Packet Capturing in Industrial Networks

Packet Capturing in Industrial Networks

As an industrial professional you are probably already familiar with the importance of recording process data. This valuable information can be used to quickly identify issues that may arise. However, the value of packet capturing software like WireShark is often overlooked. Let’s go through a  quick overview of what it means to capture packets. 

In order to dive into what packet capturing means, we first need to define what a packet is. Packets are the smaller pieces of information that are sent over a network. These packets can contain several different things such as sender address, destination address, payload (or data to be sent), CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) which makes sure the packet is valid, and other items. 

What a packet capturing software does is allow you to record all of the information that is sent and received on a network. The software has multiple options that allow you to record in manageable file sizes for a specified length of time. For example, you could set the software to save the files in 15 minute files in a ring buffer of 15 days. There are several ways to accomplish the recording and I will cover these options in greater detail in a later article.

These packet capturing files can be reviewed in conjunction with the other data you are already capturing to determine the root cause of a network problem. While the capture files are not natively in a format that is easy to evaluate, a trained network engineer will find the files invaluable.

If you are not familiar with or have some questions about how to implement packet capturing on your network call the Team Tech experts today at 812-773-8326.