Redhat Enterprise Linux 5 / CentOS 5 monitor and track TCP connections on the network (eth0)
Q. How do I track and monitor connection for eth1 public network interface under Redhat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 server?
A.You can use netstat command or tcptrack command. Both command can show established TCP connection and provides the ability to monitor the same.
netstat command
netstat command prints information about the Linux networking subsystem. It also works under UNIX and *BSD oses. It can display network connections, routing tables, interface statistics, masquerade connections, and multicast memberships etc.
netstat command to display established connections
Type the command as follows:
$ netstat -nat
Output:
Active Internet connections (servers and established) Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:2208 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:52459 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:80 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:10000 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:8080 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:1521 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:53 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:631 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:3128 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:25 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:31323 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:2207 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN tcp 0 0 192.168.1.100:59917 74.86.48.98:291 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:3128 127.0.0.1:49413 TIME_WAIT tcp 0 0 127.0.1.1:54624 127.0.1.1:1521 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 127.0.1.1:1521 127.0.1.1:54624 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 192.168.1.100:55914 74.125.19.147:80 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:3128 127.0.0.1:42471 TIME_WAIT tcp 0 0 192.168.1.100:56357 74.86.48.98:993 ESTABLISHED tcp 0 0 192.168.1.100:56350 74.86.48.98:993 ESTABLISHED tcp6 0 0 :::53 :::* LISTEN tcp6 0 0 :::22 :::* LISTEN
To display client / server ESTABLISHED connections only:
$ netstat -nat | grep 'ESTABLISHED'
tcptrack command
tcptrack command displays the status of TCP connections that it sees on a given network interface. tcptrack monitors their state and displays information such as state, source/destination addresses and bandwidth usage in a sorted, updated list very much like the top command.
Install tcptrack
Redhat (RHEL) / Fedora / CentOS user, download tcptract here. For example download RHEL 64 bit version:
# cd /tmp/
# wget http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/tcptrack/tcptrack-1.1.5-1.2.el5.rf.x86_64.rpm
# rpm -ivh tcptrack-1.1.5-1.2.el5.rf.x86_64.rpm
Debian / Ubuntu Linux user use apt-get as follows:
$ sudo apt-get install tcptrack
How do I use tcptract to monitor and track TCP connections ?
tcptrack requires only one parameter to run i.e. the name of an interface such as eth0, eth1 etc. Use the -i flag followed by an interface name that you want tcptrack to monitor.
# tcptrack -i eth0
# tcptrack -i eth1
(tcptrack in action)
You can just monitor TCP port 25 (SMTP)
# tcptrack -i eth0 port 25
The next example will only show web traffic monitoring on port 80:
# tcptrack -i eth1 port 80
tcptrack can also take a pcap filter expression as an argument. The format of this filter expression is the same as that of tcpdump and other libpcap-based sniffers. The following example will only show connections from host 76.11.22.12:
# tcptrack -i eth0 src or dst 76.11.22.12
For further option please refer to man page of netstat and tcptrack command.
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Tags: CentOS, find_established_tcp_connections, http_connection_tracking.smtp_connection_tracking, monitor, netstat_command, Networking, rhel, tcptack_command, track_tcp_connections
November 14th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
I am trying to install tcptrack in my linux fedora.
I did:
# yum install tcptrack.x86_64
The system give me the msg:
Error: Missing Dependency: libpcap.so.0.8.3()(64bit) is needed by package tcptrack
Then I tried to install libpcap packet with the command:
# yum install libpcap.x86_64
The system give me the msg:
Package libpcap - 14:0.9.7-1.fc7.x86_64 is already installed.
Nothing to do
Can anyone help me ??
Thanks
Jeferson Passos