nettorc

nettorc is a command-line utility designed for network traffic monitoring and analysis. It provides users with the ability to capture, filter, and display network packets in real-time or from saved packet capture files. The tool is built on top of the libpcap library, which is a common framework for network packet capture across various operating systems.

The primary function of nettorc is to allow for deep inspection of network protocols. It can decode and present a wide range of protocols, from lower-level Ethernet and IP to higher-level protocols like TCP, UDP, HTTP, and DNS. Users can specify complex filter expressions using Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) syntax to narrow down the traffic they are interested in, improving efficiency and focusing on relevant data.

nettorc offers several output formats, including human-readable summaries and detailed packet breakdowns. It can be used for a variety of purposes, such as troubleshooting network connectivity issues, debugging network applications, security analysis to identify suspicious traffic patterns, and for educational purposes to understand how networks function at a packet level. While its name might suggest a direct focus on TCP, its capabilities extend to all types of network traffic. The tool is often used by network administrators, security professionals, and developers.