Portable Protocol Analyzer Feature Comparison
| Description |
Sniffer Portable v4.80.062 (SP1) |
Optiview Protocol Expert v8.0.0.43339.0 |
Wireshark 0.99.6a |
|
SOFTWARE INFORMATION |
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| Website Address | www.networkgeneral.com | www.flukenetworks.com | www.Wireshark.com |
| Operating Systems Supported | Windows XP, NT, 2000 | All Windows | All Windows, Unix, Linux |
| Min Processor | 600mhz Processor | 1 Ghz | NA |
| Min RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB | NA |
| Start Page Wizard | No | No | No |
| Capturing Packets |
Sniffer Portable |
Optiview Protocol Expert |
Wireshark |
|
CAPTURE CONFIGURATION |
|||
| Autosave to disk | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Capture from command prompt | No | No | Yes |
| Capture from multiple cards | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Display error counters with supported card | Yes | Yes | N/A |
| Max Buffer Size | 384 MB | 32 MB | N/A |
| Packet Slicing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CAPTURE FILTER | |||
| Filter on Layer 2 address | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on Layer 3 address | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on Layer 4 Port # | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on Protocol | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on offset/no data pattern | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on offset/data pattern | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CAPTURE FEATURES | |||
| Adapter Speed Displayed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Packet capture indicator | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Real Time Packet Summary | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Real Time Packet Detail | Yes | No | Yes |
| Stop/Start Triggers by Time | Yes | Yes | Yes/No |
| Stop/Start Triggers by Error | Yes | Yes | No |
| Stop/Start Triggers by Filter Criteria | Yes | Yes - counters | No |
| Remotely capture packets | No. DSS required. | Yes. Plugin required. | No |
| TCP Checksum Errors Displayed in Expert | No | Yes | Yes |
| CAPTURE - EXPERT | |||
| CDP information displayed | Yes | No | No |
| Real Time Expert Objects | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Expert Object Database | Yes | Yes | No |
| Expert Diagnosis/Symptoms | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Expert Summary Export | Yes - HTML | Yes - CSV | No |
| Expert selected item export | Yes - HTML | No | No |
| Expert error/frame number reference | No | Yes | Yes |
| NetBIOS Name/Qualifier displayed in a host type screen | Yes | Yes | No |
| Expert shows TCP Window Size Range | Yes | Yes | No |
| TCP Checksum Errors Displayed in Expert | No | Yes | Yes |
Displaying Packets |
Sniffer Portable |
Optiview Protocol Expert |
Wireshark |
| Conversion required to open other formats | Yes - Sniffer Tool Collection utility | Yes | No |
| CRC included in packet length | No | Yes | Yes |
| Delete packets in summary screen | No | Yes | No |
| Define filters by clicking specific packet info | No | Yes | Yes |
| Drag and Drop trace files into app | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit packet contents | Yes | Yes | Yes (editcap) |
| Correlate data payload from many packets | No | Yes | Yes |
| Expert Object display filters | Yes | No | No |
| Filter on Layer 2 address | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on Layer 3 address | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on Layer 4 Port # | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on Application | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on offset/pattern | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Import or save to other trace file formats | No, Yes (with Sniffer Tool Collection utility) | Yes, Enc, Internet Advisor, Sniffer cap, enc and legacy formats | Native capture file format is libpcap format, which is also the format used by tcpdump, snoop and atmsnoop, Shomiti/Finisar Surveyor, Novell LANalyzer, Network General/Network Associates DOS-based Sniffer (compressed or uncompressed), Microsoft Network Monitor, AIX's iptrace, Cinco Networks NetXRay, Network Associates Windows-based Sniffer, AG Group/WildPackets EtherPeek/TokenPeek/AiroPeek, RADCOM's WAN/LAN analyzer, Lucent/Ascend router debug output, HP-UX's nettl, the dump output from Toshiba's ISDN routers, the output from i4btrace from the ISDN4BSD project, the output in IPLog format from the Cisco Secure Intrusion Detection System, pppd logs (pppdump format), the output from VMS's TCPIPtrace/TCPtrace/UCX$TRACE utilities, the text output from the DBS Etherwatch VMS utility, traffic capture files from Visual Networks' Visual UpTime, the output from CoSine L2 debug, the output from Accellent's 5Views LAN agents, Endace Measurement Systems' ERF format, Linux Bluez Bluetooth stack hcidump -, and Network Instruments Observer version 9. |
| Mark frames | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Names/Qualfiers | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Modify font size | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Packet capture indicator | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Print packets to a file (Export) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Protocol Forcing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reassemble multiple HTTP packets | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Search summary for Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Search within Detail for Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Search or go to time | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Search for Expert message | Yes | Yes | No |
| Show Packet Offsets in Detail | No | No | No |
| Zoom into a pane | Yes - F4 | Yes - F11 | Yes - Menu |
| Monitoring Traffic |
Sniffer Portable 4.80.062 (SP1) |
Optiview Protocol Expert 7.0.0.27663.0 |
Wireshark 0.99.6a |
| Add customized UDP/TCP port #'s | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Alarm Log | Yes | Yes | No |
| Application Response Time | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Errors/s | Yes | Yes | No |
| Filter on Layer 2 address | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on Layer 3 address | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on Layer 4 Port # | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on Protocol | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Filter on offset/pattern | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Frame Size Distribution - Export | Yes - Yes | Yes - Yes | Yes |
| Host Table (Layer 2, 3, 4) - Export | Yes - Yes | Yes - Yes | Yes |
| Matrix (Layer 2,3,4) - Export | Yes - Yes | Yes - Yes | Yes |
| Packets/s | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Packet Slicing | No | Yes | Yes |
| Protocol Statistics - Export | Yes - Yes (csv,html) | Yes - bmp,csv | Yes |
| Reporting Facility or log | Yes | Yes | No |
| Utilization | Yes | Yes | No |
| Tools |
Sniffer Portable 4.80.062 (SP1) |
Optiview Protocol Expert 7.0.0.27663.0 |
Wireshark 0.99.6a |
| Address book | Yes | Yes | No |
| Add additional troubleshooting tools | Yes | No | No |
| Create multiple separate XMIT streams | No | Yes | No |
| Long Term Database Facility | Yes | Yes | No |
| Merge Trace Files | Yes - Sniffer Tool Collection utility | Yes | Yes - Mergecap |
| Packet Generator | Yes | Yes | No |
| RMON Capture console | No | No | No |
| Save transmit specs | No | Yes | No |
| SNMP query facility | Yes, specific Cisco/Nortel | No | No |
Monday, July 07, 2008