dumpcap(1)
NAME
dumpcap - Dump network traffic
SYNOPSIS
dumpcap [ -a <capture autostop condition> ] ... [ -b <capture ring buffer option>] ... [ -B <capture buffer size> ] [ -c <capture packet count> ] [ -C <byte limit> ] [ -d ] [ -D ] [ -f <capture filter> ] [ -g ] [ -h ] [ -i <capture interface>|rpcap://<host>/<capture interface>|TCP@<host>:<port>|- ] [ -I ] [ -L ] [ -M ] [ -n ] [ -N <packet limit> ] [ -p ] [ -P ] [ -q ] [ -s <capture snaplen> ] [ -S ] [ -t ] [ -v ] [ -w <outfile> ] [ -y <capture link type> ] [ --capture-comment <comment> ]
DESCRIPTION
Dumpcap is a network traffic dump tool. It lets you capture packet data from a live network and write the packets to a file. Dumpcap's default capture file format is pcap-ng format. When the -P option is specified, the output file is written in the pcap format. Without any options set it will use the libpcap/WinPcap library to capture traffic from the first available network interface and writes the received raw packet data, along with the packets' time stamps into a pcap file. If the -w option is not specified, Dumpcap writes to a newly created pcap file with a randomly chosen name. If the -w option is specified, Dumpcap writes to the file specified by that option. Packet capturing is performed with the pcap library. The capture filter syntax follows the rules of the pcap library.
OPTIONS
-a <capture autostop condition>
Specify a criterion that specifies when Dumpcap is to stop writing
to a capture file. The criterion is of the form test:value, where
test is one of:
duration:value Stop writing to a capture file after value seconds
have elapsed.
filesize:value Stop writing to a capture file after it reaches a
size of value kB. If this option is used together with the -b
option, dumpcap will stop writing to the current capture file and
switch to the next one if filesize is reached. Note that the
filesize is limited to a maximum value of 2 GiB.
files:value Stop writing to capture files after value number of
files were written.
-b <capture ring buffer option>
Cause Dumpcap to run in "multiple files" mode. In "multiple files"
mode, Dumpcap will write to several capture files. When the first
capture file fills up, Dumpcap will switch writing to the next file
and so on.
The created filenames are based on the filename given with the -w
option, the number of the file and on the creation date and time,
e.g. outfile_00001_20050604120117.pcap,
outfile_00002_20050604120523.pcap, ...
With the files option it's also possible to form a "ring buffer".
This will fill up new files until the number of files specified, at
which point Dumpcap will discard the data in the first file and
start writing to that file and so on. If the files option is not
set, new files filled up until one of the capture stop conditions
match (or until the disk is full).
The criterion is of the form key:value, where key is one of:
duration:value switch to the next file after value seconds have
elapsed, even if the current file is not completely filled up.
filesize:value switch to the next file after it reaches a size of
value kB. Note that the filesize is limited to a maximum value of
2 GiB.
files:value begin again with the first file after value number of
files were written (form a ring buffer). This value must be less
than 100000. Caution should be used when using large numbers of
files: some filesystems do not handle many files in a single
directory well. The files criterion requires either duration or
filesize to be specified to control when to go to the next file.
It should be noted that each -b parameter takes exactly one
criterion; to specify two criterion, each must be preceded by the
-b option.
Example: -b filesize:1000 -b files:5 results in a ring buffer of
five files of size one megabyte each.
-B <capture buffer size>
Set capture buffer size (in MiB, default is 2 MiB). This is used
by the capture driver to buffer packet data until that data can be
written to disk. If you encounter packet drops while capturing,
try to increase this size. Note that, while Dumpcap attempts to
set the buffer size to 2 MiB by default, and can be told to set it
to a larger value, the system or interface on which you're
capturing might silently limit the capture buffer size to a lower
value or raise it to a higher value.
This is available on UNIX systems with libpcap 1.0.0 or later and
on Windows. It is not available on UNIX systems with earlier
versions of libpcap.
This option can occur multiple times. If used before the first
occurrence of the -i option, it sets the default capture buffer
size. If used after an -i option, it sets the capture buffer size
for the interface specified by the last -i option occurring before
this option. If the capture buffer size is not set specifically,
the default capture buffer size is used instead.
-c <capture packet count>
Set the maximum number of packets to read when capturing live data.
-C <byte limit>
Limit the amount of memory in bytes used for storing captured
packets in memory while processing it. If used in combination with
the -N option, both limits will apply. Setting this limit will
enable the usage of the separate thread per interface.
-d Dump the code generated for the capture filter in a human-readable
form, and exit.
-D Print a list of the interfaces on which Dumpcap can capture, and
exit. For each network interface, a number and an interface name,
possibly followed by a text description of the interface, is
printed. The interface name or the number can be supplied to the
-i option to specify an interface on which to capture.
This can be useful on systems that don't have a command to list
them (e.g., Windows systems, or UNIX systems lacking ifconfig -a);
the number can be useful on Windows 2000 and later systems, where
the interface name is a somewhat complex string.
Note that "can capture" means that Dumpcap was able to open that
device to do a live capture. Depending on your system you may need
to run dumpcap from an account with special privileges (for
example, as root) to be able to capture network traffic. If
"dumpcap -D" is not run from such an account, it will not list any
interfaces.
-f <capture filter>
Set the capture filter expression.
The entire filter expression must be specified as a single argument
(which means that if it contains spaces, it must be quoted).
This option can occur multiple times. If used before the first
occurrence of the -i option, it sets the default capture filter
expression. If used after an -i option, it sets the capture filter
expression for the interface specified by the last -i option
occurring before this option. If the capture filter expression is
not set specifically, the default capture filter expression is used
if provided.
Pre-defined capture filter names, as shown in the GUI menu item
Capture->Capture Filters, can be used by prefixing the argument
with "predef:". Example: -f "predef:MyPredefinedHostOnlyFilter"
-g This option causes the output file(s) to be created with group-read
permission (meaning that the output file(s) can be read by other
members of the calling user's group).
-h Print the version and options and exits.
-i <capture interface>|rpcap://<host>/<capture
interface>|TCP@<host>:<port>|-
Set the name of the network interface or pipe to use for live
packet capture.
Network interface names should match one of the names listed in
"dumpcap -D" (described above); a number, as reported by "dumpcap
-D", can also be used. If you're using UNIX, "netstat -i" or
"ifconfig -a" might also work to list interface names, although not
all versions of UNIX support the -a option to ifconfig.
If no interface is specified, Dumpcap searches the list of
interfaces, choosing the first non-loopback interface if there are
any non-loopback interfaces, and choosing the first loopback
interface if there are no non-loopback interfaces. If there are no
interfaces at all, Dumpcap reports an error and doesn't start the
capture.
Pipe names should be either the name of a FIFO (named pipe) or
``-'' to read data from the standard input. Data read from pipes
must be in standard pcap format.
This option can occur multiple times. When capturing from multiple
interfaces, the capture file will be saved in pcap-ng format.
Note: the Win32 version of Dumpcap doesn't support capturing from
pipes or stdin!
-I Put the interface in "monitor mode"; this is supported only on IEEE
802.11 Wi-Fi interfaces, and supported only on some operating
systems.
Note that in monitor mode the adapter might disassociate from the
network with which it's associated, so that you will not be able to
use any wireless networks with that adapter. This could prevent
accessing files on a network server, or resolving host names or
network addresses, if you are capturing in monitor mode and are not
connected to another network with another adapter.
This option can occur multiple times. If used before the first
occurrence of the -i option, it enables the monitor mode for all
interfaces. If used after an -i option, it enables the monitor
mode for the interface specified by the last -i option occurring
before this option.
-L List the data link types supported by the interface and exit. The
reported link types can be used for the -y option.
-M When used with -D, -L or -S, print machine-readable output. The
machine-readable output is intended to be read by Wireshark and
TShark; its format is subject to change from release to release.
-n Save files as pcap-ng. This is the default.
-N <packet limit>
Limit the number of packets used for storing captured packets in
memory while processing it. If used in combination with the -C
option, both limits will apply. Setting this limit will enable the
usage of the separate thread per interface.
-p Don't put the interface into promiscuous mode. Note that the
interface might be in promiscuous mode for some other reason;
hence, -p cannot be used to ensure that the only traffic that is
captured is traffic sent to or from the machine on which Dumpcap is
running, broadcast traffic, and multicast traffic to addresses
received by that machine.
This option can occur multiple times. If used before the first
occurrence of the -i option, no interface will be put into the
promiscuous mode. If used after an -i option, the interface
specified by the last -i option occurring before this option will
not be put into the promiscuous mode.
-P Save files as pcap instead of the default pcap-ng. In situations
that require pcap-ng, such as capturing from multiple interfaces,
this option will be overridden.
-q When capturing packets, don't display the continuous count of
packets captured that is normally shown when saving a capture to a
file; instead, just display, at the end of the capture, a count of
packets captured. On systems that support the SIGINFO signal, such
as various BSDs, you can cause the current count to be displayed by
typing your "status" character (typically control-T, although it
might be set to "disabled" by default on at least some BSDs, so
you'd have to explicitly set it to use it).
-s <capture snaplen>
Set the default snapshot length to use when capturing live data.
No more than snaplen bytes of each network packet will be read into
memory, or saved to disk. A value of 0 specifies a snapshot length
of 65535, so that the full packet is captured; this is the default.
This option can occur multiple times. If used before the first
occurrence of the -i option, it sets the default snapshot length.
If used after an -i option, it sets the snapshot length for the
interface specified by the last -i option occurring before this
option. If the snapshot length is not set specifically, the default
snapshot length is used if provided.
-S Print statistics for each interface once every second.
-t Use a separate thread per interface.
-v Print the version and exit.
-w <outfile>
Write raw packet data to outfile. Use "-" for stdout.
-y <capture link type>
Set the data link type to use while capturing packets. The values
reported by -L are the values that can be used.
This option can occur multiple times. If used before the first
occurrence of the -i option, it sets the default capture link type.
If used after an -i option, it sets the capture link type for the
interface specified by the last -i option occurring before this
option. If the capture link type is not set specifically, the
default capture link type is used if provided.
--capture-comment <comment>
Add a capture comment to the output file.
This option is only available if we output the captured packets to
a single file in pcap-ng format. Only one capture comment may be
set per output file.
CAPTURE FILTER SYNTAX
See the manual page of pcap-filter(7) or, if that doesn't exist, tcpdump(8), or, if that doesn't exist, <https://wiki.wireshark.org/CaptureFilters>.
SEE ALSO
wireshark(1), tshark(1), editcap(1), mergecap(1), capinfos(1), pcap(3), pcap-filter(7) or tcpdump(8)
NOTES
Dumpcap is part of the Wireshark distribution. The latest version of Wireshark can be found at <https://www.wireshark.org>. HTML versions of the Wireshark project man pages are available at: <https://www.wireshark.org/docs/man-pages>.
AUTHORS
Dumpcap is derived from the Wireshark capturing engine code; see the list of authors in the Wireshark man page for a list of authors of that code.
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