Netcat
Netcat is a networking utility which reads and writes data
across network connections, using the TCP/IP protocol.
It is designed to be a reliable "back-end" tool that can be
used directly or easily driven by other programs and scripts.
At the same time, it is a feature-rich network debugging and
exploration tool, since it can create almost any kind of connection you
would need and has several interesting built-in capabilities.
Netcat is a rewrite of the original netcat with support for
IPv6 and an enhanced support for UDP.
Netcat has three main modes of functionality. These are the
connect mode, the listen mode, and the tunnel mode.
The most common mode is the connect mode, which for example allows the
output of a locally called command to be redirected for example to a
remote netcat listening or to any other kind of daemon waiting for a
connection.
On the other hand, the listen mode can be used to obtain some kind of
stream of data from a remote site.
The most new feature is the tunnel mode, which is a powerful and
reliable mode that allows tunneling a remote site towards any other
remote site, allowing to specify for example from which interface
create the connection and from which port.
Features include:
- Outbound and inbound connections, TCP or UDP, to or from
any ports
- Featured tunneling mode which allows also special tunneling
such as UDP to TCP, with the possibility of specifying all network
parameters (source port/interface, listening port/interface, and the
remote host allowed to connect to the tunnel
- Built-in port-scanning capabilities, with randomizer
- Advanced usage options, such as buffered send-mode (one
line every N seconds), and hexdump (to stderr or to a specified file)
of trasmitted and received data
- Optional RFC854 telnet codes parser and responder
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Last Updated Saturday, May 03 2008 @ 04:26 PM EDT
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