Network introspection commands

Network introspection (Netspect) commands allow you to manage network configurations and query the network for DHCP server, DNS server, gateway, and route information.

Note: Do not use reserved words in the user name, host name, or file name. Reserved words include: ftp, sftp, export, ibm, port, user, and file.
Table 1. Netspect commands
Command name Action Syntax
netspect arp

Issues an ARP request for the IP address you specify and displays the result of the ARP reply or displays the ARP cache content.

 netspect arp <lookup ipv4-address|show cache>
netspect capture clean Deletes all existing packet capture files. netspect capture clean
netspect capture show Displays the captured packets. Issuing this command also stops any running packet capture. netspect capture show
netspect capture start

Initiates a packet trace and produces a gzip (.gz) file. Packet traces can be useful for debugging network connection errors.

Only one packet trace capture can run at a time. The capture continues running until you stop it using <CTRL + C> or until a maximum number of packets is reached.

Note: When you start a capture with packet size parameter set to full, pktsize full, fewer packets can be captured.

You can transfer packet traces to another host using the netspect export command.

Note: Capturing a packet trace overwrites the previous capture.
 netspect capture start [all]|[eth<n>]|[pktsize <header|full>]|[find <hostname|network>]

where

  • hostname - Captures to/from specified host (nn.nn.nn.nn).
  • network - Captures to/from certain network in CIDR.
netspect connect

Using the protocol you specify, this command attempts to open a connection to the network host port and displays the result of the connection attempt. If a connection is established, the connection is closed prior to this command returning.

 netspect connect host <host-id> <protocol> port <port-num> where
  • host-id - The IP address of a network host, or the fully qualified name in the format hostname.domain_name.
  • protocol - The protocol to use for the connection. Must be "tcp".
  • port-num - Any valid tcp port number.
netspect dhcp eth<n>

Queries the network for DHCP servers on the network interface you specify. Also displays DHCP server supplied network configuration information, plus the offered IP address and its lease terms.

 netspect dhcp eth<n>
netspect dns

Queries the system configured DNS server for the specified network host (i.e. perform either a forward lookup: return the IP address for a given host name, or perform a reverse lookup: return a host name for a given IP address), and display the result of the lookup.

 netspect dns lookup host <host-id>
netspect export

Exports a packet capture file to an FTP Server. For more information about capturing packet traces, see the netspect capture start command.

netspect export <ftp|sftp> host <host-id> [port <number>] [user <user>] [file <filename>]
where:
  • host-id - The name or IP address of the network host.
  • port - A valid port on the specified network host to which to connect.
  • user - Specifies the username used to log into the host.
    Note: When using sftp, this parameter must be specified. Anonymous logins are not allowed with sftp.
  • filename - File path on the destination host.

Example 1: netspect export ftp.

netspect export ftp host 123.12.12.123

Example 2: netspect export sftp.

netspect export sftp host 123.12.12.123 user myname file /home/myname/mycap.gz
netspect gateways

Queries the gateways and routes for the specified IP protocol family, and reports whether or not the gateway responded to the query/ping. The IP protocol family can be either ipv4, which is the default or ipv6.

 netspect gateways <ip-protocol>
netspect help

Displays help text for the specified netspect command. If a command is not specified, then a help summary for all netspect commands is displayed.

netspect help <command>
netspect ifconfig eth<n>

Displays network interface configuration information for the specified interface. If a network interface name is not specified, then interface configuration information is displayed for all network interfaces.

 netspect ifconfig eth<n>
netspect ping

Attempts to query the specified network host, and displays the result of the query attempt.

 netspect ping host <host-id>
netspect routes

Displays currently configured routes for the specified IP protocol family. The IP protocol family can be either IPv4 (the default if none specified) or IPv6.

 netspect routes [<ip-protocol> ]
netspect summary

Provides a summary of network configuration information.

 netspect summary
netspect traceroute

Attempts to determine the route to the specified network host, and displays the route packets took to get to the specified network host.

 netspect traceroute host <host-id>