packETH is GUI and CLI packet generator tool for ethernet. It allows you to create and send any possible packet or sequence of packets on the ethernet link. It is very simple to use, powerful and supports many adjustments of parameters while sending packets. It runs on Linux.
With the GUI version (packETH) you can create and send packets. With the CLI version (packETHcli) you can only send already stored packets from pcap file. The CLI version also has a receiver mode, that can count packets and check if all packets that were sent were also received.
More information about installation, usage, GUI and CLI version and FAQ can be found here:
http://packeth.sourceforge.net/packeth/Home.html
Blog with some use cases:
- packETHcli added burst mode (-m -6)
- packETHcli added receiver option (mode -m -9) to count received packets
- packETHcli added option to incluce pattern (predifined or custom) which can be checked by packETHcli in receiver mode if all packets that were sent were also correctly received at the receiver site
- packETHcli - nanoseconds support
- Receiver mode: https://packeth.wordpress.com/2018/12/05/reciver-mode-check-for-dropped-packets/
- CLI tips: https://packeth.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/packethcli-some-practical-tips-1/
git clone https://github.com/jemcek/packETH.git
cd packETH
./autogen.sh (you will need aclocal,autoconf,autoheader and automake installed to run this)
autoreconf -f -i (optional) - in case you get automake version mismatch, missing files etc...
./configure
make
make install (optional)
./packETH
Depending on your Linux distribution and type of installation additional packages may be needed. For example:
yum groupinstall 'Development Tools'
yum install gtk2-devel.x86_64
sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install autoconf
sudo apt-get install pkg-config
sudo apt-get install gtk+2.0
cd cli
make
./packETH (or packETH if you did the make install)
The usage of the program should be pretty straightforward. As you will see, there are 4 main windows (first four buttons from the left side). I call them:
- Builder - the page where you build the packet and send it once
- Gen-b - generator for sending packet currently build inside Builder with many options how to send it
- Gen-s - generator that allows you to select up to 10 previosly built packets and send them in different manner
- Pcap window - open a tcpdump/wireshark capture file and load the selected packet into builder
To send the packets you need the SuperUser rights.
Type ./packETHcli -h for available options.
packETHcli also has a reveiver mode (-m 9). In this mode packEThcli counts packets and displays statistics. If you add a pattern into packets sent by packETH or packETHcli then only packets with valid pattern will be counted. See manual for more help.
If you would like to increase my motivation for further development, you can make a donation. The amount is not important at all, it is just a sign for me, that time I spent for this project helps someone.
If you get into problems, please feel free to contact me.
Miha Jemec
[email protected]
packETH (C) 2003-2019 by Miha Jemec, [email protected]
Covered under the GPL.