Manual:Tools/Packet Sniffer
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Applies to RouterOS: v2.9, v3, v4+
Summary
Sub-menu: /tool sniffer
Packages required: system
Packet sniffer is a tool that can capture and analyze packets that are going to, leaving or going through the router (except the traffic that passes only through the switch chip).
Packet Sniffer Configuration
Sub-menu: /tool sniffer
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| file-limit (integer 10..4294967295[KiB]; Default: 1000KiB) | File size limit. Sniffer will stop when limit is reached. |
| file-name (string; Default: ) | Name of the file where sniffed packets will be saved. |
| filter-ip-address (ip/mask[,ip/mask] (max 16 items); Default: ) | Up to 16 ip addresses used as a filter |
| filter-mac-address (mac/mask[,mac/mask] (max 16 items); Default: ) | Up to 16 MAC addresses and MAC address masks used as a filter |
| filter-port ([!]port[,port] (max 16 items); Default: ) | Up to 16 comma separated entries used as a filter |
| filter-ip-protocol ([!]protocol[,protocol] (max 16 items); Default: ) | Up to 16 comma separated entries used as a filter
IP protocols (instead of protocol names, protocol number can be used)
|
| filter-mac-protocol ([!]protocol[,protocol] (max 16 items); Default: ) | Up to 16 comma separated entries used as a filter.
Mac protocols (instead of protocol names, protocol number can be used):
|
| filter-stream (yes | no; Default: yes) | Sniffed packets that are devised for sniffer server are ignored |
| filter-direction (any | rx | tx; Default: ) | Specifies om which direction filtering will be applied. |
| interface (all | name; Default: all) | Interface name on which sniffer will be running. all indicates that sniffer will sniff packets on all interfaces. |
| memory-limit (integer 10..4294967295[KiB]; Default: 100KiB) | Memory amount used to store sniffed data. |
| memory-scroll (yes | no; Default: yes) | Whether to rewrite older sniffed data when memory limit is reached. |
| only-headers (yes | no; Default: no) | Save in the memory only packet's headers not the whole packet. |
| streaming-enabled (yes | no; Default: no) | Defines whether to send sniffed packets to streaming server |
| streaming-server (IP; Default: 0.0.0.0) | Tazmen Sniffer Protocol (TZSP) stream receiver |
Example
In the following example streaming-server will be added, streaming will be enabled, file-name will be set to test and packet sniffer will be started and stopped after some time:
[admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer> set streaming-server=192.168.0.240 \
\... streaming-enabled=yes file-name=test.pcap
[admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer> print
interface: all
only-headers: no
memory-limit: 100KiB
memory-scroll: yes
file-name: test.pcap
file-limit: 1000KiB
streaming-enabled: yes
streaming-server: 192.168.0.240
filter-stream: yes
filter-mac-address:
filter-mac-protocol:
filter-ip-address:
filter-ip-protocol:
filter-port:
filter-direction: any
running: no
[admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer> start
[admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer> stop
Running Packet Sniffer
Commands: /tool sniffer start, /tool sniffer stop, /tool sniffer save
The commands are used to control runtime operation of the packet sniffer. The start command is used to start/reset sniffering, stop - stops sniffering. To save currently sniffed packets in a specific file save command is used.
Example
In the following example the packet sniffer will be started and after some time - stopped:
[admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer> start [admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer> stop
Below the sniffed packets will be saved in the file named test:
[admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer> save file-name=test [admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer> /file print # NAME TYPE SIZE CREATION-TIME 0 test unknown 1350 apr/07/2003 16:01:52 [admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer>
Sniffed Packets
Sub-menu: /tool sniffer packet
This sub-menu allows to see the list of sniffed packets.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| data (read-only: text) | Specified data inclusion in packets |
| direction (read-only: in | out) | Indicates whether packet is entering (in) or leaving (out) the router |
| dscp (read-only: integer) | IP DSCP field value |
| dst-address (read-only: IP address) | Destination IP address |
| fragment-offset (read-only: integer) | IP fragment offset |
| identification (read-only: integer) | IP identification |
| interface (read-only: name) | Name of the interface the packet has been captured on |
| ip-header-size (read-only: integer) | The size of IP header |
| ip-packet-size (read-only: integer) | The size of IP packet |
| ip-protocol (read-only: ddp | egp | encap | ggp | gre | hmp | icmp | icmpv6 | dpr-cmt | igmp | ip | ipencap | ipip | ipsec-ah | ipsec-esp | iso-tp4 | ospf | pim | pup | rdp | rspft | st | tcp | udp | vmtp | vrrp | xns-idp | xtp) | The name/number of IP protocol |
| protocol (read-only: ip | arp | rarp | ipx | ipv6) | The name/number of ethernet protocol |
| size (read-only: integer) | Size of packet |
| src-address (read-only: IP address) | Source IP address |
| src-mac (read-only: MAC address) | Source MAC address |
| data (read-only: string) | IP data |
| tcp-flags (read-only: ack | cwr | ece | fin | psh | rst | syn | urg) | TCP flags |
| time (read-only: time) | Time when packet arrived |
| ttl (read-only: integer) | IP Time To Live |
| vlan-id (read-only: integer) | VLAN-ID of the packet |
| vlan-priority (read-only: integer) | VLAN-Priority of the packet |
Packet Sniffer Protocols
Sub-menu: /tool sniffer protocol
In this submenu you can see all kind of protocols that have been sniffed.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| bytes (read-only: integer) | Total number of data bytes |
| ip-protocol (read-only: ddp | egp | encap | ggp | gre | hmp | icmp | icmpv6 | dpr-cmt | igmp | ip | ipencap | ipip | ipsec-ah | ipsec-esp | iso-tp4 | ospf | pim | pup | rdp | rspft | st | tcp | udp | vmtp | vrrp | xns-idp | xtp) | IP protocol |
| packets (read-only: integer) | The number of packets |
| port (read-only: integer) | The port of TCP/UDP protocol |
| protocol (read-only: ip | arp | rarp | ipx | ipv6) | The name/number of the protocol |
| share (read-only: decimal) | Specific type of traffic compared to all traffic in bytes |
Example
[admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer protocol> print # PROTOCOL IP-PR... PORT PACKETS BYTES SHARE 0 ip 77 4592 100 % 1 ip tcp 74 4328 94.25 % 2 ip gre 3 264 5.74 % 3 ip tcp 22 (ssh) 49 3220 70.12 % 4 ip tcp 23 (telnet) 25 1108 24.12 % [admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer protocol>
Packet Sniffer Host
Sub-menu: /tool sniffer host
The submenu shows the list of hosts that were participating in data excange you've sniffed.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| address (read-only: IP address) | IP address of the host |
| peek-rate (read-only: integer/integer) | The maximum data-rate received/transmitted |
| rate (read-only: integer/integer) | Current data-rate received/transmitted |
| total (read-only: integer/integer) | Total packets received/transmitted |
Example
In the following example we'll see the list of hosts:
[admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer host> print # ADDRESS RATE PEEK-RATE TOTAL 0 10.0.0.4 0bps/0bps 704bps/0bps 264/0 1 10.0.0.144 0bps/0bps 6.24kbps/12.2kbps 1092/2128 2 10.0.0.181 0bps/0bps 12.2kbps/6.24kbps 2994/1598 3 10.0.0.241 0bps/0bps 1.31kbps/4.85kbps 242/866 [admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer host>
Packet Sniffer Connections
Sub-menu: /tool sniffer connection
Here you can get a list of the connections that have been watched during the sniffing time.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| active (read-only: yes | no) | Indicates whether connection is active or not |
| bytes (read-only: integer/integer) | Bytes in the current connection |
| dst-address (read-only: IP address:port) | Destination address |
| mss (read-only: integer/integer) | Maximum segment size |
| resends (read-only: integer/integer) | The number of packets resends in the current connection |
| src-address (read-only: IP address:port) | Source address |
Example
The example shows how to get the list of connections:
[admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer connection> print Flags: A - active # SRC-ADDRESS DST-ADDRESS BYTES RESENDS MSS 0 A 10.0.0.241:1839 10.0.0.181:23 (telnet) 6/42 60/0 0/0 1 A 10.0.0.144:2265 10.0.0.181:22 (ssh) 504/252 504/0 0/0 [admin@MikroTik] tool sniffer connection>
Quick mode
Quick mode will display results as they are filtered out with limited size buffer for packets. There are several attributes that can be set up filtering. If no attributes are set current configuration will be used.
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| duration | length of the test in seconds |
| freeze-frame-interval | time between data printout |
| interface | intarface name or all |
| ip-address | up to 16 addresses to filter |
| ip-protocol | one of listed protocols, up to 16 entries
|
| mac-address | up to 16 MAC addresses to filter |
| mac-protocol | up 16 entries
|
| port | up to 16 entries to filter by |
Download Sniffer Results
Sub-menu: /tool sniffer
Packet Sniffer results could be downloaded and viewed as file by specific program (for example Wireshark).
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| file-name (string; Default: "") | The name of the file where the sniffed packets will be saved to |
Example
To save sniffed result to file set,
[admin@MikroTik] /tool sniffer set file-name=example
Run sniffer with required settings,
[admin@MikroTik] /tool sniffer start
Do not forget to stop sniffer after sniffing is done,
[admin@MikroTik] /tool sniffer stop
Sniffed results could be downloaded from /file by FTP client or Windows Drag-n-Drop (do not forget to use binary mode, when file is downloaded by FTP).
[admin@MikroTik] /file print # NAME TYPE SIZE CREATION-TIME 0 example file 44092 jan/02/2010 01:11:59
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