Wireshark · Ethereal-users: Re: [Ethereal-users] Comparision of Ethereal with Airopeek and Network Observer

[Guy Harris <gharris@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jahagirdar VS wrote:
> I am trying to compare Ethereal with Observer and  Airopeek.
>                                                                                                                  
> My primary concern is Sniffing and analysing WLAN traffic.                                                      
>                                                                                                                  
> Googling did not revel any direct comparision between these tools.                                                                                                                 
> Requesting information on your experience with these tools.

If you're capturing on Windows, then, unless you're *only* interested in 
802.11 data packets, and don't care at all about 802.11 management and 
control packets, Airopeek and possibly Observer will probably work 
better, as they have their own drivers that allow running the network 
adapter in monitor mode and that supply non-data (management and 
possibly control) packets, with 802.11 headers.

If you're capturing on Linux or {Free,Net}BSD (and possibly other BSDs), 
then Ethereal is better, as Observer and Airopeek don't run on any OS 
other than Windows.