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UDP Port Testing

4 messages in this thread

list Jeff Stuart · Thu, 24 Nov 2005 00:09:02 -0500 ·
Does anyone know of a plugin (or a way) to test a UDP port?  Yes, I know
that may sound strange (IE UDP IS stateless) but I need to be able to
basically test if a port responds or not. 
Or failing that.  I seem to remember a long time ago a plugin for BB
that used the qstat game server query program to test game servers. Does that ring a bell to anyone? 
-- 
Jeff Stuart
Network Admin MyInternetServices.com
1-800-300-HOST


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list Henrik Størner · Thu, 24 Nov 2005 07:46:03 +0100 ·
quoted from Jeff Stuart
On Thu, Nov 24, 2005 at 12:09:02AM -0500, Jeff Stuart wrote:
Does anyone know of a plugin (or a way) to test a UDP port?  Yes, I know
that may sound strange (IE UDP IS stateless) but I need to be able to
basically test if a port responds or not. 
Since there's no handshake in UDP, there is no general way of testing
a random UDP port like you can with TCP. What you *can* do is send a
packet to the UDP port, and see if you get an ICMP error message back - 
if you do, then you can safely assume that there is no service running
on that port.

The problem is that in many cases you just won't get a reply, in which
case you cannot tell for sure if there is a service running or not.

You can run the nmap port scanner in UDP mode and see what is says, but
the only really sure way of testing a UDP port is to talk to the service
that is supposed to run there, and see if any sensible response comes
back to you.


Regards,
Henrik
list Figaro Nicolas · Thu, 24 Nov 2005 08:10:32 +0100 ·
You can also try to use hping in an external script. 
But as Henrik wrote, you can't be sure you'll have an answer if a service/daemon is listening to that UDP port. 
You can find some infos about hping (with UDP examples) at this URL : http://www.antionline.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=258387

Nicolas Figaro 
quoted from Jeff Stuart
-----Message d'origine-----
De : Jeff Stuart [mailto:user-968ca3722b80@xymon.invalid] Envoyé : jeudi 24 novembre 2005 06:09
À : Hobbit Monitoring Program Mailing List
Objet : [hobbit] UDP Port Testing


Does anyone know of a plugin (or a way) to test a UDP port?  Yes, I know that may sound strange (IE UDP IS stateless) but I need to be able to basically test if a port responds or not. 
Or failing that.  I seem to remember a long time ago a plugin for BB that used the qstat game server query program to test game servers. Does that ring a bell to anyone? 
-- 
Jeff Stuart
Network Admin MyInternetServices.com
1-800-300-HOST


-- 

Date: 11/20/2005

list Jeff Stuart · Thu, 24 Nov 2005 03:09:29 -0500 ·
quoted from Henrik Størner
Henrik Stoerner wrote:
On Thu, Nov 24, 2005 at 12:09:02AM -0500, Jeff Stuart wrote:
  
Does anyone know of a plugin (or a way) to test a UDP port?  Yes, I know
that may sound strange (IE UDP IS stateless) but I need to be able to
basically test if a port responds or not. 
    
Since there's no handshake in UDP, there is no general way of testing
a random UDP port like you can with TCP. What you *can* do is send a
packet to the UDP port, and see if you get an ICMP error message back - 
if you do, then you can safely assume that there is no service running
on that port.

The problem is that in many cases you just won't get a reply, in which
case you cannot tell for sure if there is a service running or not.

You can run the nmap port scanner in UDP mode and see what is says, but
the only really sure way of testing a UDP port is to talk to the service
that is supposed to run there, and see if any sensible response comes
back to you.


Regards,

Henrik
Yeah, thx Henrik.. ;)  Kinda what I figured... ahh well... time to write
my qstat plugin then. :D

-- 
Jeff Stuart
Network Admin 
MyInternetServices.com
1-800-300-HOST


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