In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Wireshark on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Wireshark is a free and open-source network protocol analyzer. With Wireshark, you can capture incoming and outgoing packets of a network in real time and use it for network troubleshooting, packet analysis, software and communication protocol development, and many more.
This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation Wireshark network analyzer on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.
Prerequisites
- A server running one of the following operating systems: Ubuntu 20.04, 18.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint or elementary OS.
- It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
- You’ll need an active internet connection.
- A
non-root sudo useror access to theroot user. We recommend acting as anon-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.
Install Wireshark on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa
Step 1. First, make sure that all your system packages are up-to-date by running the following apt commands in the terminal.
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade
Step 2. Download and Install Wireshark on Ubuntu 20.04.
Run the following command to add PPA repository Wireshark:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wireshark-dev/stable
Once done, install it with the following command:
sudo apt install wireshark
While installing, you will be asked whether to allow non-superusers to capture packets. Select Yes to allow and No to restrict non-superusers to capture packets & finish the installation.
Check the installed Wireshark version:
wireshark --version
Step 3. Starting Wireshark on Ubuntu,
Now that Wireshark is installed, you can start Wireshark from the Application Menu of Ubuntu, To start from CLI, just type Wireshark on your console:
wireshark
Step 4. How To Use Wireshark
Wireshark does provide a Command Line Interface (CLI) if you operate a system without a GUI. The best practice would be to use the CLI to capture and save a log so you can review the log with the GUI.
Wireshark Commands:
wireshark: run Wireshark in GUI mode: show available command line parameters for Wiresharkwireshark –aduration:300 –i eth1 –w Wireshark. : capture traffic on the Ethernet interface 1 for 5 minutes. –a means to automatically stop the capture, -i specifics which interface to capture
Congratulations! You have successfully installed Wireshark. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the Wireshark network analyzer on Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Wireshark website.
