Java Distributed Sniffer

Usage: distributed-sniffer [-hnV] [-c=<captureCommand>] [-o=<output>]
                           [-p=<serverPort>] [-P=<protocolName>] [-s=<host>]
                           [-S=<hostFile>]
  -c, --command=<captureCommand>
                            Command to perform packet capture (default=tcpdump)
  -h, --help                Show this help message and exit.
  -n, --no-serve            Does not act as a server visible to other hosts
  -o, --output=<output>     Output file. Standard input is used if ouput is "-"
  -p, --port=<serverPort>   Server port (default=667)
  -P, --protocol=<protocolName>
                            protocol used for sending messages between client
                              and server ([UDP], TCP, SCTP)
  -s, --host=<host>         Host to sniff
  -S, --host-file=<hostFile>
                            File with hosts to sniff
  -V, --version             Print version information and exit.

Main classes

UDP Communication flow

The UDP protocol is not connection oriented, so it was necessary to create a messaging system to identify when a new client connects or disconnects from the broadcast:

TCP/SCTP Communication

The client/server communication implemented for TCP and SCTP protocols is similar. The client's addHost() method opens a connection in a new thread and listens for new messages coming from the server. The server will remove clients that are no longer connected.

Example of communication scenario between instances

Using Docker to test

Starting a server only

docker run --name sniffer-server --rm tcpassos/distributed-sniffer

Starting a client that will listen to a server

docker run --name sniffer-listener --rm tcpassos/distributed-sniffer --no-serve --host=<<server address>>

Or starting a client that will listen to multiple servers (the hosts file has the IP address of each server separated by lines)

docker run --rm \
    --name sniffer-listener \
    -v hosts_file_directory:/usr/src/files \
    tcpassos/distributed-sniffer \
    --host-file=/usr/src/files/hosts.txt

Simulating requests:

docker exec sniffer-server /usr/bin/curl google.com

We can analyze packet traffic between containers with tcpdump running in another container:

docker run --rm --net=host -v "$PWD":/tcpdump kaazing/tcpdump

Viewing statistics for each protocol

The script available at /tools/statistics.py can graph statistics for each implemented protocol

python3 statistics.py --file example.pcap --port 667

Video Example