TCPTap is a tool designed to let the TCP socket developer see the data which flows between a client and a server. This is accomplished without the use of "sniffers" or hooks into the protocol stack of the computer hosting TCPTap.
As a result nearly any development organization will permit unfettered use of TCPTap by individual developers.
TCPTap itself must be run on a 32-bit Windows platform such as Windows 98 or Windows NT, but neither the client nor the server under test is required to run on a Windows machine.
This is a beta, freeware release of TCPTap - supporting unlimited use and redistribution but with restrictions on modification.
Download the installation package here.
Unzip the downloaded file's contents to any temporary directory, then run setup.exe. A shortcut will be placed on your Start Menu.
TCPTap is a 32-bit Windows program for the x86 architecture. It must be installed and run on a machine compatible with the Intel x86 instruction set.
Compatible operating systems include Windows 95 and later or Windows NT 4.0 Workstation and later.
TCPTap setup may need to install the VB6 runtime and several ActiveX components, the TCPTap executable itself, the TCPTap Help files, and HTML Help support.
After installation, cleanup of the installation package, and not including the distribution Zip file, TCPTap will occupy between 300KB and 4MB of disk. If your machine already has the runtime and components installed the requirements are quite modest.
TCPTap is started like any standard Windows program. After starting TCPTap you must enter several capture parameters:
Then you start TCPTap's capture mode, and connect your client to your server through TCPTap.
When you have finished you view the capture log, which is a standard text file which may be viewed or printed using any common text viewer or editor.
TCPTap will record its capture report interpreting the data as ASCII, EBCDIC, or both. The hexadecimal representation of the data is always reported.
Here is a short fragment of a capture report from a Telnet conversation between a Windows 98 client and a Windows XP server:
TCPTap - TCP Traffic Capture Tool
Copyright © 2001 Robert D. Riemersma, Jr.
Capture Mode: ASCII
Client Port: 23
Server Port: 23
Server Host: Doxie
Capture file created: C:\Telnet.log
Capture initiated: 02-Sep-01 6:30:26 PM
18:30:33 Client connected. Port 23 Host [IP 127.0.0.1]
18:30:33 Server connected. Port 23 Host "Doxie" [IP 192.168.123.117]
18:30:33 <- 0000 FF FD 25 FF FB 01 FF FB 03 FF FD 27 FF FD 1F FF ÿý%ÿû.ÿû.ÿý'ÿý.ÿ
0010 FD 00 FF FB 00 ý.ÿû.
18:30:33 -> 0000 FF FC 25 ÿü%
18:30:33 <- 0000 57 65 6C 63 6F 6D 65 20 74 6F 20 4D 69 63 72 6F Welcome to Micro
0010 73 6F 66 74 20 54 65 6C 6E 65 74 20 53 65 72 76 soft Telnet Serv
0020 69 63 65 20 0D 0A ice ..
18:30:33 -> 0000 FF FD 01 FF FD 03 FF FC 27 FF FC 1F FF FC 00 FF ÿý.ÿý.ÿü'ÿü.ÿü.ÿ
0010 FE 00 þ.
18:30:33 <- 0000 0A 0D 6C 6F 67 69 6E 3A 20 ..login:
18:30:36 -> 0000 62 b
18:30:36 <- 0000 62 b
18:30:36 -> 0000 6F o
Here is another sample, this time a brief SOAP interchange:
TCPTap - TCP Traffic Capture Tool
Copyright © 2001 Robert D. Riemersma, Jr.
Capture Mode: ASCII
Client Port: 80
Server Port: 8181
Server Host: eval.soap.org
Capture file created: C:\SOAPProj\tests\soap.log
Capture initiated: 29-Aug-01 8:29:20 PM
20:29:47 Client connected. Port 80 Host [IP 192.168.123.211]
20:30:06 Server connected. Port 8181 Host eval.soap.org [IP 192.168.123.211]
20:30:06 -> 0000 50 4F 53 54 20 2F 53 4F 41 50 53 61 6D 70 6C 65 POST /SOAPSample
0010 2F 73 65 72 76 65 72 2E 61 73 70 20 48 54 54 50 /server.asp HTTP
0020 2F 31 2E 30 0D 0A 41 63 63 65 70 74 3A 20 2A 2F /1.0..Accept: */
0030 2A 0D 0A 6D 65 73 73 61 67 65 74 79 70 65 3A 20 *..messagetype:
0040 43 41 4C 4C 0D 0A 63 6F 6E 74 65 6E 74 74 79 70 CALL..contenttyp
0050 65 3A 20 74 65 78 74 2F 78 6D 6C 0D 0A 6D 61 6E e: text/xml..man
0060 3A 20 68 74 74 70 3A 2F 2F 4F 7A 7A 69 65 2F 53 : http://Ozzie/S
0070 4F 41 50 53 61 6D 70 6C 65 2F 73 65 72 76 65 72 OAPSample/server
0080 2E 61 73 70 20 48 54 54 50 2F 31 2E 31 0D 0A 55 .asp HTTP/1.1..U
0090 73 65 72 2D 41 67 65 6E 74 3A 20 4D 6F 7A 69 6C ser-Agent: Mozil
00A0 6C 61 2F 34 2E 30 20 28 63 6F 6D 70 61 74 69 62 la/4.0 (compatib
00B0 6C 65 3B 20 4D 53 49 45 20 36 2E 30 62 3B 20 57 le; MSIE 6.0b; W
00C0 69 6E 64 6F 77 73 20 4E 54 20 35 2E 31 29 0D 0A indows NT 5.1)..
00D0 48 6F 73 74 3A 20 4F 7A 7A 69 65 0D 0A 43 6F 6E Host: Ozzie..Con
00E0 74 65 6E 74 2D 4C 65 6E 67 74 68 3A 20 31 38 36 tent-Length: 186
00F0 0D 0A 43 6F 6E 6E 65 63 74 69 6F 6E 3A 20 4B 65 ..Connection: Ke
0100 65 70 2D 41 6C 69 76 65 0D 0A 50 72 61 67 6D 61 ep-Alive..Pragma
0110 3A 20 6E 6F 2D 63 61 63 68 65 0D 0A 0D 0A 3C 53 : no-cache....<S
0120 4F 41 50 3A 45 6E 76 65 6C 6F 70 65 20 78 6D 6C OAP:Envelope xml
0130 6E 73 3A 53 4F 41 50 3D 22 75 72 6E 3A 73 63 68 ns:SOAP="urn:sch
0140 65 6D 61 73 2D 78 6D 6C 73 6F 61 70 2D 6F 72 67 emas-xmlsoap-org
0150 3A 73 6F 61 70 2E 76 31 22 3E 3C 53 4F 41 50 3A :soap.v1"><SOAP:
0160 42 6F 64 79 3E 3C 54 65 73 74 52 65 71 75 65 73 Body><TestReques
0170 74 3E 3C 61 75 74 68 3E 48 6F 74 47 6E 69 62 47 t><auth>HotGnibG
0180 6E 61 62 73 3C 2F 61 75 74 68 3E 3C 6D 65 73 73 nabs</auth><mess
0190 61 67 65 3E 57 68 61 74 27 73 20 74 68 65 20 77 age>What's the w
01A0 6F 72 64 3F 3C 2F 6D 65 73 73 61 67 65 3E 3C 2F ord?</message></
01B0 54 65 73 74 52 65 71 75 65 73 74 3E 3C 2F 53 4F TestRequest></SO
01C0 41 50 3A 42 6F 64 79 3E 3C 2F 53 4F 41 50 3A 45 AP:Body></SOAP:E
01D0 6E 76 65 6C 6F 70 65 3E nvelope>
20:30:06 <- 0000 48 54 54 50 2F 31 2E 31 20 32 30 30 20 4F 4B 0D HTTP/1.1 200 OK.
0010 0A 53 65 72 76 65 72 3A 20 4D 69 63 72 6F 73 6F .Server: Microso
0020 66 74 2D 49 49 53 2F 35 2E 31 0D 0A 44 61 74 65 ft-IIS/5.1..Date
0030 3A 20 54 68 75 2C 20 33 30 20 41 75 67 20 32 30 : Thu, 30 Aug 20
0040 30 31 20 30 30 3A 33 30 3A 35 32 20 47 4D 54 0D 01 00:30:52 GMT.
0050 0A 4D 69 63 72 6F 73 6F 66 74 4F 66 66 69 63 65 .MicrosoftOffice
0060 57 65 62 53 65 72 76 65 72 3A 20 35 2E 30 5F 43 WebServer: 5.0_C
0070 6F 6C 6C 61 62 0D 0A 43 6F 6E 6E 65 63 74 69 6F ollab..Connectio
0080 6E 3A 20 6B 65 65 70 2D 61 6C 69 76 65 0D 0A 43 n: keep-alive..C
0090 6F 6E 6E 65 63 74 69 6F 6E 3A 20 4B 65 65 70 2D onnection: Keep-
00A0 41 6C 69 76 65 0D 0A 43 6F 6E 74 65 6E 74 2D 4C Alive..Content-L
00B0 65 6E 67 74 68 3A 20 31 36 30 0D 0A 43 6F 6E 74 ength: 160..Cont
00C0 65 6E 74 2D 54 79 70 65 3A 20 74 65 78 74 2F 78 ent-Type: text/x
00D0 6D 6C 0D 0A 53 65 74 2D 43 6F 6F 6B 69 65 3A 20 ml..Set-Cookie:
00E0 41 53 50 53 45 53 53 49 4F 4E 49 44 47 51 47 47 ASPSESSIONIDGQGG
00F0 47 54 41 47 3D 46 43 43 42 49 4C 44 43 4C 4D 4B GTAG=FCCBILDCLMK
0100 4C 4D 46 4D 41 48 43 43 4E 4D 48 4F 41 3B 20 70 LMFMAHCCNMHOA; p
0110 61 74 68 3D 2F 0D 0A 43 61 63 68 65 2D 63 6F 6E ath=/..Cache-con
0120 74 72 6F 6C 3A 20 70 72 69 76 61 74 65 0D 0A 0D trol: private...
0130 0A 3C 53 4F 41 50 3A 45 6E 76 65 6C 6F 70 65 20 .<SOAP:Envelope
0140 78 6D 6C 6E 73 3A 53 4F 41 50 3D 22 75 72 6E 3A xmlns:SOAP="urn:
0150 73 63 68 65 6D 61 73 2D 78 6D 6C 73 6F 61 70 2D schemas-xmlsoap-
0160 6F 72 67 3A 73 6F 61 70 2E 76 31 22 3E 3C 53 4F org:soap.v1"><SO
0170 41 50 3A 42 6F 64 79 3E 3C 6D 65 73 73 61 67 65 AP:Body><message
0180 3E 3C 74 68 65 77 6F 72 64 3E 58 4D 4C 20 53 68 ><theword>XML Sh
0190 61 6C 6C 20 53 65 74 20 59 6F 75 20 46 72 65 65 all Set You Free
01A0 21 3C 2F 74 68 65 77 6F 72 64 3E 3C 2F 6D 65 73 !</theword></mes
01B0 73 61 67 65 3E 3C 2F 53 4F 41 50 3A 42 6F 64 79 sage></SOAP:Body
01C0 3E 3C 2F 53 4F 41 50 3A 45 6E 76 65 6C 6F 70 65 ></SOAP:Envelope
01D0 3E >
20:30:21 Client port 80 closed.
Capture terminated: 29-Aug-01 8:30:21 PM
Client Port Traffic Totals: 1 sent 472 bytes.
Server Port Traffic Totals: 1 xcvd 465 bytes.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - End of TCPTap capture report. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
September 2001