Virtual Appliance Marketplace

Features

Collegiate:
No

One-line Description:
A high-level network analyzer

Filename:
HowNetWorks.tar.bz2

Size Compressed:
78

Allocated Memory:
400

Username:
- (automatically logged in; for root access sudo doesn't prompt for password)

Password:
-

VMware Tools Installed?:
Yes

Operating System:
Ubuntu 5.10

Applications:
ethereal 0.10.12-2ubuntu3
python-sqlite 1.0.1-2ubuntu1
python-gtk2 2.8.1-0ubuntu2
python-twisted 2.0.1-4
and other programs that are part of the Ubuntu platform.
Last but not least, the HowNetWorks codebase as of 2006-05-26, lovingly developed for this very virtual appliance.

Description:
1. What does the appliance do
The HowNetWorks Virtual Appliance is a high-level network analyzer. A ring buffer is used to store all captured traffic, and the software aims at distilling useful information from this data. It's a new application, previously unreleased. It lets the user work on a higher level of abstraction than traditional network analyzers like tcpdump or Ethereal (although you can opt to view packet flows using ethereal as well).
2. How was the appliance built
The appliance consists of the HowNetWorks appliance and things needed for it to run. The application itself was written. Ubuntu was installed, unnecessary packages were stripped using debfoster and unnecessary files (like /usr/share/doc and such) were removed. The package management system was kept functional. After much removing, a new virtual disk was made and the files copied over to reclaim freed space. Movies were made illustrating how to use HowNetWorks. A marketing pdf was generated. Everything was stuffed into a bzip2'ed tarball.
3. How to use it, and other documentation
HowNetWorks will begin capturing traffic from the bridged interface on startup, and the ring buffer design makes sure the captured traffic never uses up more than 300 megabytes -- older traffic is discarded on the fly to make room for new traffic. The window manager menus let you start shells and you can sudo without a password. The guest is not remotely accessible (and it doesn't have an IPv4 address either).
The sequencer window (upper part of the screen below the toolbar) shows a histogram of captured traffic, with time as the X axis. You can select a timespan by keeping the left mouse button pressed while moving the mouse horizontally over the desired timespan.
For more information, please see the included VMware movies (.avi files) and the brochure PDF.
4. The names of any licensed software and licenses
Ubuntu comes with a huge bunch of software and various licenses. It should be easy to figure out. As for the HowNetWorks code base, it's under the GPL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html).

Technical Specifications

Operating System:

Ubuntu 5.10

VMware Tools installed: No

Size: 78MB

Allocated Memory (RAM): 400

Applications Installed:

ethereal 0.10.12-2ubuntu3
python-sqlite 1.0.1-2ubuntu1
python-gtk2 2.8.1-0ubuntu2
python-twisted 2.0.1-4
and other programs that are part of the Ubuntu platform.
Last but not least, the HowNetWorks codebase as of 2006-05-26, lovingly developed for this very virtual appliance.

Virtual Appliance Account Information