4.4. The "Capture Interfaces" dialog box

When you select "Interfaces..." from the Capture menu, Ethereal pops up the "Capture Interfaces" dialog box as shown in Figure 4.1, “The "Capture Interfaces" dialog box”.

[Warning]Warning!

As the "Capture Interfaces" dialog is showing live captured data, it is consuming a lot of system ressources. Close this dialog as soon as possible to prevent excessive system load.

[Note]Note!

This dialog box will only show the local interfaces Ethereal knows of. As Ethereal might not be able to detect all local interfaces, and it cannot detect the remote interfaces available, there could be more capture interfaces available than listed.

Figure 4.1. The "Capture Interfaces" dialog box

The "Capture Interfaces" dialog box

Description

The interface description provided by the operating system.

IP

The first IP address Ethereal could resolve from this interface. If no address could be resolved (e.g. no DHCP server available), "unknown" will be displayed. If more than one IP address could be resolved, only the first is shown (unpredictable which one in that case).

Packets

The number of packets captured from this interface, since this dialog was opened. Will be greyed out, if no packet was captured in the last second.

Packets/s

Number of packets captured in the last second. Will be greyed out, if no packet was captured in the last second.

Stop

Stop a currently running capture.

Capture

Start a capture on this interface immediately, using the settings from the last capture.

Prepare

Open the Capture Options dialog with this interface selected, see Section 4.5, “The "Capture Options" dialog box”.

Close

Close this dialog box.