Log what is sent/received over a socket connection

Question

I have two Java applications in my network that talk to each other over socket connections on a fixed port. Is there any software out there that can log all the messages sent between the two applications for testing purposes?

Answer 1

If the protocol is not encrypted, you can use a protocol analyzer like Wireshark to monitor the conversation. If it is, you might want to hook the encryption/decryption routine to log to a file or similar.