network device comm

Hi all,
I have a piece of lab equpiment that uses the network for communicating. I need to write a program to control this deivce along with a few other pieces of equipment.

I have a manual that has all the commands that I can use. But thats about it, just about no info on what I need to send for proper operation. Is there a program that will monitor the network connection so that I can see what commands are being sent while the manufacturers program is running? Thanks

Try www.ethereal.com

Thanks, I got the program working but I don't understand the output.

Code:

0000  00 0a 5e 21 31 d3 00 d0  0b 00 01 9e 08 00 45 10   ..^!1... ......E.
0010  00 fc 00 00 40 00 3c 11  bf 6f c0 a8 fe 8f c0 a8   ....@.<. .o......
0020  fe 90 00 0b 06 45 00 e8  65 52 00 00 00 07 00 00   .....E.. eR......
0030  00 00 47 a0 17 9b 3d 4c  ae 9a 00 00 00 00 00 00   ..G...=L ........
0040  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0050  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 04 00 00   ........ ........
0060  08 00 00 00 00 00 3f 80  00 00 3f 80 00 00 3f 80   ......?. ..?...?.
0070  00 00 3f 80 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ..?..... ........
0080  00 c0 45 80 00 00 45 80  00 00 00 00 00 08 00 00   ..E...E. ........
0090  00 08 00 00 00 01 00 00  00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
00a0  00 01 35 86 37 bd 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ..5.7... ........
00b0  00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
00c0  00 00 3f 80 00 00 42 48  00 00 00 00 04 1e 00 00   ..?...BH ........
00d0  00 05 00 00 00 02 00 00  00 18 00 00 00 3c 00 00   ........ .....<..
00e0  04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 3f 7f   ........ ......?.
00f0  ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........ ........
0100  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00                     ........ ..

The data part is 0030 and down. Is this in EBCDIC? Is there a quick conversion tool? Thanks

I don't think it's EBCDIC unless your equipment is communicating with IBM mainframes which are standardized on EBCDIC. EBCDIC originated on the IBM System 360s back in the mid 60s.

A EBCDIC to ASCII conversion tool is easily written. Let me know if you need one.

Bob

So what's in the manual then?

I assume that hex dump is from an ethereal trace, and it was between your PC and the equipment you're trying to understand.

It seems to me like you're trying to reverse engineer the application from the network messages. This could either be fairly simple or extremely difficult.

> while the manufacturers program is running?
It's probably going to be easier to make this program do the work for you than try and emulate what it does on the network.