tcptrace - a TCP connection analysis tool

tcptrace [options] filename

tcptrace takes a tcpdump file specified on the command line (or from standard input) and produces a summarization of the connections.

Output format options

-b

brief output format

-l

long output format

-r

print rtt statistics (slower for large files)

-W

report on estimated congestion window (not generally useful)

-q

no output (if you just want modules output)

Graphing options

-T

create throughput graph[s], (average over 10 segments, see -A)

-R

create rtt sample graph[s]

-S

create time sequence graph[s]

-N

create owin graph[s] (_o_utstanding data on _N_etwork)

-F

create segsize graph[s]

-G

create ALL graphs

Output format detail options

-D

print in decimal

-X

print in hexadecimal

-n

don't resolve host or service names (much faster)

-s

use short names (list "picard.cs.ohiou.edu" as just "picard")

Connection filtering options

-iN

ignore connection N (can use multiple times)

-oN[-M]

only connection N (or N through M). Arg can be used many times. In N is a file rather than a number, read list from file instead.

-c

ignore non-complete connections (didn't see syn's and fin's)

-BN

first segment number to analyze (default 1)

-EN

last segment number to analyze (default last in file)

Graphing detail options

-C

produce color plot[s]

-M

produce monochrome (b/w) plot[s]

-AN

Average N segments for throughput graphs, default is 10

-z

zero axis options:

-z

plot time axis from 0 rather than wall clock time (backward compat)

-zx

plot time axis from 0 rather than wall clock time

-zy

plot sequence numbers from 0 (time sequence graphs only)

-zxy

plot both axes from 0

-y

omit the (yellow) instantaneous throughput points in tput graph

Misc options

-Z

dump raw rtt sample times to file[s]

-p

print all packet contents (can be very long)

-P

print packet contents for selected connections

-t

'tick' off the packet numbers as a progress indication

-v

print version information and exit

-w

print various warning messages

-d

whistle while you work (enable debug, use -d -d for more output)

-e

extract contents of each TCP stream into file

-h

print help messages

-u

print minimal UDP information too

-Ofile

dump matched packets to tcpdump file 'file'

+[v]

reverse the setting of the -[v] flag (for booleans)

Extended boolean options (unambiguous prefixes also work)

--showsacks

show SACK blocks on time sequence graphs (default)

--noshowsacks

DON'T show SACK blocks on time sequence graphs

--showrexmit

mark retransmits on time sequence graphs (default)

--noshowrexmit

DON'T mark retransmits on time sequence graphs

--showoutorder

mark out-of-order on time sequence graphs (default)

--noshowoutorder

DON'T mark out-of-order on time sequence graphs

--showzerowindow

mark zero windows on time sequence graphs (default)

--noshowzerowindow

DON'T mark zero windows on time sequence graphs

--showurg

mark packets with URGENT bit set on the time sequence graphs (default)

--noshowurg

DON'T mark packets with URGENT bit set on the time sequence graphs

--showrttdongles

mark non-RTT-generating ACKs with special symbols

--noshowrttdongles

DON'T mark non-RTT-generating ACKs with special symbols (default)

--showdupack3

mark triple dupacks on time sequence graphs (default)

--noshowdupack3

DON'T mark triple dupacks on time sequence graphs

--showzerolensegs

show zero length packets on time sequence graphs (default)

--noshowzerolensegs

DON'T show zero length packets on time sequence graphs

--showzwndprobes

show zero window probe packets on time sequence graphs (default)

--noshowzwndprobes

DON'T show zero window probe packets on time sequence graphs

--showtitle

show title on the graphs (default)

--noshowtitle

DON'T show title on the graphs

--res_addr

resolve IP addresses into names (may be slow) (default)

--nores_addr

DON'T resolve IP addresses into names (may be slow)

--res_port

resolve port numbers into names (default)

--nores_port

DON'T resolve port numbers into names

--checksum

verify IP and TCP checksums

--nochecksum

DON'T verify IP and TCP checksums (default)

--dupack3_data

count a duplicate ACK carrying data as a triple dupack

--nodupack3_data

DON'T count a duplicate ACK carrying data as a triple dupack (default)

--check_hwdups

check for 'hardware' dups (default)

--nocheck_hwdups

DON'T check for 'hardware' dups

--warn_ooo

print warnings when packets timestamps are out of order

--nowarn_ooo

DON'T print warnings when packets timestamps are out of order (default)

--warn_printtrunc

print warnings when packets are too short to analyze

--nowarn_printtrunc

DON'T print warnings when packets are too short to analyze (default)

--warn_printbadmbz

print warnings when MustBeZero TCP fields are NOT 0

--nowarn_printbadmbz

DON'T print warnings when MustBeZero TCP fields are NOT 0 (default)

--warn_printhwdups

print warnings for hardware duplicates

--nowarn_printhwdups

DON'T print warnings for hardware duplicates (default)

--warn_printbadcsum

print warnings when packets with bad checksums

--nowarn_printbadcsum

DON'T print warnings when packets with bad checksums (default)

--warn_printbad_syn_fin_seq

print warnings when SYNs or FINs rexmitted with different sequence numbers

--nowarn_printbad_syn_fin_seq

DON'T print warnings when SYNs or FINs rexmitted with different sequence numbers (default)

--dump_packet_data

print all packets AND dump the TCP/UDP data

--nodump_packet_data

DON'T print all packets AND dump the TCP/UDP data (default)

--continuous

run continuously and don't provide a summary

--nocontinuous

DON'T run continuously and don't provide a summary (default)

--print_seq_zero

print sequence numbers as offset from initial sequence number

--noprint_seq_zero

DON'T print sequence numbers as offset from initial sequence number (default)

--limit_conn_num

limit the maximum number of connections kept at a time in real-time mode

--nolimit_conn_num

DON'T limit the maximum number of connections kept at a time in real-time mode (default)

--xplot_all_files

display all generated xplot files at the end

--noxplot_all_files

DON'T display all generated xplot files at the end (default)

--ns_hdrs

assume that ns has the useHeaders_flag true (uses IP+TCP headers) (default)

--nons_hdrs

DON'T assume that ns has the useHeaders_flag true (uses IP+TCP headers)

--csv

display the long output as comma separated values

--nocsv

DON'T display the long output as comma separated values (default)

--tsv

display the long output as tab separated values

--notsv

DON'T display the long output as tab separated values (default)

Extended variable options (unambiguous prefixes also work)

--output_dir=``STR''

directory where all output files are placed (default: '<NULL>')

--output_prefix=``STR''

prefix all output files with this string (default: '<NULL>')

--xplot_title_prefix=``STR''

prefix to place in the titles of all xplot files (default: '<NULL>')

--update_interval=``STR''

time interval for updates in real-time mode (default: '<NULL>')

--max_conn_num=``STR''

maximum number of connections to keep at a time in real-time mode (default: '<NULL>')

--remove_live_conn_interval=``STR''

idle time after which an open connection is removed in real-time mode (default: '<NULL>')

--remove_closed_conn_interval=``STR''

time interval after which a closed connection is removed in real-time mode (default: '<NULL>')

--xplot_args=``STR''

arguments to pass to xplot, if we are calling xplot from here (default: '<NULL>')

--sv=``STR''

separator to use for long output with <STR>-separated-values (default: '<NULL>')

Included Modules

http Http analysis package

tcplib TCPLib analysis package

traffic traffic analysis package

slice traffic efficiency data by time slices

rttgraph round trip time analysis graphs

collie connection summary package

realtime example real-time package

For module-specific options, please use `tcptrace -hxargs`

Filter Variables:

Please use 'tcptrace -hfilter' for the complete listing of filter variables.

Filter Syntax:

Please use 'tcptrace -hfilter' for filter syntax.

Options are first read from the file $HOME/.tcptracerc (if it exists), and then from the environment variable TCPTRACEOPTS (if it exists), and finally from the command line.

Shawn Ostermann (ostermann@cs.ohiou.edu)

Thanks to Mark Foster (mafoster@george.arc.nasa.gov) for writing this manual page. Thanks to Avinash Lakhiani (alakhian@irg.cs.ohiou.edu) for updating it.

Dump File Names

Trailing (unrecognized) arguments are taken to be one or more filenames. The files can be compressed, see compress.h for configuration. If the dump file name is 'stdin', then we read from standard input rather than from a file.

xplot

an interactive tool for examining .xpl files output by tcptrace.

jPlot

a Java version of xplot.