# Monitoring port activity in NT **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 26, 2002, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monitoring-port-activity-in-nt/115979 "2002-06-26T04:49:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monitoring-port-activity-in-nt/115979/1 "2002-06-26T04:49:04Z")
I need a utility for NT 4.0 that will monitor IP ports and report the content of incoming datagrams, etc. Hope somebody can help! ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monitoring-port-activity-in-nt/115979/2 "2002-06-26T04:52:35Z")
If you have NT Server, there is a utility called “Netmon” that will do this (essentially what you are asking for is a ‘packet sniffer’). You can install it from the original NT Server CD - it’s under the “Network services” applet in Control Panel. You can also force it to work on NT Workstation, though for that you have to copy a bunch of DLLs manually. I believe there’s a version included in Back Office that allows “promiscuous” (yes, that’s the term) mode to monitor traffic between any two machines on your network. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2002, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monitoring-port-activity-in-nt/115979/3 "2002-06-26T05:12:31Z")
There’s also a free program called windump that can be installed on almost any Windows machine (not merely NT Server or Server 2000). You can find it [here](http://windump.polito.it/).