NAME

dnspktflow - Analyze and draw DNS flow diagrams from a tcpdump file

SYNOPSIS

dnspktflow -o output.png file.tcpdump
dnspktflow -o output.png -x -a -t -q file.tcpdump

DESCRIPTION

The dnspktflow application takes a tcpdump network traffic dump file, passes it through the tshark application and then displays the resulting DNS packet flows in a "flow-diagram" image. dnspktflow can output a single image or a series of images which can then be shown in sequence as an animation.

dnspktflow was written as a debugging utility to help trace DNS queries and responses, especially as they apply to DNSSEC-enabled lookups.

REQUIREMENTS

This application requires the following Perl modules and software components to work:

graphviz                  (http://www.graphviz.org/)
GraphViz                  (Perl module)
tshark                    (http://www.wireshark.org/)

The following is required for outputting screen presentations:

MagicPoint                (http://member.wide.ad.jp/wg/mgp/)

If the following modules are installed, a GUI interface will be enabled for communication with dnspktflow:

QWizard                   (Perl module)
Getopt::GUI::Long         (Perl module)

OPTIONS

dnspktflow takes a wide variety of command-line options. These options are described below in the following functional groups: input packet selection, output file options, output visualization options, graphical options, and debugging.

Input Packet Selection

These options determine the packets that will be selected by dnspktflow.

-i STRING
--ignore-hosts=STRING: A regular expression of host names to ignore in the query/response fields.
-r STRING
--only-hosts=STRING: A regular expression of host names to analyze in the query/response fields.
-f
--show-frame-num: Display the packet frame numbers.
-b INTEGER
--begin-frame=INTEGER: Begin at packet frame NUMBER.

Output File Options

These options determine the type and location of dnspktflow's output.

-o STRING
--output-file=STRING: Output file name (default: out%03d.png as PNG format.)
--fig: Output format should be fig.
-O STRING
--tshark-out=STRING: Save tshark output to this file.
-m
--multiple-outputs: One picture per request (use %03d in the filename.)
-M STRING
--magic-point=STRING: Saves a MagicPoint presentation for the output.

Output Visualization Options:

These options determine specifics of dnspktflow's output.

--layout-style: Selects the graphviz layout style to use (dot, neato, twopi, circo, or fdp).
-L
--last-line-labels-only: Only show data on the last line drawn.
-z INTEGER
--most-lines=INTEGER: Only show at most INTEGER connections.
-T
--input-is-tshark-out: The input file is already processed by tshark.

Graphical Options:

These options determine fields included in dnspktflow's output.

-t
--show-type: Shows message type in result image.
-q
--show-queries: Shows query questions in result image.
-a
--show-answers: Shows query answers in result image.
-A
--show-authoritative: Shows authoritative information in result image.
-x
--show-additional: Shows additional information in result image.
-l
--show-label-lines: Shows lines attaching labels to lines.
--fontsize=INTEGER: Font Size

Debugging:

These options may assist in debugging dnspktflow.

-d
--dump-pkts: Dump data collected from the packets.
-h
--help: Show help for command line options.

COPYRIGHT

AUTHOR

Wes Hardaker <hardaker@users.sourceforge.net>