Summary
A protocol analyzer is a tool that listens to network packets on a shared segment and decodes them into human-readable format. There are two types of protocol analyzers: packet analyzers and statistical analyzers. Freeware and commercial packet analyzers are available. The neat thing about packet analyzers is that they run on most PCs if you have the right type of network card—that is, a “promiscuous” network card, which is able to listen to all network packets.
Depending on the analyzer, you can expect to see many functions that will help you analyze the raw data that the analyzer captures. Some of these functions include capture filtering, sortable statistical displays, “expert” analysis of data, and customizable views.
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