Chapter 1. Introduction
The TCP/UDP/IP/Ethernet protocols are commonly part of computing education,
because they are in widespread use; because coverage exposes students to
the layered nature of network protocols; and because knowledge of the protocols
helps students to better understand related issues in security, operating
system implementation, system administration, and network programming.
In order to aid in the presentation of this material, we have developed
the Visual TCP/UDP Animator (VTA), for depicting protocol operation using
packets captured from the
network.
A number of packages already exist for viewing network traffic. The
primary focus of these tools is to aid in system administration. They are
not well suited to the study of underlying network protocols, because they
focus on traffic analysis, rather than illustrating protocol operation.
The tools commonly depict statistics for all traffic passing through a
network interface, rather than providing a connection-oriented view. Further,
privileged (root) access is required in order to collect network statistics
and view packet contents.
VTA is a network monitor and visualization tool for TCP/UDP/IP protocols.
It dipicts protocol operation using packets captured from the network.
VTA displays packets captured from the network in any of several views
that, when used individually or in combination, help to depict operation
of the TCP and UDP protocols. The Packet View displays packet content;
header information associated with each protocol is distinguished and constituent
fields are labeled with associated values given. The Machine Distribution View displays
an undirected graph in which nodes correspond to machines and edges are
created by communication among machines. The Timeline View displays a space-time
diagram. The Contents View depicts data exchanged along a TCP connection
as a conversation with two
participants. The Stream View displays all packets passed along a single
TCP connection. Finally, the TCP Status View depicts the current status
of a connection within a TCP state diagram.
The tool takes input either from file or from the network. Additionally,
traffic captured live can be saved to file for later replay. A user can
view (only) traffic traveling through her own sockets, without needing
privileged access or making the traffic that travels across other sockets
visible.
VTA currently runs on Linux platforms. It requires Qt in order to run.
A binary package is available for Red Hat Linux.
Reporting problems and getting help
Please send bugs report to czhao@mtu.edu.
Your help and support will be highly appreciated.
Next Topic Building and Configuring VTA