4 Q. Why did you implemented ziffy?
5 A. because of my own personal needs!
8 Q. What can ziffy do for me?
9 A. ziffy can promiscuously capture network packets from different interfaces,
10 including of course Ethernet, PPP and ISDN lines, and other interfaces
11 that your OS supports. Each packet, as read from the network, is stripped
12 from the lower-level protocols (Ethernet/IP/TCP) header information and
13 then passed to a Z39.50 ASN.1/BER Decoder. All valid Z39.50 packets are
14 passed to a pretty print function to show all the Z39.50 information
15 that the packet carries.
18 Q. Why I should use this program?
19 A. So, if you are interestered in Z39.50 APDUs, please give ziffy a chance
20 to run on your system. Perhaps you are interested in network statistics
21 collection, security monitoring, network debugging, etc.
23 If you are a trusted user, ziffy is your friend!
26 Q. Why does ziffy use the Packet Capture Library libpcap?
27 A. Well, the libpcap package provides a portable framework for low-level
28 network monitoring. Its system-independent API helps in porting and
29 alleviates the need for several system-dependent packet capture modules.
30 libpcap is the choice by default for tools such as ziffy!
33 Q. Why does ziffy use the YAZ Toolkit by IndexData?
34 A. This is a long story.
35 To perform its task ziffy needs ASN.1 run-time BER decoding and printing
38 The initial version was based on the ZETA Core Library by Finsiel S.p.A.,
39 which in turn includes and uses the Finsiel X/ASN.1 Toolkit to perform
40 Z39.50 encoding/decoding/printing routines.
42 I still have and maintain this version of the X/ASN.1 software. But I do not
43 have permissions to let this software run free on the Net because of
44 copyrigth restrictions. That is the reason I decided to port ziffy
45 on freeware ASN.1 Toolkits.
47 The popular Yaz Toolkit:
48 o provides the required Z39.50 decoding and printing functionalities
49 o it is largely used in different contests by several people and organizations
50 o it is in the public domain
52 So it is the choice by default.
53 Thanks to Sebastian Hammer <quinn@indexdata.dk> and Adam Dickmeiss
54 <adam@indexdata.dk> for their superb and clean work
57 Q. Had ziffy been compiled against other public domain ASN.1 Toolkits?
59 I have a version of ziffy written on top of the SNACC ASN.1 Toolkit,
60 that is not so popular in the Z39.50 community so the YAZ Toolkit does.
62 If you know of other public domain ASN.1 Decoders with a pretty print
63 APDUs routines, please drop me a mail.
64 I will try to include different printing routines as run-time options
65 in the following releases of ziffy.
68 Q. Can I know the list of OSs and supported platforms ziffy run on?
69 A. I written and tested the program on my intel based linux box.
70 And I ported it on the Solaris 2.6.
71 I think it should be ported with minimal effort on
75 AIX? who can say? it is a so different flavor of Unix
77 NT? oh no, again! please don't ask.
80 Q. Where can I get the latest version of ziffy?
81 A. You can download it from ftp anonymous site:
82 ftp://zeta.tlcpi.finsiel.it/pub/z3950/ziffy
85 Q. Where can I get more information on ziffy?
86 A. Visit the ziffy official home page.
87 http://zeta.tlcpi.finsiel.it/z3950/ziffy
90 Q. Are there any mailinglist dedicated to ziffy?
91 A. No! for the time being.
94 Q. If I need support can I contact you?
95 A. Yes, but I am so busy. So send me a mail and please be patient!