Does anyone know if its possible to use Wireshark on the "Host Only" adapter?

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by Parallels User, Apr 17, 2017.

  1. I need to run some traces on an app I am testing. The client and server are both on my MacBookPro and I an using the "host only" network setting. Before I spend a lot of time going down this rabbit hole --- will Wireshark (or tcptrace) on the host Mac system trace the data going between the two systems on a host only connection?
    If so which adapter is it since the virtual network adapters don't show up in the Network Preference Pane.
     
  2. Swati@Parallels

    Swati@Parallels

    Messages:
    360
    Hello SterlingG, have you tried Bridge mode? If not, please try it and let us know how it goes.
     
  3. I tried Bridge mode and I can grab traffic ... unfortunately I can not let the testing traffic out on our LAN so I have to use Host Only mode. If I can get the Host Only adapter address I can Wireshark it. Otherwise I'll install Wireshark on the VM (its linux) and on the Mac and run them both and try and match up traffic.
    I'll post my results here.
     
  4. Elric

    Elric Parallels Team

    Messages:
    1,718
    Hi,
    the ability to run wireshark on host-only network adapter (vnic0) is available only in pro-version of Parallels Desktop.
    As a workaround you can either run Wireshark in the same VM (it will see all host-only traffic), or run wireshark in separate VM, which is also bound to Host Only
     
  5. Since I am testing on the pro version I'll go ahead and assume I can get the traffic off of vnic0 for a project schedule estimate. That should save me some time.
     
  6. Elric

    Elric Parallels Team

    Messages:
    1,718
    Yes, this will work on pro version. I've made a typo: the host only network interface on host is "vnic1".
    It is possible, btw, to make interface appear in System Preferences, but afaik there are very few cases when it is needed.
     

Share This Page