ProfiShark Manager — Features
The Features tab contains information about the device, the firmware update utility, and options for enabling and disabling capture-related features.
Status
In the Status section, the Device tab displays hardware and software information about the connected ProfiShark device, and the Status tab displays the current status of its network interface.
| Device | The connected ProfiShark model. |
|---|---|
| Driver Version | The version of the driver software currently communicating with the ProfiShark. |
| SW Firmware Version | Firmware version of the embedded software part. |
| HW Firmware Version | Firmware version of the programmable hardware part. |
| MAC Address | A unique identifier encoded into the ProfiShark device. |
| Link/Module | The status of the link or SFP modules. |
| Software Dropped Packets | The number of packets dropped by the driver in any mode. |
| Hardware Dropped Packets | The number of packets dropped due to low USB bandwidth, for instance when connecting the ProfiShark to a USB 2.0 port and attempting a 1 Gbps capture, or when attempting a 10 Gbps capture without any configured filter. |
Firmware Update
The Firmware Update section allows users to flash the firmware of the connected ProfiShark with a locally stored version. The ProfiShark is unavailable during the firmware update process, which can take up to several minutes to complete. Once finished, the ProfiShark may need to be replugged for the new firmware to take effect. Do not disconnect the USB port or shut the computer down during the update process. The latest firmware is included in the ProfiShark installation folder.
Note: The ProfiShark Manager will compare the firmware of the connected device(s) with the ones included in the installation folder every time it starts, allowing a new revision to be installed if present.
Capture Format
The Capture Format section allows users to enable or disable capture-related features. These options apply to both Direct Capture and Live Capture modes. Additional customization of the capture process is available in the Capture tab.
| Enable timestamps in live capture | Appends a Unix formatted timestamp in the header of the packet data. This timestamp can be interpreted by the Profitap Wireshark dissector in Live Capture mode. Note: This option produces non-standard PCAP files, which require the dissector for timestamps to be interpreted properly. This option is ignored when using Direct Capture or Live Capture with the Extcap Tool, both of which produce standard PCAP files with high-resolution timestamps. |
|---|---|
| Synchronize timestamp (experimental) | Synchronizes the ProfiShark's clock speed to the clock of the host it is connected to. When enabled, the host sends 1 pulse per second (1PPS) to the ProfiShark through the USB port. The ProfiShark then smoothly adapts its own clock to the pulses. This feature is useful for keeping the host clock and ProfiShark clock synchronized in order to avoid long-term drift. The drawback is that, since USB cannot provide high-precision timing, per-second pulses can have a variation in the range of several milliseconds. This means that the ProfiShark clock will change speed constantly (but not in steps, very smoothly instead). Thus, this feature is not recommended when troubleshooting microsecond and nanosecond delays in a short time range. |
| Transmit CRC Errors | When enabled, the ProfiShark will include packets with CRC errors in the capture. These packets are usually filtered out by network interfaces. |
| Keep CRC32 | When enabled, the CRC32 information (32-bit Frame Check Sequence) located at the end of the packets will be kept in the capture. FCS can be interpreted in Wireshark (Edit \ Preferences \ Protocols \ Ethernet \ Assume packets have FCS). |
| Disable Port A | If checked, frames from port A will not be captured. |
| Disable Port B | If checked, frames from port B will not be captured. |
| Packet Slicing | ProfiShark 100M / 1G / 1G+: The payload of every captured frame will be dropped, keeping only the header information (the first 128 bytes) up to the application layer. ProfiShark 10G / 10G+: Only the specified amount of data will be captured for each frame, starting from the beginning of the frame, specified in bytes. |
Firmware Selection
The Firmware Selection section allows users to switch between 10 Gbps and 1 Gbps firmware for the ProfiShark 10G and 10G+, effectively altering the operating speed of the connected SFP+ modules.
Note: Switching between firmware versions takes between 4 and 8 seconds to complete, during which the network connection will be severed.