6.5.1

Table Of Contents
Procedure
1 In the ESXi Shell to the host, run the pktcap-uw --trace command with options to filter traced
packets, save the result to a file and limit the number of traced packets.
pktcap-uw --trace [filter_options] [--outfile pcap_file_path [--ng]] [--count number_of_packets]
where the square brackets [] enclose optional items of the pktcap-uw --trace command and the
vertical bars | represent alternative values.
a Use a filter_options to filter packets according to source and destination address, VLAN ID,
VXLAN ID, Layer 3 protocol, and TCP port.
For example, to monitor packets from a source system that has IP address 192.168.25.113, use
the --srcip 192.168.25.113 filter option.
b Use options to save the contents of each packet or the contents of a limited number of packets to
a .pcap or .pcapng file.
n
To save packets to a .pcap file, use the --outfile option.
n
To save packets to a .pcapng file, use the --ng and --outfile options.
You can open the file in a network analyzer tool such as Wireshark.
By default, the pktcap-uw utility saves the packet files to the root folder of the ESXi file system.
Note A .pcap file contains only the contents of traced packets. To collect packet paths besides
packet content, save the output to a .pcapng file.
c Use the--count option to monitor only a number of packets.
2 If you have not limited the number of packets by using the --count option, press Ctrl+C to stop
capturing or tracing packets.
What to do next
If the contents of the packet are saved to a file, copy the file from the ESXi host to the system that runs a
graphical analyzer tool, such as Wireshark, and open it in the tool to examine the packet details.
Configure the NetFlow Settings of a vSphere Distributed
Switch
Analyze virtual machine IP traffic that flows through a vSphere Distributed Switch by sending reports to a
NetFlow collector.
Version 5.1 and later of vSphere Distributed Switch supports IPFIX (NetFlow version 10).
Procedure
1 In the vSphere Web Client, navigate to the distributed switch.
2 From the Actions menu, select Settings > Edit Netflow.
vSphere Networking
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