CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++cnetstat
Luck Haryadi
Luck Haryadi

Reputation: 93

How to count SYN/ESTABLISHED connection to server?

I want to get number of SYN and ESTABLISHED connection to my server with C/C++. But I don't want to call popen to run netstat, or any other Linux command. I've managed to scan /proc/net/ip_conntrack and get the numbers. But I realize that scanning ip_conntrack requires great resources, each time my application invoke that method. Is there any other simple way?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1777

Answers (1)

Celada
Celada

Reputation: 22261

Scanning /proc/net/ip_conntrack is not reliable because it only works if netfilter/connection tracking is enabled. And it doesn't only count connections to your server but also through your server (if it's acting as a router).

Better would be to get the information in the same places as netstat does: /proc/net/tcp, /proc/net/tcp6 (and similar files for UDP and other protocols if you care about those). That amount more or less to reimplementing netstat inside your application though. You have to wonder if it's worth it. Also, it's portable (more or less) to call netstat whereas reading those files directly is Linux-specific.

I know you are concerned about the resources requires to scan the full table every time, but I don't think there's a say to "subscribe" and get notifications when new connections are established or torn down. The closest thing I can think of to something like that would be to sniff the network interface (using libpcap) and keeping track of connection setups and teardowns yourself.

Upvotes: 2

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