Wireshark mailing list archives

Re: automate capture feature


From: Phil Paradis <Phil.Paradis () unitedtote com>
Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2010 01:09:11 -0700

Rotating the files every minute is going to generate a LOT of files; if the capture is going to run for any significant 
length of time, I'd suggest using a file size limit and/or a much longer time limit. Some filesystems will choke on 
directories with huge numbers of files in them; something to keep in mind when determining how many files to keep.

Captured data is written to disk pretty much as it's received (there is a delay of several seconds due to write caching 
by the OS) so that shouldn't be a major concern; if the box crashes during a capture, you shouldn't lose more than a 
few seconds worth of captured data. 

If you plan to run your capture for a long time, I'd suggest using dumpcap instead of tshark/wireshark; dumpcap simply 
writes the packets to disk, while the *shark tools also analyze them in real-time. As a result, the *shark tools will 
eventually run out of RAM trying to maintain state information over very long periods of time.

A final point to note is that for very long-running captures (many days) on Windows boxes, the accuracy of timestamps 
will be adversely affected. This is a limitation of the mechanism used by WinPcap to generate the timestamps with a 
high level of precision. Rebooting the box periodically will keep the timestamps from getting too far out of sync with 
reality.

On Apr 16, 2010, at 11:44 PM, Martin Visser wrote:

While you can do what Tal says, you can do this easily in Wireshark. Before you capture, Capture->Options menu.  
Under the Capture File(s) section, enter a File name, example mycapture.pcap and then select the Multiple Files 
checkbox and only select Next File every 1 minute. You can option specify when you want to stop.

Wireshark then will create a new file every minute called something like mycapture_00001_20100417131441.pcap (where 
the first set of digits is a serial number and the second is contracted form of the date.

Simple!

Regards, Martin

MartinVisser99 () gmail com


On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 4:14 AM, Tal Bar-Or <tbaror () gmail com> wrote: says
Hi,

i would use first Tshark and then use file rotation( file ring buffer) lets say 2 files for 1 min and always query 
the last file not active.
Next i would phrase (regexp) data needed and write it to xml and send it to central location display it via web 
console using Flex technology.
Regsrds


On Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 5:38 PM, sachindeo v chavan <sachin_chavan () yahoo com> wrote:
Hi all,

I have a query on wireshark. I have version 1.2.7.
How can I repetitively capture network and save the capture at regular interval say every 1 min while the capture is 
going on?

In other words, save the captured info on the fly? that is, save every 1 min while the capture is going on.

regards
sachin



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Tal Bar-or

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Phillip Paradis / Network Engineer / United Tote
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