 that's either too small or beyond the end of the header), \fItcpdump\fP
1454 reports it as ``[\fIbad opt\fP]'' and does not interpret any further
1455 options (since it's impossible to tell where they start).
1457 length indicates options are present but the IP datagram length is not
1458 long enough for the options to actually be there, \fItcpdump\fP reports
1459 it as ``[\fIbad hdr length\fP]''.
1461 .B Capturing TCP packets with particular flag combinations (SYN-ACK, URG-ACK, etc.)
1463 There are 8 bits in the control bits section of the TCP header:
1465 .I CWR | ECE | URG | ACK | PSH | RST | SYN | FIN
1467 Let's assume that we want to watch packets used in establishing
1469 Recall that TCP uses a 3-way handshake protocol
1470 when it initializes a new connection; the connection sequence with
1471 regard to the TCP control bits is
1477 2) Recipient responds with SYN, ACK
1483 Now we're interested in capturing packets that have only the
1484 SYN bit set (Step 1).
1485 Note that we don't want packets from step 2
1486 (SYN-ACK), just a plain initial SYN.
1487 What we need is a correct filter
1488 expression for \fItcpdump\fP.
1490 Recall the structure of a TCP header without options:
1494 -----------------------------------------------------------------
1495 | source port | destination port |
1496 -----------------------------------------------------------------
1498 -----------------------------------------------------------------
1499 | acknowledgment number |
1500 -----------------------------------------------------------------
1501 | HL | rsvd |C|E|U|A|P|R|S|F| window size |
1502 -----------------------------------------------------------------
1503 | TCP checksum | urgent pointer |
1504 -----------------------------------------------------------------
1507 A TCP header usually holds 20 octets of data, unless options are
1509 The first line of the graph contains octets 0 - 3, the
1510 second line shows octets 4 - 7 etc.
1512 Starting to count with 0, the relevant TCP control bits are contained
1517 ----------------|---------------|---------------|----------------
1518 | HL | rsvd |C|E|U|A|P|R|S|F| window size |
1519 ----------------|---------------|---------------|----------------
1520 | | 13th octet | | |
1523 Let's have a closer look at octet no. 13:
1533 These are the TCP control bits we are interested
1535 We have numbered the bits in this octet from 0 to 7, right to
1536 left, so the PSH bit is bit number 3, while the URG bit is number 5.
1538 Recall that we want to capture packets with only SYN set.
1539 Let's see what happens to octet 13 if a TCP datagram arrives
1540 with the SYN bit set in its header:
1551 control bits section we see that only bit number 1 (SYN) is set.
1553 Assuming that octet number 13 is an 8-bit unsigned integer in
1554 network byte order, the binary value of this octet is
1558 and its decimal representation is
1562 0*2 + 0*2 + 0*2 + 0*2 + 0*2 + 0*2 + 1*2 + 0*2 = 2
1565 We're almost done, because now we know that if only SYN is set,
1566 the value of the 13th octet in the TCP header, when interpreted
1567 as a 8-bit unsigned integer in network byte order, must be exactly 2.
1569 This relationship can be expressed as
1575 We can use this expression as the filter for \fItcpdump\fP in order
1576 to watch packets which have only SYN set:
1579 tcpdump -i xl0 tcp[13] == 2
1582 The expression says "let the 13th octet of a TCP datagram have
1583 the decimal value 2", which is exactly what we want.
1585 Now, let's assume that we need to capture SYN packets, but we
1586 don't care if ACK or any other TCP control bit is set at the
1588 Let's see what happens to octet 13 when a TCP datagram
1589 with SYN-ACK set arrives:
1599 Now bits 1 and 4 are set in the 13th octet.
1605 which translates to decimal
1609 0*2 + 0*2 + 0*2 + 1*2 + 0*2 + 0*2 + 1*2 + 0*2 = 18
1612 Now we can't just use 'tcp[13] == 18' in the \fItcpdump\fP filter
1613 expression, because that would select only those packets that have
1614 SYN-ACK set, but not those with only SYN set.
1615 Remember that we don't care
1616 if ACK or any other control bit is set as long as SYN is set.
1618 In order to achieve our goal, we need to logically AND the
1619 binary value of octet 13 with some other value to preserve
1621 We know that we want SYN to be set in any case,
1622 so we'll logically AND the value in the 13th octet with
1623 the binary value of a SYN:
1627 00010010 SYN-ACK 00000010 SYN
1628 AND 00000010 (we want SYN) AND 00000010 (we want SYN)
1630 = 00000010 = 00000010
1633 We see that this AND operation delivers the same result
1634 regardless whether ACK or another TCP control bit is set.
1635 The decimal representation of the AND value as well as
1636 the result of this operation is 2 (binary 00000010),
1637 so we know that for packets with SYN set the following
1638 relation must hold true:
1640 ( ( value of octet 13 ) AND ( 2 ) ) == ( 2 )
1642 This points us to the \fItcpdump\fP filter expression
1645 tcpdump -i xl0 'tcp[13] & 2 == 2'
1648 Note that you should use single quotes or a backslash
1649 in the expression to hide the AND ('&') special character
1655 UDP format is illustrated by this rwho packet:
1659 \f(CWactinide.who > broadcast.who: udp 84\fP
1663 This says that port \fIwho\fP on host \fIactinide\fP sent a udp
1664 datagram to port \fIwho\fP on host \fIbroadcast\fP, the Internet
1666 The packet contained 84 bytes of user data.
1668 Some UDP services are recognized (from the source or destination
1669 port number) and the higher level protocol information printed.
1670 In particular, Domain Name service requests (RFC-1034/1035) and Sun
1671 RPC calls (RFC-1050) to NFS.
1673 UDP Name Server Requests
1675 \fI(N.B.:The following description assumes familiarity with
1676 the Domain Service protocol described in RFC-1035.
1677 If you are not familiar
1678 with the protocol, the following description will appear to be written
1681 Name server requests are formatted as
1685 \fIsrc > dst: id op? flags qtype qclass name (len)\fP
1687 \f(CWh2opolo.1538 > helios.domain: 3+ A? ucbvax.berkeley.edu. (37)\fR
1691 Host \fIh2opolo\fP asked the domain server on \fIhelios\fP for an
1692 address record (qtype=A) associated with the name \fIucbvax.berkeley.edu.\fP
1693 The query id was `3'.
1694 The `+' indicates the \fIrecursion desired\fP flag
1696 The query length was 37 bytes, not including the UDP and
1697 IP protocol headers.
1698 The query operation was the normal one, \fIQuery\fP,
1699 so the op field was omitted.
1700 If the op had been anything else, it would
1701 have been printed between the `3' and the `+'.
1702 Similarly, the qclass was the normal one,
1703 \fIC_IN\fP, and omitted.
1704 Any other qclass would have been printed
1705 immediately after the `A'.
1707 A few anomalies are checked and may result in extra fields enclosed in
1708 square brackets: If a query contains an answer, authority records or
1709 additional records section,
1714 are printed as `[\fIn\fPa]', `[\fIn\fPn]' or `[\fIn\fPau]' where \fIn\fP
1715 is the appropriate count.
1716 If any of the response bits are set (AA, RA or rcode) or any of the
1717 `must be zero' bits are set in bytes two and three, `[b2&3=\fIx\fP]'
1718 is printed, where \fIx\fP is the hex value of header bytes two and three.
1720 UDP Name Server Responses
1722 Name server responses are formatted as
1726 \fIsrc > dst: id op rcode flags a/n/au type class data (len)\fP
1728 \f(CWhelios.domain > h2opolo.1538: 3 3/3/7 A 128.32.137.3 (273)
1729 helios.domain > h2opolo.1537: 2 NXDomain* 0/1/0 (97)\fR
1733 In the first example, \fIhelios\fP responds to query id 3 from \fIh2opolo\fP
1734 with 3 answer records, 3 name server records and 7 additional records.
1735 The first answer record is type A (address) and its data is internet
1736 address 128.32.137.3.
1737 The total size of the response was 273 bytes,
1738 excluding UDP and IP headers.
1739 The op (Query) and response code
1740 (NoError) were omitted, as was the class (C_IN) of the A record.
1742 In the second example, \fIhelios\fP responds to query 2 with a
1743 response code of non-existent domain (NXDomain) with no answers,
1744 one name server and no authority records.
1745 The `*' indicates that
1746 the \fIauthoritative answer\fP bit was set.
1748 answers, no type, class or data were printed.
1750 Other flag characters that might appear are `\-' (recursion available,
1751 RA, \fInot\fP set) and `|' (truncated message, TC, set).
1753 `question' section doesn't contain exactly one entry, `[\fIn\fPq]'
1756 Note that name server requests and responses tend to be large and the
1757 default \fIsnaplen\fP of 68 bytes may not capture enough of the packet
1759 Use the \fB\-s\fP flag to increase the snaplen if you
1760 need to seriously investigate name server traffic.
1762 has worked well for me.
1767 \fItcpdump\fP now includes fairly extensive SMB/CIFS/NBT decoding for data
1768 on UDP/137, UDP/138 and TCP/139.
1769 Some primitive decoding of IPX and
1770 NetBEUI SMB data is also done.
1772 By default a fairly minimal decode is done, with a much more detailed
1773 decode done if -v is used.
1774 Be warned that with -v a single SMB packet
1775 may take up a page or more, so only use -v if you really want all the
1778 If you are decoding SMB sessions containing unicode strings then you
1779 may wish to set the environment variable USE_UNICODE to 1.
1781 auto-detect unicode strings would be welcome.
1783 For information on SMB packet formats and what all te fields mean see
1784 www.cifs.org or the pub/samba/specs/ directory on your favorite
1785 samba.org mirror site.
1786 The SMB patches were written by Andrew Tridgell
1790 NFS Requests and Replies
1792 Sun NFS (Network File System) requests and replies are printed as:
1796 \fIsrc.xid > dst.nfs: len op args\fP
1797 \fIsrc.nfs > dst.xid: reply stat len op results\fP
1800 sushi.6709 > wrl.nfs: 112 readlink fh 21,24/10.73165
1801 wrl.nfs > sushi.6709: reply ok 40 readlink "../var"
1802 sushi.201b > wrl.nfs:
1803 144 lookup fh 9,74/4096.6878 "xcolors"
1804 wrl.nfs > sushi.201b:
1805 reply ok 128 lookup fh 9,74/4134.3150
1810 In the first line, host \fIsushi\fP sends a transaction with id \fI6709\fP
1811 to \fIwrl\fP (note that the number following the src host is a
1812 transaction id, \fInot\fP the source port).
1813 The request was 112 bytes,
1814 excluding the UDP and IP headers.
1815 The operation was a \fIreadlink\fP
1816 (read symbolic link) on file handle (\fIfh\fP) 21,24/10.731657119.
1817 (If one is lucky, as in this case, the file handle can be interpreted
1818 as a major,minor device number pair, followed by the inode number and
1820 \fIWrl\fP replies `ok' with the contents of the link.
1822 In the third line, \fIsushi\fP asks \fIwrl\fP to lookup the name
1823 `\fIxcolors\fP' in directory file 9,74/4096.6878.
1824 Note that the data printed
1825 depends on the operation type.
1826 The format is intended to be self
1827 explanatory if read in conjunction with
1828 an NFS protocol spec.
1830 If the \-v (verbose) flag is given, additional information is printed.
1836 sushi.1372a > wrl.nfs:
1837 148 read fh 21,11/12.195 8192 bytes @ 24576
1838 wrl.nfs > sushi.1372a:
1839 reply ok 1472 read REG 100664 ids 417/0 sz 29388
1844 (\-v also prints the IP header TTL, ID, length, and fragmentation fields,
1845 which have been omitted from this example.) In the first line,
1846 \fIsushi\fP asks \fIwrl\fP to read 8192 bytes from file 21,11/12.195,
1847 at byte offset 24576.
1848 \fIWrl\fP replies `ok'; the packet shown on the
1849 second line is the first fragment of the reply, and hence is only 1472
1850 bytes long (the other bytes will follow in subsequent fragments, but
1851 these fragments do not have NFS or even UDP headers and so might not be
1852 printed, depending on the filter expression used).
1853 Because the \-v flag
1854 is given, some of the file attributes (which are returned in addition
1855 to the file data) are printed: the file type (``REG'', for regular file),
1856 the file mode (in octal), the uid and gid, and the file size.
1858 If the \-v flag is given more than once, even more details are printed.
1860 Note that NFS requests are very large and much of the detail won't be printed
1861 unless \fIsnaplen\fP is increased.
1862 Try using `\fB\-s 192\fP' to watch
1865 NFS reply packets do not explicitly identify the RPC operation.
1867 \fItcpdump\fP keeps track of ``recent'' requests, and matches them to the
1868 replies using the transaction ID.
1869 If a reply does not closely follow the
1870 corresponding request, it might not be parsable.
1872 AFS Requests and Replies
1874 Transarc AFS (Andrew File System) requests and replies are printed
1880 \fIsrc.sport > dst.dport: rx packet-type\fP
1881 \fIsrc.sport > dst.dport: rx packet-type service call call-name args\fP
1882 \fIsrc.sport > dst.dport: rx packet-type service reply call-name args\fP
1885 elvis.7001 > pike.afsfs:
1886 rx data fs call rename old fid 536876964/1/1 ".newsrc.new"
1887 new fid 536876964/1/1 ".newsrc"
1888 pike.afsfs > elvis.7001: rx data fs reply rename
1893 In the first line, host elvis sends a RX packet to pike.
1895 a RX data packet to the fs (fileserver) service, and is the start of
1897 The RPC call was a rename, with the old directory file id
1898 of 536876964/1/1 and an old filename of `.newsrc.new', and a new directory
1899 file id of 536876964/1/1 and a new filename of `.newsrc'.
1901 responds with a RPC reply to the rename call (which was successful, because
1902 it was a data packet and not an abort packet).
1904 In general, all AFS RPCs are decoded at least by RPC call name.
1906 AFS RPCs have at least some of the arguments decoded (generally only
1907 the `interesting' arguments, for some definition of interesting).
1909 The format is intended to be self-describing, but it will probably
1910 not be useful to people who are not familiar with the workings of
1913 If the -v (verbose) flag is given twice, acknowledgement packets and
1914 additional header information is printed, such as the the RX call ID,
1915 call number, sequence number, serial number, and the RX packet flags.
1917 If the -v flag is given twice, additional information is printed,
1918 such as the the RX call ID, serial number, and the RX packet flags.
1919 The MTU negotiation information is also printed from RX ack packets.
1921 If the -v flag is given three times, the security index and service id
1924 Error codes are printed for abort packets, with the exception of Ubik
1925 beacon packets (because abort packets are used to signify a yes vote
1926 for the Ubik protocol).
1928 Note that AFS requests are very large and many of the arguments won't
1929 be printed unless \fIsnaplen\fP is increased.
1930 Try using `\fB-s 256\fP'
1931 to watch AFS traffic.
1933 AFS reply packets do not explicitly identify the RPC operation.
1935 \fItcpdump\fP keeps track of ``recent'' requests, and matches them to the
1936 replies using the call number and service ID.
1937 If a reply does not closely
1939 corresponding request, it might not be parsable.
1942 KIP AppleTalk (DDP in UDP)
1944 AppleTalk DDP packets encapsulated in UDP datagrams are de-encapsulated
1945 and dumped as DDP packets (i.e., all the UDP header information is
1949 is used to translate AppleTalk net and node numbers to names.
1950 Lines in this file have the form
1962 The first two lines give the names of AppleTalk networks.
1964 line gives the name of a particular host (a host is distinguished
1965 from a net by the 3rd octet in the number \-
1966 a net number \fImust\fP have two octets and a host number \fImust\fP
1967 have three octets.) The number and name should be separated by
1968 whitespace (blanks or tabs).
1971 file may contain blank lines or comment lines (lines starting with
1974 AppleTalk addresses are printed in the form
1980 \f(CW144.1.209.2 > icsd-net.112.220
1981 office.2 > icsd-net.112.220
1982 jssmag.149.235 > icsd-net.2\fR
1988 doesn't exist or doesn't contain an entry for some AppleTalk
1989 host/net number, addresses are printed in numeric form.)
1990 In the first example, NBP (DDP port 2) on net 144.1 node 209
1991 is sending to whatever is listening on port 220 of net icsd node 112.
1992 The second line is the same except the full name of the source node
1993 is known (`office').
1994 The third line is a send from port 235 on
1995 net jssmag node 149 to broadcast on the icsd-net NBP port (note that
1996 the broadcast address (255) is indicated by a net name with no host
1997 number \- for this reason it's a good idea to keep node names and
1998 net names distinct in /etc/atalk.names).
2000 NBP (name binding protocol) and ATP (AppleTalk transaction protocol)
2001 packets have their contents interpreted.
2002 Other protocols just dump
2003 the protocol name (or number if no name is registered for the
2004 protocol) and packet size.
2006 \fBNBP packets\fP are formatted like the following examples:
2010 \s-2\f(CWicsd-net.112.220 > jssmag.2: nbp-lkup 190: "=:LaserWriter@*"
2011 jssmag.209.2 > icsd-net.112.220: nbp-reply 190: "RM1140:LaserWriter@*" 250
2012 techpit.2 > icsd-net.112.220: nbp-reply 190: "techpit:LaserWriter@*" 186\fR\s+2
2016 The first line is a name lookup request for laserwriters sent by net icsd host
2017 112 and broadcast on net jssmag.
2018 The nbp id for the lookup is 190.
2019 The second line shows a reply for this request (note that it has the
2020 same id) from host jssmag.209 saying that it has a laserwriter
2021 resource named "RM1140" registered on port 250.
2023 another reply to the same request saying host techpit has laserwriter
2024 "techpit" registered on port 186.
2026 \fBATP packet\fP formatting is demonstrated by the following example:
2030 \s-2\f(CWjssmag.209.165 > helios.132: atp-req 12266<0-7> 0xae030001
2031 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:0 (512) 0xae040000
2032 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:1 (512) 0xae040000
2033 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:2 (512) 0xae040000
2034 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:3 (512) 0xae040000
2035 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:4 (512) 0xae040000
2036 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:5 (512) 0xae040000
2037 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:6 (512) 0xae040000
2038 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp*12266:7 (512) 0xae040000
2039 jssmag.209.165 > helios.132: atp-req 12266<3,5> 0xae030001
2040 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:3 (512) 0xae040000
2041 helios.132 > jssmag.209.165: atp-resp 12266:5 (512) 0xae040000
2042 jssmag.209.165 > helios.132: atp-rel 12266<0-7> 0xae030001
2043 jssmag.209.133 > helios.132: atp-req* 12267<0-7> 0xae030002\fR\s+2
2047 Jssmag.209 initiates transaction id 12266 with host helios by requesting
2048 up to 8 packets (the `<0-7>').
2049 The hex number at the end of the line
2050 is the value of the `userdata' field in the request.
2052 Helios responds with 8 512-byte packets.
2053 The `:digit' following the
2054 transaction id gives the packet sequence number in the transaction
2055 and the number in parens is the amount of data in the packet,
2056 excluding the atp header.
2057 The `*' on packet 7 indicates that the
2060 Jssmag.209 then requests that packets 3 & 5 be retransmitted.
2062 resends them then jssmag.209 releases the transaction.
2064 jssmag.209 initiates the next request.
2065 The `*' on the request
2066 indicates that XO (`exactly once') was \fInot\fP set.
2071 Fragmented Internet datagrams are printed as
2075 \fB(frag \fIid\fB:\fIsize\fB@\fIoffset\fB+)\fR
2076 \fB(frag \fIid\fB:\fIsize\fB@\fIoffset\fB)\fR
2080 (The first form indicates there are more fragments.
2082 indicates this is the last fragment.)
2084 \fIId\fP is the fragment id.
2085 \fISize\fP is the fragment
2086 size (in bytes) excluding the IP header.
2087 \fIOffset\fP is this
2088 fragment's offset (in bytes) in the original datagram.
2090 The fragment information is output for each fragment.
2092 fragment contains the higher level protocol header and the frag
2093 info is printed after the protocol info.
2095 after the first contain no higher level protocol header and the
2096 frag info is printed after the source and destination addresses.
2097 For example, here is part of an ftp from arizona.edu to lbl-rtsg.arpa
2098 over a CSNET connection that doesn't appear to handle 576 byte datagrams:
2102 \s-2\f(CWarizona.ftp-data > rtsg.1170: . 1024:1332(308) ack 1 win 4096 (frag 595a:328@0+)
2103 arizona > rtsg: (frag 595a:204@328)
2104 rtsg.1170 > arizona.ftp-data: . ack 1536 win 2560\fP\s+2
2108 There are a couple of things to note here: First, addresses in the
2109 2nd line don't include port numbers.
2110 This is because the TCP
2111 protocol information is all in the first fragment and we have no idea
2112 what the port or sequence numbers are when we print the later fragments.
2113 Second, the tcp sequence information in the first line is printed as if there
2114 were 308 bytes of user data when, in fact, there are 512 bytes (308 in
2115 the first frag and 204 in the second).
2116 If you are looking for holes
2117 in the sequence space or trying to match up acks
2118 with packets, this can fool you.
2120 A packet with the IP \fIdon't fragment\fP flag is marked with a
2121 trailing \fB(DF)\fP.
2125 By default, all output lines are preceded by a timestamp.
2127 is the current clock time in the form
2133 and is as accurate as the kernel's clock.
2134 The timestamp reflects the time the kernel first saw the packet.
2136 is made to account for the time lag between when the
2137 ethernet interface removed the packet from the wire and when the kernel
2138 serviced the `new packet' interrupt.
2140 stty(1), pcap(3), bpf(4), nit(4P), pfconfig(8)
2142 The original authors are:
2146 Steven McCanne, all of the
2147 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA.
2149 It is currently being maintained by tcpdump.org.
2151 The current version is available via http:
2154 .I http://www.tcpdump.org/
2157 The original distribution is available via anonymous ftp:
2160 .I ftp://ftp.ee.lbl.gov/tcpdump.tar.Z
2163 IPv6/IPsec support is added by WIDE/KAME project.
2164 This program uses Eric Young's SSLeay library, under specific configuration.
2166 Please send problems, bugs, questions, desirable enhancements, etc. to:
2169 tcpdump-workers@tcpdump.org
2172 Please send source code contributions, etc. to:
2178 NIT doesn't let you watch your own outbound traffic, BPF will.
2179 We recommend that you use the latter.
2181 On Linux systems with 2.0[.x] kernels:
2183 packets on the loopback device will be seen twice;
2185 packet filtering cannot be done in the kernel, so that all packets must
2186 be copied from the kernel in order to be filtered in user mode;
2188 all of a packet, not just the part that's within the snapshot length,
2189 will be copied from the kernel (the 2.0[.x] packet capture mechanism, if
2190 asked to copy only part of a packet to userland, will not report the
2191 true length of the packet; this would cause most IP packets to get an
2195 capturing on some PPP devices won't work correctly.
2197 We recommend that you upgrade to a 2.2 or later kernel.
2199 Some attempt should be made to reassemble IP fragments or, at least
2200 to compute the right length for the higher level protocol.
2202 Name server inverse queries are not dumped correctly: the (empty)
2203 question section is printed rather than real query in the answer
2205 Some believe that inverse queries are themselves a bug and
2206 prefer to fix the program generating them rather than \fItcpdump\fP.
2208 A packet trace that crosses a daylight savings time change will give
2209 skewed time stamps (the time change is ignored).
2211 Filter expressions on fields other than those in Token Ring headers will
2212 not correctly handle source-routed Token Ring packets.
2214 Filter expressions on fields other than those in 802.11 headers will not
2215 correctly handle 802.11 data packets with both To DS and From DS set.
2218 should chase header chain, but at this moment it does not.
2219 .BR "ip6 protochain"
2220 is supplied for this behavior.
2222 Arithmetic expression against transport layer headers, like \fBtcp[0]\fP,
2223 does not work against IPv6 packets.
2224 It only looks at IPv4 packets.