Looking for a network packet inspector
While helping me with a Mail setup issue (bad server name and conflict with another computer) the ISP technician mentioned that I should check for spyware as he was seeing traffic going to China. He backed off when I told him that I only had Macintoshes on my LAN. But this got me wondering. I do have a lot of activity on my hub and AirPort Base Station that I can't explain. and I would like to get to understand what it is. Is there a good, cheap, easy to use application that I can use to examine the traffic on my network?
I do not need a complicated inspector. My network consists of three computers and the AppleTV with no subnets.
It would need to be easy to use and understand as I would likely use it this once and maybe once or twice a year thereafter.
IP Address resolution would be nice.
I would like IP protocol and service identification.
If possible, translation of the packet contents into human terms, preferably english.
I would like to be able to filter it based on IP address. i.e. Traffic to and from the AppleTV, or to and from my ISP.
And I would like it to be cheap.
Thank you for your suggestions.
I do not need a complicated inspector. My network consists of three computers and the AppleTV with no subnets.
It would need to be easy to use and understand as I would likely use it this once and maybe once or twice a year thereafter.
IP Address resolution would be nice.
I would like IP protocol and service identification.
If possible, translation of the packet contents into human terms, preferably english.
I would like to be able to filter it based on IP address. i.e. Traffic to and from the AppleTV, or to and from my ISP.
And I would like it to be cheap.
Thank you for your suggestions.
Comments
I already looked at Little Snitch but it only monitors the traffic in and out of the computer it is running on. I am looking for something to monitor my LAN. it looks like TCPdump will do what I want but I have a lot of learning to do before using it. Both in setting TCPdump up to collect the data and latter to analyze the data. (Neither Network Utility nor Intego NetBarrier found any active ports, services or traffic that I didn't expect on my main Mac. The observed activity could be my RSS feeds in Safari. I was surprised how active the is.)
tonton,
I do not know what the traffic is or even if it exists, but it's more than pictures. Besides, if anybody is surfing porn on my network, it would be me. Thanks anyway.