Packet Capture Parameters

Field Name Field Description
In the Capture Locations pane, configure the following settings:
Appliance Data Ports Select this option to capture packets to and from the appliance. When capturing appliance data ports, you must configure at least one filter. From the Add Filters field, select either IP address or MAC address for the appliance.

Only one capture task can apply to the Appliance Data Ports at a time. If more than one capture task is started using the Appliance Data Ports, the last requested task will be started.

Wired Enables wired-packet capture on the selected AP.

Filter packets on the basis of the direction of packet flow:

  • In — Capture packets received by the AP.
  • Out — Capture packets transmitted by the AP.
  • Both — Capture packets transmitted and received by the AP. This is the default value.

Select Includes Wired Clients to include wired-packets received and transmitted to and from wired clients associated with the selected AP. This option is disabled by default.

Wireless Enables wireless-packet capture on the selected AP.

Filter packets on the basis of the direction of packet flow:

  • In — Capture packets received by the AP.
  • Out — Capture packets transmitted by the AP.
  • Both — Capture packets transmitted and received by the AP. This is the default value.
Specify the radio interface on which to enable wireless-packet capture.
  • Radio 1 — Enable packet capture on the AP's radio 1 interface.
  • Radio 2 — Enable packet capture on the AP's radio 2 interface.
  • Radio 3 — Enable packet capture on the AP4xx radio 3 (Sensor) interface. Available for AP4xx models only. You must configure an ADSP or Positioning profile to capture packets on the sensor radio.
  • All Radios — Enable packet capture on all radio interfaces for the selected AP. This option is selected by default.
Note: AP39xx, Wi-Fi 6 AP models (Centralized site) support capturing wired and wireless packets simultaneously. The result is one PCAP file that includes both wired and wireless packets.
In the Settings pane, specify how you want to determine the length of the packet capture. Specify the duration or manually end packet capture by clicking Stop.
Duration Packet transfer window. Default value is 5 minutes.
Truncate Packet Size (Bytes) Number of bytes for the truncated packet. When truncation is configured, the capture collects up to the configured size of the payload (including the IP/UDP/TCP headers).
Note: TZSP header is always present. If the truncated packet size is zero, the TZSP header remains in the packet.
In the Filter pane, filter packets by MAC address, IP address, IP Protocol, or Port. The filters are mutually exclusive and are applied in the order in which they are listed. Enter at least one MAC address or IP address.
Note: Excessive packet capture degrades network performance. If you are going to enable packet capture on all APs, specify at least one MAC address filter and one IP address filter to avoid performance degradation.
Filter by MAC 1 and Filter by MAC 2 Specify one or two MAC addresses to filter packets for capture. When a MAC address is specified, only packets that move to and from the specified MAC addresses are captured. Support for multiple MAC addresses depends on the AP model.
Filter by IP 1 to Filter by IP 4 Specify one to four IP addresses to filter packets for capture. When an IP address is specified, only packets that move to and from the specified IP addresses are captured. Both IPv4 and IPv6 address formats are supported. Support for multiple IP addresses depends on the AP model. When using multiple IP address filters, packets matching any of the IP addresses are captured.
IP Protocol Specify the protocol to filter for packet capture. Packets matching the specified protocol are captured. Valid values are:
  • ICMP — Captures only ICMP packets. This is the default value.
  • TCP — Captures only TCP packets.
  • UDP — Captures only UDP packets
Port Specify a TCP or UDP port number. Packets with the matching port number are captured. Use Port as an additional filter, or if you wish to specify a protocol that is not included in the IP Protocol menu.
Packet Destination Capture Destination. Valid values are:
  • File — Local PCAP file
  • scp — Provide the IP Address, the credentials, and the Destination Path for the remote server.
Note: Each capture instance is assigned one local file. All active capture instances must use the same SCP server.
Export
Note: Hover over the PAC file to download. Certain APs support capturing wired and wireless packets simultaneously.
Active Packet Captures Select Active Packet Captures to display the dashboard where you can view Packet Capture Instances.
To add the Packet Capture Instances widget to your dashboard:
  1. Go to Dashboard.
  2. Select .
  3. Select Widgets > Troubleshooting.
  4. Drag the packet capture widget to the Dashboard.
  5. Save the Dashboard.