ciscodump - Provide interfaces to capture from a remote Cisco router through SSH.
ciscodump [ --help ] [ --version ] [ --extcap-interfaces ] [ --extcap-dlts ] [ --extcap-interface=<interface> ] [ --extcap-config ] [ --extcap-capture-filter=<capture filter> ] [ --capture ] [ --fifo=<path to file or pipe> ] [ --remote-host=<IP address> ] [ --remote-port=<TCP port> ] [ --remote-username=<username> ] [ --remote-password=<password> ] [ --remote-filter=<filter> ] [ --sshkey=<public key path> ] [ --remote-interface=<interface> ] ciscodump --extcap-interfaces ciscodump --extcap-interface=<interface> --extcap-dlts ciscodump --extcap-interface=<interface> --extcap-config ciscodump --extcap-interface=<interface> --fifo=<path to file or pipe> --capture --remote-host=remoterouter --remote-port=22 --remote-username=user --remote-interface=<the router interface>
CISCODUMP(1) CISCODUMP(1)
NAME
ciscodump - Provide interfaces to capture from a remote Cisco router
through SSH.
SYNOPSIS
ciscodump [ --help ] [ --version ] [ --extcap-interfaces ]
[ --extcap-dlts ] [ --extcap-interface=<interface> ]
[ --extcap-config ] [ --extcap-capture-filter=<capture filter> ]
[ --capture ] [ --fifo=<path to file or pipe> ]
[ --remote-host=<IP address> ] [ --remote-port=<TCP port> ]
[ --remote-username=<username> ] [ --remote-password=<password> ]
[ --remote-filter=<filter> ] [ --sshkey=<public key path> ]
[ --remote-interface=<interface> ]
ciscodump --extcap-interfaces
ciscodump --extcap-interface=<interface> --extcap-dlts
ciscodump --extcap-interface=<interface> --extcap-config
ciscodump --extcap-interface=<interface> --fifo=<path to file or pipe>
--capture --remote-host=remoterouter --remote-port=22
--remote-username=user --remote-interface=<the router interface>
DESCRIPTION
Ciscodump is an extcap tool that relies on Cisco EPC to allow a user to
run a remote capture on a Cisco router in a SSH connection. The minimum
IOS version supporting this feature is 12.4(20)T. More details can be
found here:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/ios-nx-os-software/ios-embedded-packet-capture/datasheet_c78-502727.html
Supported interfaces:
1. cisco
OPTIONS
--help
Print program arguments.
--version
Print program version.
--extcap-interfaces
List available interfaces.
--extcap-interface=<interface>
Use specified interfaces.
--extcap-dlts
List DLTs of specified interface.
--extcap-config
List configuration options of specified interface.
--capture
Start capturing from specified interface and save it in place
specified by --fifo.
--fifo=<path to file or pipe>
Save captured packet to file or send it through pipe.
--remote-host=<remote host>
The address of the remote host for capture.
--remote-port=<remote port>
The SSH port of the remote host.
--remote-username=<username>
The username for ssh authentication.
--remote-password=<password>
The password to use (if not ssh-agent and pubkey are used).
WARNING: the passwords are stored in plaintext and visible to all
users on this system. It is recommended to use keyfiles with a SSH
agent.
--remote-filter=<filter>
The remote filter on the router. This is a capture filter that
follows the Cisco IOS standards
(https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/ip/access-lists/26448-ACLsamples.html).
Multiple filters can be specified using a comma between them.
BEWARE: when using a filter, the default behavior is to drop all
the packets except the ones that fall into the filter.
Examples:
permit ip host MYHOST any, permit ip any host MYHOST (capture the traffic for MYHOST)
deny ip host MYHOST any, deny ip any host MYHOST, permit ip any any (capture all the traffic except MYHOST)
--sshkey=<SSH private key path>
The path to a private key for authentication.
--remote-interface=<remote interface>
The remote network interface to capture from.
--extcap-capture-filter=<capture filter>
Unused (compatibility only).
EXAMPLES
To see program arguments:
ciscodump --help
To see program version:
ciscodump --version
To see interfaces:
ciscodump --extcap-interfaces
Only one interface (cisco) is supported.
Example output
interface {value=cisco}{display=SSH remote capture}
To see interface DLTs:
ciscodump --extcap-interface=cisco --extcap-dlts
Example output
dlt {number=147}{name=cisco}{display=Remote capture dependent DLT}
To see interface configuration options:
ciscodump --extcap-interface=cisco --extcap-config
Example output
ciscodump --extcap-interface=cisco --extcap-config
arg {number=0}{call=--remote-host}{display=Remote SSH server address}
{type=string}{tooltip=The remote SSH host. It can be both an IP address or a hostname}
{required=true}
arg {number=1}{call=--remote-port}{display=Remote SSH server port}{type=unsigned}
{default=22}{tooltip=The remote SSH host port (1-65535)}{range=1,65535}
arg {number=2}{call=--remote-username}{display=Remote SSH server username}{type=string}
{default=<current user>}{tooltip=The remote SSH username. If not provided, the current
user will be used}
arg {number=3}{call=--remote-password}{display=Remote SSH server password}{type=string}
{tooltip=The SSH password, used when other methods (SSH agent or key files) are unavailable.}
arg {number=4}{call=--sshkey}{display=Path to SSH private key}{type=fileselect}
{tooltip=The path on the local filesystem of the private ssh key}
arg {number=5}{call--sshkey-passphrase}{display=SSH key passphrase}
{type=string}{tooltip=Passphrase to unlock the SSH private key}
arg {number=6}{call=--remote-interface}{display=Remote interface}{type=string}
{required=true}{tooltip=The remote network interface used for capture}
arg {number=7}{call=--remote-filter}{display=Remote capture filter}{type=string}
{default=(null)}{tooltip=The remote capture filter}
arg {number=8}{call=--remote-count}{display=Packets to capture}{type=unsigned}{required=true}
{tooltip=The number of remote packets to capture.}
To capture:
ciscodump --extcap-interface cisco --fifo=/tmp/cisco.pcap --capture --remote-host 192.168.1.10
--remote-username user --remote-interface gigabit0/0
--remote-filter "permit ip host 192.168.1.1 any, permit ip any host 192.168.1.1"
Note
Packet count is mandatory, hence the capture will start after this
number.
KNOWN ISSUES
The configuration of the capture on the routers is a multi-step
process. If the SSH connection is interrupted during it, the
configuration can be in an inconsistent state. That can happen also if
the capture is stopped and ciscodump can't clean the configuration up.
In this case it is necessary to log into the router and manually clean
the configuration, removing both the capture point
(WIRESHARK_CAPTURE_POINT), the capture buffer
(WIRESHARK_CAPTURE_BUFFER) and the capture filter
(WIRESHARK_CAPTURE_FILTER).
Another known issues is related to the number of captured packets
(--remote-count). Due to the nature of the capture buffer, ciscodump
waits for the capture to complete and then issues the command to show
it. It means that if the user specifies a number of packets above the
currently captured, the show command is never shown. Not only is the
count of the maximum number of captured packets, but it is also the
exact number of expected packets.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+---------------+---------------------------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+---------------------------------------+
|Availability | diagnostic/wireshark/wireshark-common |
+---------------+---------------------------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+---------------------------------------+
SEE ALSO
wireshark(1), tshark(1), dumpcap(1), extcap(4), sshdump(1)
NOTES
ciscodump 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.
Source code for open source software components in Oracle Solaris can
be found at https://www.oracle.com/downloads/opensource/solaris-source-
code-downloads.html.
This software was built from source available at
https://github.com/oracle/solaris-userland. The original community
source was downloaded from http://www.wireshark.org/download/src/all-
versions/wireshark-3.6.6.tar.xz.
Further information about this software can be found on the open source
community website at http://www.wireshark.org/.
AUTHORS
Original Author
Dario Lombardo <lomato[AT]gmail.com>
CISCODUMP(1)