Difference between Protocol Analyzers -> Packet Sniffers

[Eric Hines <eric.hines () appliedwatch com>]

All,

Once upon a time I had a pretty heated argument between myself and another
individual on the topic of distinction between protocol analyzers and packet
sniffers, and that they are not one in the same.

Can anyone provide me some good points on supporting this argument. E.g.
Ethereal is a protocol analyzer and Tcpdump is not... 

I've only been able to articulate that Protocol Analyzers can conduct protocol
decoding, whereas Tcpdump can not... Ethereal can provide information on the
different fields of the HTTP header and SSL fields.... stuff like that.. Anyone
care to jump in here and provide more meat to this argument than this?

BRDS,
Eric Hines, GCIA
CEO, President
Applied Watch Technologies, Inc.


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Eric Hines, GCIA
CEO, Chairman
Applied Watch Technologies, Inc.
web: http://www.appliedwatch.com
email: eric.hines () appliedwatch com
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