Wireshark-users: Re: [Wireshark-users] WiFi Information

From: Stephen Fisher <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:06:38 -0700

On Dec 26, 2009, at 2:07 PM, George Roebe wrote:

Hi, I'm trying to get information similar to Statistics---Wlan traffic statistics using Tshark instead of wireshark. I need this for two reasons. The first is that when using the bssid given WLAN window in wireshark, I get '"Cisco_??:??:??" is not a valid hostname or Ethernet address.' error (? are acual values, obscured due to this being a public list).

This can be changed in the preferences to show the full MAC address. In the Wireshark GUI, you can uncheck "Enable MAC name resolution" in the Preferences -> Name Resolution section. In the WLAN statistics window, un-checking Name resolution should do the trick too (and then you won't have to do it in the main preferences unless you want to).

The second is that I have little memory and opening the sniffer traces is extermely intensive for my machine and the wireshark gui performs slowly---I prefer a command line inteface. I'm thankful for hints and help!

A separate section of code usually needs to be written to show statistics on the command-line from tshark. They are contained in the root of the source tree and called tap-[stat name].c. I don't see a file for WLAN Statistics nor do I see it in the list when you look at the tshark man page for the -z option. You can file an enhancement request bug at https://bugs.wireshark.org to say that you would like to see this feature and someone will implement it if they have the time and initiative.


Steve