tcpconnect_example.txt

Demonstrations of tcpconnect, the Linux eBPF/bcc version.


This tool traces the kernel function performing active TCP connections
(eg, via a connect() syscall; accept() are passive connections). Some example
output (IP addresses changed to protect the innocent):

# ./tcpconnect
PID    COMM         IP SADDR            DADDR            DPORT
1479   telnet       4  127.0.0.1        127.0.0.1        23
1469   curl         4  10.201.219.236   54.245.105.25    80
1469   curl         4  10.201.219.236   54.67.101.145    80
1991   telnet       6  ::1              ::1              23
2015   ssh          6  fe80::2000:bff:fe82:3ac fe80::2000:bff:fe82:3ac 22

This output shows four connections, one from a "telnet" process, two from
"curl", and one from "ssh". The output details shows the IP version, source
address, destination address, and destination port. This traces attempted
connections: these may have failed.

The overhead of this tool should be negligible, since it is only tracing the
kernel functions performing connect. It is not tracing every packet and then
filtering.


The -t option prints a timestamp column:

# ./tcpconnect -t
TIME(s)  PID    COMM         IP SADDR            DADDR            DPORT
31.871   2482   local_agent  4  10.103.219.236   10.251.148.38    7001
31.874   2482   local_agent  4  10.103.219.236   10.101.3.132     7001
31.878   2482   local_agent  4  10.103.219.236   10.171.133.98    7101
90.917   2482   local_agent  4  10.103.219.236   10.251.148.38    7001
90.928   2482   local_agent  4  10.103.219.236   10.102.64.230    7001
90.938   2482   local_agent  4  10.103.219.236   10.115.167.169   7101

The output shows some periodic connections (or attempts) from a "local_agent"
process to various other addresses. A few connections occur every minute.


USAGE message:

# ./tcpconnect -h
usage: tcpconnect [-h] [-t] [-p PID] [-P PORT]

Trace TCP connects

optional arguments:
  -h, --help         show this help message and exit
  -t, --timestamp    include timestamp on output
  -p PID, --pid PID  trace this PID only
  -P PORT, --port PORT
                     comma-separated list of destination ports to trace.

examples:
    ./tcpconnect           # trace all TCP connect()s
    ./tcpconnect -t        # include timestamps
    ./tcpconnect -p 181    # only trace PID 181
    ./tcpconnect -P 80     # only trace port 80
    ./tcpconnect -P 80,81  # only trace port 80 and 81