Hi,

I am using libpcap-0.6.2 on freebsd.

I have a question regardingwhen libpcap will
drop packets as the application using libpcap
is slow.

Libpcap has a buffer of 32768 bytes which is filled
with packets.
Each time the application does a pcap_next or pcap_loop
the libpcap gives the next packet from its buffer.
and when there are no more packets it its buffer it does
a read from the bpf device.

The application over libpcap(IDS) has to process the packets
in the libpcap buffer before libpcap does another
read from the BPF.

Therefore if the application is processing packets slower
than the rate at which packets are coming to the network
interface, then we should see that read will return
close to 32768 bytes , right ?

Is this reasoning correct or is there some loop hole ?
Please correct if i am wrong.

If when libpcap reads from BPF it sees that ~32768 bytes
is given, it indicates that the application above libpcap
is not processing fast enough and therefore the buffers in
BPF gets its buffers full and may lead to packet drops
soon.

any pointers / corrections is welcome.

thanks a lot
ashley thomas

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