IPMonitor Class

Properties   Methods   Events   Config Settings   Errors  

The IPMonitor class is used to listen to network traffic.

Syntax

class ipworks.IPMonitor

Remarks

The IPMonitor class will bind to a specific local host address and listen for network traffic received by the interface. The interface must support promiscuous mode (which may not work in many wireless cards because of security considerations) and must be installed on Windows 2000 or greater.

Note: If your computer connects to a switch, the switch will forward only those packets addressed to your computer. If your computer is on a hub, then you will receive everything.

The use of this component requires administrative permissions.

The first step in using the IPMonitor class is to set local_host to the IP address whose traffic you wish to monitor, and then set active to True. For each packet that crosses the interface, the class will parse the header and fire an on_ip_packet event.

Property List

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The following is the full list of the properties of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Method List

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The following is the full list of the methods of the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Event List

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The following is the full list of the events fired by the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

Config Settings

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The following is a list of config settings for the class with short descriptions. Click on the links for further details.

accept_data Property

This property indicates whether data reception is currently enabled.

Syntax

def get_accept_data() -> bool: ...

accept_data = property(get_accept_data, None)

Default Value

TRUE

Remarks

This property indicates whether data reception is currently enabled. When False, data reception is disabled and the on_ip_packet event will not fire. Use the pause_data and process_data methods to pause and resume data reception.

This property is read-only.

active Property

This property indicates whether the class is active.

Syntax

def get_active() -> bool: ...

active = property(get_active, None)

Default Value

FALSE

Remarks

This property indicates whether the class is currently active and is monitoring network traffic. Use the activate and deactivate methods to control whether the class is active.

This property is read-only.

ip_packet Property

This property includes the contents of the current packet.

Syntax

def get_ip_packet() -> bytes: ...

ip_packet = property(get_ip_packet, None)

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property contains the contents of the current packet. This property is available only while the on_ip_packet event is being processed. An empty string is returned at all other times.

This property is read-only.

local_host Property

The name of the local host or user-assigned IP interface through which connections are initiated or accepted.

Syntax

def get_local_host() -> str: ...
def set_local_host(value: str) -> None: ...

local_host = property(get_local_host, set_local_host)

Default Value

""

Remarks

This property contains the name of the local host as obtained by the gethostname() system call, or if the user has assigned an IP address, the value of that address.

In multihomed hosts (machines with more than one IP interface) setting LocalHost to the IP address of an interface will make the class initiate connections (or accept in the case of server classs) only through that interface. It is recommended to provide an IP address rather than a hostname when setting this property to ensure the desired interface is used.

If the class is connected, the local_host property shows the IP address of the interface through which the connection is made in internet dotted format (aaa.bbb.ccc.ddd). In most cases, this is the address of the local host, except for multihomed hosts (machines with more than one IP interface).

Note: local_host is not persistent. You must always set it in code, and never in the property window.

activate Method

This method enables network monitoring.

Syntax

def activate() -> None: ...

Remarks

This methods enables network monitoring. When called, the class will create a communication endpoint (socket) that can be used to monitor network traffic.

To stop monitoring traffic, call deactivate.

config Method

Sets or retrieves a configuration setting.

Syntax

def config(configuration_string: str) -> str: ...

Remarks

config is a generic method available in every class. It is used to set and retrieve configuration settings for the class.

These settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the class, access to these internal properties is provided through the config method.

To set a configuration setting named PROPERTY, you must call Config("PROPERTY=VALUE"), where VALUE is the value of the setting expressed as a string. For boolean values, use the strings "True", "False", "0", "1", "Yes", or "No" (case does not matter).

To read (query) the value of a configuration setting, you must call Config("PROPERTY"). The value will be returned as a string.

deactivate Method

This method disables network monitoring.

Syntax

def deactivate() -> None: ...

Remarks

This methods disables network monitoring. When called, the class will stop monitoring network traffic.

do_events Method

This method processes events from the internal message queue.

Syntax

def do_events() -> None: ...

Remarks

When do_events is called, the class processes any available events. If no events are available, it waits for a preset period of time, and then returns.

list_ip_addresses Method

This method lists the valid IP addresses for this host.

Syntax

def list_ip_addresses() -> None: ...

Remarks

Use this method to list all valid addresses that can be monitored. Before monitoring the network, local_host must be set to a valid address on the host. After a call to this method, an on_ip_address event will fire for each address.

parse_pcap_file Method

This method parses the specified pcap file.

Syntax

def parse_pcap_file(file_name: str) -> None: ...

Remarks

This method parses the specified pcap (packet capture) file and fires events as if the traffic were received directly.

The class supports both the standard pcap and the newer pcap-ng file formats used by a variety of popular network capture tools. When calling this method, the file will be parsed and the on_ip_packet event will fire for each parsed packet.

pause_data Method

This method pauses data reception.

Syntax

def pause_data() -> None: ...

Remarks

This method pauses data reception when called. While data reception is paused, the on_ip_packet event will not fire. Call process_data to reenable data reception.

process_data Method

This method reenables data reception after a call to PauseData .

Syntax

def process_data() -> None: ...

Remarks

This method reenables data reception after a previous call to pause_data. When pause_data is called, the on_ip_packet event will not fire. To reenable data reception and allow on_ip_packet to fire, call this method.

Note: This method is used only after previously calling pause_data. It does not need to be called to process data by default.

reset Method

This method will reset the class.

Syntax

def reset() -> None: ...

Remarks

This method will reset the class's properties to their default values.

on_error Event

Fired when information is available about errors during data delivery.

Syntax

class IPMonitorErrorEventParams(object):
  @property
  def error_code() -> int: ...

  @property
  def description() -> str: ...

# In class IPMonitor:
@property
def on_error() -> Callable[[IPMonitorErrorEventParams], None]: ...
@on_error.setter
def on_error(event_hook: Callable[[IPMonitorErrorEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

The on_error event is fired in case of exceptional conditions during message processing. Normally the class fails with an error.

The ErrorCode parameter contains an error code, and the Description parameter contains a textual description of the error. For a list of valid error codes and their descriptions, please refer to the Error Codes section.

on_ip_address Event

This event is fired for each valid IP address on this host.

Syntax

class IPMonitorIPAddressEventParams(object):
  @property
  def ip_address() -> str: ...

# In class IPMonitor:
@property
def on_ip_address() -> Callable[[IPMonitorIPAddressEventParams], None]: ...
@on_ip_address.setter
def on_ip_address(event_hook: Callable[[IPMonitorIPAddressEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

Before monitoring the network, local_host must be set to a valid address on the host. Use the list_ip_addresses method to list all valid addresses that can be monitored. After a call to the method, an on_ip_address event will fire for each address.

on_ip_packet Event

This event is fired whenever a packet is received.

Syntax

class IPMonitorIPPacketEventParams(object):
  @property
  def source_address() -> str: ...

  @property
  def source_port() -> int: ...

  @property
  def destination_address() -> str: ...

  @property
  def destination_port() -> int: ...

  @property
  def ip_version() -> int: ...

  @property
  def tos() -> int: ...

  @property
  def id() -> int: ...

  @property
  def flags() -> int: ...

  @property
  def offset() -> int: ...

  @property
  def ttl() -> int: ...

  @property
  def checksum() -> int: ...

  @property
  def ip_protocol() -> int: ...

  @property
  def payload() -> bytes: ...

  @property
  def timestamp() -> int: ...

# In class IPMonitor:
@property
def on_ip_packet() -> Callable[[IPMonitorIPPacketEventParams], None]: ...
@on_ip_packet.setter
def on_ip_packet(event_hook: Callable[[IPMonitorIPPacketEventParams], None]) -> None: ...

Remarks

When active is True or parse_pcap_file is called, the class will listen for network traffic or parse the provided file, respectively. For each packet sent across the interface in local_host, the class will parse the packet and fire an on_ip_packet event with the header fields and payload. The parameters are defined as follows:

TOS

Precedence

Flags

IPProtocol (For a full list, visit www.iana.org.)

IPMonitor Config Settings

The class accepts one or more of the following configuration settings. Configuration settings are similar in functionality to properties, but they are rarely used. In order to avoid "polluting" the property namespace of the class, access to these internal properties is provided through the config method.

IPMonitor Config Settings

Socket Config Settings

Base Config Settings

IPMonitor Errors

IPMonitor Errors

SSL Errors

TCP/IP Errors