NAME

NAME
ttylog - Log tty sessions

SYNOPSIS
ttylog tty
or
ttylog -t tty [ -w file ]
or
ttylog -r file [ -b file ] [ -i file ] [ -o file ]

EXAMPLE
Type "w" to obtain the desired tty:

[root@host root]# w
9:01am up 81 days, 16:06, 5 users, load average: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
USER TTY FROM LOGIN@ IDLE JCPU PCPU WHAT
root pts/0 admin.com 8:19am 0.00s 0.39s 0.05s w
joe pts/1 workstation.wi 8:02am 39:33 2.63s 2.19s pine
hacker pts/4 client.isp.com 8:45am 5.00s 27.95s 1.45s vim devil.cfg
[root@host root]#

Then connect to monitor what is being typed or what is seen through the
tty:

[root@host root]# ttylog pts/4

OPTIONS
There are three modes:

DIRECT (tty): Show terminal output for a given tty to stdout. This means
that you will see whatever the user sees.

WRITE (-t tty): Attach to a tty and log the I/O to a trace file for
future analysis.

READ (-r file): Analyze a trace file for key strokes or for terminal
output or for bandwidth usage.

--tty tty
Specify which psuedo terminal to use
Example: --tty pts/1
--write file
Save the packet data to a file for later analysis
Example: --write trace.log
--read file
Read from a saved packet file
Example: --read trace.log
--bandwidth file
Log network bandwidth used to a file
Example: --bandwidth ssh.bytes_log
--input file
Log keystrokes sent to terminal to a file
Example: --input keyboard.log
--output file
Log terminal output to a file
Example: --output terminal.log
--help
Show this usage message.

Note that all options may be abbreviated, i.e., "-h" is the same as
"--help".

DESCRIPTION
This utility is intended for attaching to currently running tty sessions
for the purposes of administration, shell assisting, bandwidth tracking,
and logging for debugging or training. Unlike other tty sniffers, this
utility does not require any patches to the kernel or any system
configuration modifications or tweaking. You can even install it AFTER
someone has logged in and connect on the fly to instantly view their
session which has already been currently running for a long time.

DISCLAIMER
Please be sensitive to the privacy of others! The author will not be
held liable for any violation of privacy or damage that may be caused by
unauthorized use of this utility. It is left to the discretion of the
user of this application to deem what is appropriate.

REQUIREMENTS
This utility has been designed and is only known with work under the
Linux platform, specifically the RedHat flavor, but possibly others. It
requires that the strace utility be installed within the PATH. It
assumes the tty sessions to be logged have been created from the sshd
server. It does not work for terminal logins directly from the console.
You must be the root user for permissions to use this program
effectively. It is recommended that you have a very large screen and
maximize your client because you will be seeing the terminal in the same
dimensions as the tty of the user you are connecting to and you might
not be able to see everything if your screen is constantly wrapping. The
user must type at least one character to begin monitoring. Also, it is
not recommended to log your own tty session as it may cause an infinite
loop. If you really need to log your session, just send it to a trace
file (using -w) and analyze it later (using -r) after your session is
finished.

AUTHOR
Rob Brown [email protected]
A-Squad.Com

COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2004-2005
All rights reserved
Artistic License

SEE ALSO
w(1) strace(1)

VERSION
$Id: ttylog,v 1.12 2005/03/17 21:13:11 rob Exp $