Ethereal-users: Re: [Ethereal-users] Understanding tethereal output

Note: This archive is from the project's previous web site, ethereal.com. This list is no longer active.

From: Jason Lixfeld <jason@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 18:00:24 -0400
Alright, we also know that I can't count. Sorry. Layer 2's 8 bytes + 8 bytes + 2 bytes does not equal 14 bytes.

On Monday, August 25, 2003, at 5:55 PM, Jason Lixfeld wrote:

I've got some questions about what I see in tethereal which may be because I lack a thorough understanding of all the protocols involved here.

If I use the -V option and capture some packets, I don't understand what the packet length value actually represents because the length of the various encapsulated headers and payload doesn't add up to what the packet length states.

Take the below capture as an example, as it was pulled off of an Ethernet network. The Packet Length says the packet is 114 bytes long. The way I rationalize it now, I can look down through the output and count all the values of all the encapsulated layers and the value should total 114 bytes. Well, it doesn't so I'm missing something quite obvious, which I chalk up to the fact that I don't completely get it.

The obvious values (as listed below) are:

20 byte IP header
32 byte TCP header
48 byte TCP payload
--
100 bytes.  I'm missing 14 bytes somewhere.

Layers 3 and 4 in the below capture all report a header length. The only layer that doesn't report any sort of length is layer 2. Is that where the other 14 bytes comes from? The two MAC addresses are 8 bytes long, and the type is 2 bytes. That equals 14, but is it that simple?

---

Frame 2 (114 bytes on wire, 114 bytes captured)
    Arrival Time: Aug 21, 2003 15:40:05.286540000
    Time delta from previous packet: 0.035215000 seconds
    Time relative to first packet: 0.035215000 seconds
    Frame Number: 2
    Packet Length: 114 bytes
    Capture Length: 114 bytes
Ethernet II, Src: 00:02:4b:b9:03:a2, Dst: 00:03:93:ea:f3:e2
    Destination: 00:03:93:ea:f3:e2 (AppleCom_ea:f3:e2)
    Source: 00:02:4b:b9:03:a2 (Cisco_b9:03:a2)
    Type: IP (0x0800)
Internet Protocol, Src Addr: 208.185.54.31 (208.185.54.31), Dst Addr: 172.17.7.100 (172.17.7.100)
    Version: 4
    Header length: 20 bytes
    Differentiated Services Field: 0x00 (DSCP 0x00: Default; ECN: 0x00)
        0000 00.. = Differentiated Services Codepoint: Default (0x00)
        .... ..0. = ECN-Capable Transport (ECT): 0
        .... ...0 = ECN-CE: 0
    Total Length: 100
    Identification: 0xc82e (51246)
    Flags: 0x04
        .1.. = Don't fragment: Set
        ..0. = More fragments: Not set
    Fragment offset: 0
    Time to live: 116
    Protocol: TCP (0x06)
    Header checksum: 0x8417 (correct)
    Source: 208.185.54.31 (208.185.54.31)
    Destination: 172.17.7.100 (172.17.7.100)
Transmission Control Protocol, Src Port: ms-streaming (1755), Dst Port: 49244 (49244), Seq: 1491084909, Ack: 2460353131, Len: 48
    Source port: ms-streaming (1755)
    Destination port: 49244 (49244)
    Sequence number: 1491084909
    Next sequence number: 1491084957
    Acknowledgement number: 2460353131
    Header length: 32 bytes
    Flags: 0x0018 (PSH, ACK)
        0... .... = Congestion Window Reduced (CWR): Not set
        .0.. .... = ECN-Echo: Not set
        ..0. .... = Urgent: Not set
        ...1 .... = Acknowledgment: Set
        .... 1... = Push: Set
        .... .0.. = Reset: Not set
        .... ..0. = Syn: Not set
        .... ...0 = Fin: Not set
    Window size: 17216
    Checksum: 0x9e8d (correct)
    Options: (12 bytes)
        NOP
        NOP
        Time stamp: tsval 8659100, tsecr 2849866957
Data (48 bytes)

0000  01 00 00 09 ce fa 0b b0 20 00 00 00 4d 4d 53 20   ........ ...MMS
0010 04 00 00 00 17 00 00 00 f0 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0020 02 00 00 00 21 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 ef f0 f0 f0 ....!...........
_______________________________________________
Ethereal-users mailing list
Ethereal-users@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.ethereal.com/mailman/listinfo/ethereal-users