.. SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
Copyright(c) 2016 Intel Corporation.
-.. _pdump_library:
+Packet Capture Library
+======================
-The librte_pdump Library
-========================
-
-The ``librte_pdump`` library provides a framework for packet capturing in DPDK.
+The DPDK ``pdump`` library provides a framework for packet capturing in DPDK.
The library does the complete copy of the Rx and Tx mbufs to a new mempool and
hence it slows down the performance of the applications, so it is recommended
to use this library for debugging purposes.
* ``rte_pdump_enable()``:
This API enables the packet capture on a given port and queue.
- Note: The filter option in the API is a place holder for future enhancements.
+
+* ``rte_pdump_enable_bpf()``
+ This API enables the packet capture on a given port and queue.
+ It also allows setting an optional filter using DPDK BPF interpreter
+ and setting the captured packet length.
* ``rte_pdump_enable_by_deviceid()``:
This API enables the packet capture on a given device id (``vdev name or pci address``) and queue.
- Note: The filter option in the API is a place holder for future enhancements.
+
+* ``rte_pdump_enable_bpf_by_deviceid()``
+ This API enables the packet capture on a given device id (``vdev name or pci address``) and queue.
+ It also allows setting an optional filter using DPDK BPF interpreter
+ and setting the captured packet length.
* ``rte_pdump_disable()``:
This API disables the packet capture on a given port and queue.
and queue combinations. Then the primary process will mirror the packets to the new mempool and enqueue them to
the rte_ring that secondary process have passed to these APIs.
+The packet ring supports one of two formats.
+The default format enqueues copies of the original packets into the rte_ring.
+If the ``RTE_PDUMP_FLAG_PCAPNG`` is set, the mbuf data is extended
+with header and trailer to match the format of Pcapng enhanced packet block.
+The enhanced packet block has meta-data such as the timestamp, port and queue
+the packet was captured on.
+It is up to the application consuming the packets from the ring
+to select the format desired.
+
The library APIs ``rte_pdump_disable()`` and ``rte_pdump_disable_by_deviceid()`` disables the packet capture.
For the calls to these APIs from secondary process, the library creates the "pdump disable" request and sends
the request to the primary process over the multi process channel. The primary process takes this request and
Use Case: Packet Capturing
--------------------------
-The DPDK ``app/pdump`` tool is developed based on this library to capture packets in DPDK.
-Users can use this as an example to develop their own packet capturing tools.
+The DPDK ``app/dpdk-dumpcap`` utility uses this library
+to capture packets in DPDK.