--- title: "X Broadcast" description: "" url: "https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/collection/x-broadcast/index.html" --- ## Introduction The Geneos X Broadcast plugin monitors (UDP) broadcast traffic and displays statistics such as the data rate and packet rate, for a list of user-defined services. The Netprobe host must be able to "listen" for the required broadcast traffic (i.e. it should be on the same network segment as the broadcast source). ## Views ### View The X Broadcast plugin produces a single view, with one row per configured broadcast service. **Table Legend**
Name Description
name The service name, as configured by the user.
port The service port, as configured by the user.
dataRecvRate Data received in Kb/s, averaged over the sample interval.
pktRecvRate Packets received per second, averaged over the sample interval.
tmSinceLastPkt Number of seconds since the last packet was received.
srcHost The IP address of the host which sent the last packet.
## Plugin Configuration The X Broadcast plugin listens to all broadcast data, matching the destination ports with those configured by the user. Plugin configuration is placed in the x-broadcast configuration section. ### var-recvInterfaces Specifies a comma-separated list of network interface names to monitor broadcast data on. On UNIX machines, interface names can be found using the command "ifconfig -a". Example names are "eth0" or "ce0". On Windows machines, interface names can be listed by running Netprobe using the "-ifconfig" command-line option. A Windows interface name will look similar to the following: ``` \Device\NPF_{BDFE3EAC-0275-440A-923C-C9C4CE3B37F2} ``` Mandatory: Yes ### sessions Specifies the list of broadcast sessions that this plugin will monitor. Mandatory: Yes ### sessions > session > var-name The name of the broadcast session - this is the name which will be displayed in the view (as the row name). Session names should be unique within each plugin instance. Mandatory: Yes ### sessions > session > var-port The port of the broadcast session - broadcast packets received on this port will be added to the monitoring statistics for this session. Mandatory: Yes ## Permissions The plugin needs to open network devices, so you should run the Netprobe using root or administrator permission on Unix and Windows, respectively. On Linux kernel versions 2.6.24 and higher, an alternative to running the Netprobe as root is by setting the `CAP_NET_RAW` and `CAP_NET_ADMIN` Linux capabilities on the Netprobe binary using the following command: ``` setcap cap_net_raw,cap_net_admin+eip ``` When running the Netprobe with set capabilities, the `lib64/startup` folder in the Netprobe directory should be in the `ld.so` trusted paths. Otherwise, the runtime libraries will not load properly. For guidance, see [Run Netprobe under elevated privileges in Linux](https://docs.itrsgroup.com/docs/geneos/7.11.0/collection/netprobe/installation/quickstart-linux-and-other-platforms/index.html#run-netprobe-under-elevated-privileges-in-linux). ## Third Party Libraries Windows: The Npcap packet capture library needs to be installed on the host. If Npcap is not installed using WinPcap API-compatible mode, then the Npcap installation directory must be added in the `PATH` environment variable or the `DLL_PATH` registry variable. Unix: The shared library `libpcap.so` needs to be in the `netprobe/lib64` directory. It is recommended to use `libpcap.so` version 1.0.0 or later. Note: As the Netprobe needs to be run as root, the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH` is ignored for security reasons.