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Add video and Settings docs for Packet Capture features (#3060)
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---
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sidebar_position: 2
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---
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# Packet Captures
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The video below describes Zui's features for working with packet capture
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([pcap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pcap)) data.
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Areas covered include:
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* The role of [Brimcap](https://github.com/brimdata/brimcap) to generate [Zeek](https://zeek.org/) and [Suricata](https://suricata.io/) summary logs from the pcap
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* Views in Zui's **Detail** pane that show:
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* Correlations between different Zeek events and Suricata alerts
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* Ladder diagrams to summarize connection lifecycle
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* Observed file payload activity
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* Extracting flows using Zui's **Download Packets** button
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* Right-click menu options for querying values in [VirusTotal](https://www.virustotal.com/) and/or [`whois`](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHOIS)
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* Zui [**Settings** for pcap features](#settings)
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eMzljqxASVA?si=GQnKRCpKLjc1SUAq" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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## Settings
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The following sections provide additional detail on the pcap-specific
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customizations that can be configured in Zui's **Settings**.
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![Settings - Packet Captures](../media/Settings-Packet-Captures.png)
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### Folder For Extracted pcaps
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When the **Download Packets** button is pressed, the timestamp and duration
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details of the underlying Zeek `conn` record are queried in Brimcap's pcap
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index to extract the packet data for that single flow. By default, the
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generated pcap file is stored in an OS-specific
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[temporary directory](../support/Filesystem-Paths.md#temporary-storage).
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If you'd prefer to specify an alternate directory (such as if gathering up pcap
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evidence for an investigation), clicking the **Choose Folder** button allows
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the selection of any other writable destination folder to which Zui should
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write extracted pcap flows.
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### Local Suricata Rules Folder
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By default, the Suricata software that ships with Zui applies the
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[Emerging Threats Open](https://community.emergingthreats.net/) rule set when
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generating alert events from imported pcap data. This rule set is updated each
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time Zui is launched and connected to the Internet.
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If you've downloaded one or more additional rule sets that you'd like to
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apply, store one or more rule files in a folder on your workstation, then
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click the **Choose Folder** button and select the folder. The rules in these
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additional files will be included alongside the default Emerging Threats Open
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rules whenever Zui updates its Suricata rules.
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### Brimcap YAML Config File
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The Zeek and Suricata analyzers that are embedded with Zui via Brimcap are
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configured with defaults that we hope will serve common pcap use cases.
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However, if for some reason you require customizations beyond those in the
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settings described above, need to use different release versions of these
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analyzers, or make use of other analyzers that generate summary logs from pcaps,
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[this Brimcap article](https://github.com/brimdata/brimcap/wiki/Custom-Brimcap-Config)
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describes how to create such a custom configuration. The article shows how to
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create the configuration in a YAML file. Once you've successfully created and
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tested the YAML configuration with Brimcap, click the **Choose File** button,
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browse to the YAML file, and select it. Once set, any pcaps you drag into
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Zui will be submitted for analysis based on your Brimcap YAML config rather
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than the default Zeek and Suricata software that shipped with Zui.
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apps/zui/src/plugins/brimcap/configurations.ts

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defaultValue: "",
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helpLink: {
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label: "docs",
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url: "https://github.com/brimdata/brimcap/wiki/Custom-Brimcap-Config",
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url: "https://zui.brimdata.io/docs/features/Packet-Captures#brimcap-yaml-config-file",
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},
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},
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[suricataLocalRulesPropName]: {
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name: suricataLocalRulesPropName,
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type: "folder",
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label: "Local Suricata Rules Folder",
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defaultValue: "",
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helpLink: {
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label: "docs",
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url: "https://zui.brimdata.io/docs/features/Packet-Captures#local-suricata-rules-folder",
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},
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},
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[pcapFolderPropName]: {
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name: pcapFolderPropName,
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type: "folder",
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label: "Folder For Extracted pcaps",
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defaultValue: "",
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placeholder: "Default OS tmpdir",
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helpLink: {
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label: "docs",
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url: "https://zui.brimdata.io/docs/features/Packet-Captures#folder-for-extracted-pcaps",
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},
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},
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},
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})

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