Overview

Packet Capture Improvements

Peek now supports capturing packets for an individual SIM. This new feature now lets you capture packets for a single device without the need to create a Virtual Private Gateway. For more information, refer to the SIM Usage documentation.

In addition, you can now also stop an ongoing packet capture session. This can be useful if you want to start a packet capture session that allows ample time to collect packet data, but then want to stop capturing once you have completed testing in order to avoid waiting for a packet capture session to stop. Packets that are captured prior to stopping a packet capture session are still available to download.

Soracom Peek is a managed packet capture service which collects the IP packets of traffic from devices that use Soracom Air for Cellular SIMs. Peek gives you the ability to inspect the network behavior of your devices, even if your device or server doesn't support packet capturing. Peek allows you to capture packets quickly and easily, without setting up any servers to mirror or inspect traffic.

Peek overview

Peek provides a simple and secure way to capture packets, and can be used in many situations where you are typically unable to inspect your devices network behavior:


Features


Capture Methods

Peek provides two methods for packet capture:

SIM Packet Capture

With SIM-based packet capture, Peek captures the packets of all IP traffic where the source or destination address of the packet matches your SIM.

VPG Packet Capture

With VPG-based packet capture, Peek captures the packets of all IP traffic that passes through a Virtual Private Gateway (VPG). After creating a VPG and assigning SIMs to it, all cellular network traffic to and from the devices will be routed through the VPG. Then, when you request packet capture, Peek will create a packet capture session which will collect all IP traffic in the VPG throughout the duration of the session.


Requirements

To capture packets using Peek:


Limitations

Before using Peek, please be aware of the following limitations:


Compatibility


Compared to Junction

While Peek provides similar packet capturing functionality as Junction, there are some important differences.

Peek automatically creates a pcap file after a packet capture session finishes. Unlike Junction, you cannot download or inspect packets while they are being captured.

The maximum duration of a Peek packet capture session is limited to 24 hours.

Soracom Junction does not have these limitations, and is therefore better suited if you need real-time monitoring or the ability to capture packets for durations longer than 24 hours.