Omnipeek is a
packet analyzer
A packet analyzer, also known as packet sniffer, protocol analyzer, or network analyzer, is a computer program or computer hardware such as a packet capture appliance, that can intercept and log traffic that passes over a computer network or p ...
software tool from Savvius, a LiveAction company, for network troubleshooting and protocol analysis. It supports an
application programming interface
An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how t ...
(API) for
plugins.
History
Savvius (formerly WildPackets) was founded in 1990 as The AG Group by Mahboud Zabetian and Tim McCreery. In 2000 the company changed its name to WildPackets to address the popular market it had developed for its products. The first product by the company was written for the Macintosh and was called EtherPeek. It was the first affordable software-only protocol analyzer for
Ethernet
Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...
networks. It was later ported to
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
, which was released in 1997. Earlier, LocalPeek and TokenPeek were developed for LocalTalk and Token Ring networks respectively. In 2001, AiroPeek was released, which added support for wireless
IEEE 802.11
IEEE 802.11 is part of the IEEE 802 set of local area network (LAN) technical standards, and specifies the set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) protocols for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer commun ...
(marketed with the
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
brand) networks. In 2003, the OmniEngine Distributed Capture Engine was released as software, and as a hardware network recorder appliance.
In the early morning of July 15, 2002, WildPackets' building in
Walnut Creek
A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''.
Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bo ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
burnt to the ground including everything in it. However, no one was hurt and the employees regrouped at a new location and the company survived the fire.
Mid-April 2015, the company changed its name from WildPackets to Savvius and broadened its focus to include network security.
In June 2018, Savvius was acquired by LiveAction, a company that provides
network performance management
Capacity management's goal is to ensure that information technology resources are sufficient to meet upcoming business requirements cost-effectively. One common interpretation of capacity management is described in the ITIL framework. ITIL vers ...
, visualization and analytics software.
Acquisitions
Savvius acquired Net3 Group in November 2000. Their product, NetSense, an expert system for network troubleshooting, was converted initially converted into a plug-in and then later fully integrated into a new version of the product called EtherPeekNX.
Savvius acquired Optimized Engineering Corporation in 2001. Optimized network analysis instructors, training courses and certifications were added to Savvius' services.
Extensibility
Omnipeek has APIs on the front-end for automation, on the back-end for analysis, as well as other mechanisms to extend and enhance the program. BODY.SAYED
There are 40 plug-ins available for the Omnipeek Platform. These plug-ins range from logging extensions to full-blown applications that are hosted by OmniPeek.
Remote Adapters: provide a means to capture packets and stats. There are remote adapters to capture from RMON, NetFlow, SFlow, Cisco AP's, Aruba AP's, and
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
boxes. Adapters are available to aggregate packets from multiple network segments and wireless channels at the same time.
The most notable decoders are the protospecs and decoder files, which are interpreted text files that can be extended by the user to enhance the display and analysis of existing protocols, and add knowledge of completely new protocols, without releasing new versions of the application.
The plugin Wizards for the Omnipeek Console and the OmniEngine are Microsoft Visual Studio Project Templates that generate working plug-ins. When the wizard is run, a dialog appears providing options for types of functionality that sample code will be generated for. When the wizard is complete, the user is left with a working plugin with entry points for adding application logic. These plug-in wizards enable the development of extensions to Omnipeek.
The MyPeek Community Portal is a website dedicated to the extension of Omnipeek. It provides plug-ins, scripts, adapters, tools, and various levels of support for the plug-ins posted there, and expertise for those interested in extending Omnipeek themselves.
PlaceMap: is a freely available standalone
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...
Packet sniffer
A packet analyzer, also known as packet sniffer, protocol analyzer, or network analyzer, is a computer program or computer hardware such as a packet capture appliance, that can intercept and log traffic that passes over a computer network or ...
application for Windows that captures network traffic and maps nodes to the Google Map. PlaceMap is a notable example of extensibility in that it uses exactly the same Google Map plugin that is also available for the Omnipeek, and it uses the peek driver API to capture packets.
Example Plugins
*Google Map Plugin - map nodes to a
Google Map
Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets (Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and route ...
*
SQLFilter
{{notability, date=November 2019
''SQLFilter'' is a plugin for OmniPeek that indexes packets and trace files into an SQLite
SQLite (, ) is a database engine written in the C programming language. It is not a standalone app; rather, it is ...
Plugin - save and query packets from a database
*PeekPlayer Plugin - send packet an adapter or a capture window
*PowerBar Plugin - write scripts that process packets
*Decoder Plugin - decode packets
*WatchMe Plugin - display web sites in real-time from URLs
*Browser Plugin - construct and display web pages from packets
*IM Plugin - display instant message screen names and chat
*WebStats Plugin - collect and report web statistics
*Remote TCPDump Adapter Plugin - stream packets from any machine with
SSH
The Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network. Its most notable applications are remote login and command-line execution.
SSH applications are based on ...
and
tcpdump
tcpdump is a data-network packet analyzer computer program that runs under a command line interface. It allows the user to display TCP/IP and other packets being transmitted or received over a network to which the computer is attached. Distribut ...
*
Cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...
Remote Adapter Plugin - stream packets from Cisco Access Points
*Aruba Remote Adapter Plugin - stream packets from Aruba Networks Air Monitors
References
External links
*https://www.liveaction.com
Network World, Sept. 18, 2006: Review of WildPackets' OmniPeek. By Anthony Mosco, Robert Smithers, Robert Tarpley*[http://www.itweek.co.uk/networkitweek/software/2161896/packet-inspector-offers-simple IT Week. Network IT Week, 19 Aug 2006, by Dave Bailey. WildPackets' latest OmniPeek tool makes it easier to inspect traffic and troubleshoot networks. Tested: WildPackets OmniPeek Enterprise 4.0]
Network World, March 10, 2008: Clear Choice Test VoIP analysis tools. By Rob Smithers of MiercomCisco Website, Mar. 22, 2006: LWAPP Decodes Enablement on WildPackets OmniPeek and EtherPeek 3.0 Software
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Network analyzers
Packets (information technology)