Dynamic Packet Capture
Fast, simplified troubleshooting for microservices and endpoints with secure user access based on roles and permissions
- Calico Cloud
- Dynamic Packet Capture
Overview
In a distributed environment, packet capture (PCAP) can be a valuable technique for debugging microservices and application communication in day-to-day operations and incident response.
Applications are made up of composite microservices, and a single request often moves through 4 or more services. When you have hundreds of services interacting, pinpointing and troubleshooting becomes difficult. PacketCapture can capture and evaluate packets and endpoints to determine the source of an issue. But in Kubernetes, packets move across distributed, short-lived endpoints—sometimes across different cloud and Kubernetes environments. Therefore, performing packet capture can be a frustrating exercise in a dynamic environment where hundreds, possibly thousands of pods are continually being created and destroyed.
Calico Dynamic Packet Capture is a self-service, on-demand, tool for performing packet capture for a specific pod or collection of pods. It integrates with Kubernetes RBAC to limit and secure users’ access to the endpoints and namespaces assigned to them.
Benefits
- On-demand, self-service packet capture
- No need to learn YAML and Kubernetes-specific commands
- Ability to tailor PacketCapture to specific traffic requirements and time intervals
- Ability to restrict access to specific namespaces and endpoints based on the user’s role
- Provides a packet capture jobs library so you can reuse, collaborate, and share jobs
Capabilities

Start
Right-click an endpoint in Dynamic Service Graph to start the capture for a specific microservice or endpoint in a live Kubernetes environment.

Select
Select time interval, port, and protocol to customize a specific packet capture for analysis.

Save
Save and run the packet capture based on the namespace and endpoint.

Share
View, rerun, and collaborate on packet capture history, type, and jobs for faster time to resolution.
How It Works
Capture live traffic inside a Kubernetes cluster for troubleshooting and debugging applications. To learn more, see: Calico Enterprise - Packet capture