pcapdevs(1) Qualcomm Atheros Open Powerline Toolkit pcapdevs(1)
NAME
pcapdevs - Qualcomm Atheros PCAP Device Enumerator
SYNOPSIS
pcapdevs [options]
DESCRIPTION
The pcapdevs program enumerates available libpcap or winpcap devices on stdout.
This program is part of the Qualcomm Atheros Powerline Toolkit. See the AMP man page for compilation and installation
instructions.
COMMENTS
This program is only compiled in the Windows version of the toolkit because it is not needed on other platforms. It can
be compiled, possibly with some modifications, on Linux or OpenBSD systems where libpcap development libraries are
installed.
BACKGROUND
The Atheros Powerline Toolkit uses the libpcap or winpcap package to enable raw socket operations on systems that have no
native raw packet support. Unfortunately, libpcap and winpcap reference available network interfaces by number rather
than by name. Consequently, users need some way to determine what network interfaces are available and determine the
number associated with each one. This utility does that.
OPTIONS
-h Print bash compatible variable definitions on stdout. The definitions enumerate available devices and their MAC
addresses. This is merely a convenience to minimze typing errors and, consequently, some editing may be required.
The output is a generous start when creating file hardware.sh.
-q Suppresses printing of progress messages.
-v Print additional information.
EXAMPLES
The following command enumerates available libpcap devices for a Linux host. Users should note the interface numbers and
use them when specifying a network interfaces on libpcap enabled programs in this toolkit. The Ethernet hardware
addresses shown may be useful when writing scripts.
# pcapdevs
1 00:60:97:05:97:0C eth0
2 00:0F:EA:10:D5:1C eth1
3 00:0F:EA:10:D5:1C any (Pseudo-device that captures on all interfaces)
4 00:00:00:00:00:00 lo
The next example enumaerates available winpcap devices on a Windows hosts. Observe that device names and descriptions
are much longer than on Linux.
# pcapdevs
1 00:00:00:00:00:00 \Device\NPF_GenericDialupAdapter (Adapter for generic dialup and VPN capture)
2 00:0E:2E:03:5F:B8 \Device\NPF_{4CFAABD5-C929-4942-914B-BDFE72B13611} (Realtek RTL8139 Family)
3 00:C0:49:D5:CB:14 \Device\NPF_{73E0D2EF-6069-4831-B379-507025F2BDCD} (Realtek RTL8139 Family)
4 00:0C:76:87:3E:3D \Device\NPF_{86B96905-3AA7-46F1-969A-6C23E3BBBA8B} (Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit)
Assuming that we have compiled and installed the Linux Toolkit with libpcap or winpcap support, we can use int6k to
request revision information on all devices connected to interface 2 with the following command. Interface 2 is the
default interface when the toolkit is comipled with either libpcap or winpcap and so option -i could have been omitted in
this case.
# int6k -i 2 -r
Most example Atheros scripts include file hardware.sh that defines symbolic Ethernet interfaces, NIC1 and NIC2 and their
respective hardware addresses, MAC1 and MAC2. These symbols are referenced by scripts when needed, providing a degree of
host independence. The following example illustrates some typical output for a Windows environment. The output can be
used with the Cygwin bash shell, for example.
# pcapdevs -h > hardware.sh
# cat hardware.sh
NIC1=1 # Adapter for generic dialup and VPN capture
NIC2=2 # Realtek RTL8139 Family Fast Ethernet Adapter (Microsoft's Packet Scheduler)
NIC3=3 # Realtek RTL8139 Family Fast Ethernet Adapter (Microsoft's Packet Scheduler)
NIC4=4 # Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet Driver
MAC1=00:00:00:00:00:00 # Adapter for generic dialup and VPN capture
MAC2=00:0E:2E:03:5F:B8 # Realtek RTL8139 Family Fast Ethernet Adapter (Microsoft's Packet Scheduler)
MAC3=00:C0:49:D5:CB:14 # Realtek RTL8139 Family Fast Ethernet Adapter (Microsoft's Packet Scheduler)
MAC4=00:0C:76:87:3E:3D # Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet Driver
The previous example creats a basic hardware.sh file but some editing is still required. You should add a bang path at
the top, delete definitions of NIC1 and MAC and renumber the remaining symbols. You may also want to add other host-spe‐
cific definitions.
SEE ALSO
amp(1), ifs(1), plcnets(1)
CREDITS
Charles Maier <cmaier@qca.qualcomm.com>
open-plc-utils-0.0.3 Mar 2014 pcapdevs(1)