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Ethereal Packet Sniffing
I've used the tool for years, and I've read the docs a bit, so I felt comfortable with the tool. Still, I wanted to learn something new with it, and I wanted to see if this book could offer what I was hoping for. The book delivers, and does a pretty good job. One of the big tests for me about any book that covers an Open Source project is "Does this book offer more than the existing documentation?" If it fails to, the book isn't worth the money, I'll stick with free docs. While the book comes out favorably for me, I'll start with the things I didn't like, first.
One of the big things that is missing from this book is any coverage of Ethereal on OS X. Given how many people are migrating to OS X (from UN*X or from Windows), and the coverage of Ethereal on Windows, I would have expected some mention of it. Luckily it's available in both Darwin Ports and the Fink project, but some mention of any of the quirks people may encounter would have been welcome. Amy (from Syngress) tells me that they will have a paper in their Solutions center on Ethereal on OS X, which would be great to see.
Another annoyance with the book is the repeated coverage in some sections of various aspects of Ethereal. One that stands out is the coverage of the additional tools which are installed alongside Ethereal, like Editcap and Text2pcap. They are covered in chapter 2 for a bit and then more completely in chapter 6. Covering these tools only once would have sufficed, but it does let chapter 2 stand on its own. Amy tells me that they do this intentionally, because it makes some chapters stand on their own as "units" for others to use. That makes sense.
A final bit of the book I didn't like was the choice of screenshots: quite a number of the screenshots were full screen dumps when only one or two elements of the page really mattered. Either trimmed or annotated screenshots would have been more welcome. A lot of information gets dumped in Ethereal, helping people navigate the UI with a static, black-and-white image would have been welcome.
Now, on to the real strengths of the book. Like I said earlier, The book offers more coverage than the existing, free docs on Ethereal provide, or at least in a more manageable form. Obviously, with the source code in front of me I could dissect the tool and learn everything about it, but that's hardly efficient. Simply put, the book introduces network sniffing and troubleshooting well. How can you place a sniffer to get coverage, what can a sniffer tell you during troubleshooting (and what can it not?), and of course how to get and install Ethereal (on UN*X and Windows).
The next chapter covers exactly what you would expect it to, how to use Ethereal. Ethereal's main use is as a GUI protocol analyzer, so you have menus, panes and windows to navigate. This chapter tells you what they are and how they present and format the data you're looking at. The next chapter deals with four tools that come with Ethereal: Tethereal (very similar to tcpdump), Editcap, Mergecap, and Text2pcap (all useful for managing pcap files).
Chapter 7 is one of those handy things to read. Ethereal is typically used to read pcap files, but it can also read snoop files, Microsoft Network Monitor files, EtherPeek files, NAI's Sniffer files, and HPUX's nettl files, all of which you'll find around. It's handy that you can see how to integrate Ethereal with these other products.
Chapter 8 brings it all together with real world packet captures, many of which are also on the included CD. These files include scans, Trojan uses, and even worm traffic. All of these are useful for learning how to use Ethereal and highlight the power of the tool. You can go from novice to a pretty decent network protocol junkie if you dilligently study the resources in this chapter and on the CD.
Chapter 9 will be useful to a small subset of people, but quite useful. This chapter gives you a tour of how to develop for and extend Ethereal. Ethereal's main strength is a huge number of decode routines, such as sFlow and MPLS (in addition to the standard ones like DNS, DHCP, and the like). Using this information you can extend Ethereal for your own needs and maybe even contribute back to the project.
Either the developer's angle or the detailed discussions and examples of the filter syntax are my favorite parts of the book. They contribute significant value for everyday use, and I found them useful in a recent task at work.
The book is going to run the risk of becoming quickly out of date, given the development pace of Ethereal. However, it relies more on underlying core concepts and principles inherent in Ethereal, so it should stay useful for longer than you may think.
All in all I would say this is probably worth picking up if you're looking at becoming a network operator or network security junkie. You'll learn a lot about a powerful tool, how to integrate it into your use, and even how to dissect real traces of traffic. I give it a 7 out of 10 for the above weaknesses, but that shouldn't stop you from strongly considering it.
You can purchase Ethereal Packet Sniffing from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page
Ethereal requires X Windows to run on OS X...which means the some form of a rootless install or the defunct Apple XFree86 Beta in Jaguar (10.2.x).
Panther (10.3.x) has X Windows intergrated, although I haven't bought it yet...(so I don't know how well it works or if all the build issues are sorted out of Fink...although Fink is supposed to work now)
10.1.x, I have no clue, but it's different than 10.2.x (probably have to install some third variant of X via Fink)
Ethereal on OS X does rock especially with KisMac but there's three or four possible scenarios for install...probably why the book doesn't cover it...
Why not get Knoppix or one of the many LiveCD distributions that allow you to use ethereal without the need to install Linux. Then your WindowsXP problem will not longer be a problem. The Knoppix release I used last July had support for my wireless NIC (Orinoco) on my laptop, and everything worked great.
I mean, I know it's a special OS and everything (posted from Camino).
./configure
But, whenever I use Ethereal on OS X, I just download the latest source.
make
make install
Then, launch X, and run ethereal.
So, there you go. There's your chapter on using Ethereal in OS X.
Happy to help!
comprehensive intrusion detection system
Comprehensive? So you basicially rewrote Tripwire, Saint, and a bunch of other stuff using ethereal?
Well, in making my first judgement of a book, I look to see how many screen shots it has. Books that mainly consist of screenshots are often a waste of paper. Have you mentioned every screen shot in the book? If so, it doesn't sound like that bad a book.
You think the print dialogue is essential to effective use of this tool? Enough that an 'out of date' screenshot of the print dialogue turns you away from it?
resigned
Because, often times, kicking it over to Linux is neither desirable nor feisible, especially if it's a work machine. If I want to use Ethereal on my laptop, and WinXP is feeling quirky, my solution can't be 'boot Knoppix,' 'cause then I can't do anything else with any ease.
Knee-jerk Linux reactions are no better than knee-jerk MS reactions, 'cept Linux has cooler t-shirts.