TCPDump for capturing traffing between Virtual Server and Pool Members

Something I always do is capture some more information on the BIG-IP and use Wireshark to filter it out.

This command is what F5 Support usually use:

tcpdump -nn -s0 -i 0.0:nnnp -w /shared/tmp/Cxxxx_tcpdump_$(date +%d_%b_%H_%M_%S)_$HOSTNAME.pcap host x.x.x.x or host y.y.y.y or host z.z.z.z

• x.x.x.x = IP address of client connecting to the virtual server. Or if this IP address is unknown, the IP address of the virtual server.
• y.y.y.y = IP address of first pool member
• z.z.z.z = IP address of second pool member.

The -i 0.0:nnnp flag will capture traffic on all VLANs and it will also enable the F5 Ethernet Trailer. The F5 Ethernet trailer will gather F5 specific information which can be analyzed in Wireshark.

Getting Started with the F5 Wireshark Plugin on Windows

Then, using the F5 Ethernet Trailer, I filter out the sessions based on the Flow Session ID, captured by the F5 Ethernet Trailer. Jason describes it in detail in the same article.

That way, the tcpdump syntax is easy to remember, it does not miss any information and it is quick to work with in Wireshark.

But that is how I usually work with tcpdumps.

Getting Started with the F5 Wireshark Plugin on Windows

this article not opening ,, can you share it 

Hey Vasim

It seems that the article has been moved since the site was rebuild. Please check this instead:

Getting Started with the F5 Wireshark Plugin on Windows  

I also found this really nice lab exercise that F5 has created on CloudDocs which covers TCPdump and involves Wireshark and the plugin:

Troubleshoot with tcpdump and Wireshark 

I hope this gives you all the information you are looking for. 😀