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Show HN: Subtrace – Wireshark for Docker Containers

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Re: Show HN: Subtrace – Wireshark for Docker Containers

#41

Post by conradev »

adtac wrote: post #36
qwertox wrote: post #31

Wireshark seems a bit misleading. More like a "network inspector" if one leans towards the browser's network tab in the inspector? But it really looks useful and I'll definitely play with it to see if I put it into my toolbox.

Thanks! re the Wireshark analogy: the reason I used that was because: (1) Subtrace operates at roughly the same level in the operating system stack, (2) has similar capabilities, (3) has an overlap in use-cases, and (4) has been the most effective at communicating what Subtrace is in my experience so far. I can see why the analogy is not a perfect 1:1 mapping (obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/624 ), but naming thing…

Can I download a pcap file? Being able to view and debug the application protocol is one thing, but I can use Wireshark to view and debug TCP itself.

Reading the documentation makes it sound like this sits one or two levels above where Wireshark usually operates, which is why I think the analogy is tough.

Re: Show HN: Subtrace – Wireshark for Docker Containers

#42

Post by jolmg »

adtac wrote: post #36
qwertox wrote: post #31

Wireshark seems a bit misleading. More like a "network inspector" if one leans towards the browser's network tab in the inspector? But it really looks useful and I'll definitely play with it to see if I put it into my toolbox.

Thanks! re the Wireshark analogy: the reason I used that was because: (1) Subtrace operates at roughly the same level in the operating system stack, (2) has similar capabilities, (3) has an overlap in use-cases, and (4) has been the most effective at communicating what Subtrace is in my experience so far. I can see why the analogy is not a perfect 1:1 mapping (obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/624 ), but naming thing…

My first impression with "Wireshark for Docker containers" is "... Well, Wireshark already works with Docker containers, so if your goal is to be Wireshark for Docker containers, you'll just fail by definition. Can't beat Wireshark at being Wireshark."

I'm saying this just FYI. I haven't actually looked at what your product does, but if it were to matter to me, it'd be based on what it can offer that Wireshark can't, rather than how similar it is to Wireshark.

Re: Show HN: Subtrace – Wireshark for Docker Containers

#43

Post by adtac »

johannes1234321 wrote: post #37

From the video it seems the dashboard is hosted on sibtrace.dev. Is my data being sent there? That's an absolute no-go for me.

You can use Subtrace entirely locally without talking to subtrace.dev using the -devtools flag. For example:

    subtrace run -devtools=/subtrace -- python3 -m http.server
Then go to http://localhost:8000/subtrace and you'll see the Chrome DevTools interface running in your browser like a regular app. Any request sent to http://localhost:8000 should appear there in realtime. Note that the -devtools flag is kinda best effort because Subtrace is intended to be used in production.

We have fully on-prem installations for enterprises, of course (e.g. if you're in a highly regulated industry like healthcare).

Re: Show HN: Subtrace – Wireshark for Docker Containers

#44

Post by zekenie »

adtac wrote: post #43
johannes1234321 wrote: post #37

From the video it seems the dashboard is hosted on sibtrace.dev. Is my data being sent there? That's an absolute no-go for me.

You can use Subtrace entirely locally without talking to subtrace.dev using the -devtools flag. For example: subtrace run -devtools=/subtrace -- python3 -m http.server Then go to http://localhost:8000/subtrace and you'll see the Chrome DevTools interface running in your browser like a regular app. Any request sent to http://localhost:8000 should appear there in realtime. Note that the -devtools flag is kinda best eff…

This is such a cool product! I was looking through the docs and I think this could be a lot more prominent. Thanks for building in public!

Re: Show HN: Subtrace – Wireshark for Docker Containers

#45

Post by mdaniel »

kristopolous wrote: post #11

stratoshark, the docker container part of wireshark, may be a better match for that description. I'd probably use a postman related pitch instead. This is much closer to that and looks like a nice complement to that workflow

Stratoshark was discussed last month https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42793777

Re: Show HN: Subtrace – Wireshark for Docker Containers

#46

Post by beardedwizard »

jolmg wrote: post #42
adtac wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! re the Wireshark analogy: the reason I used that was because: (1) Subtrace operates at roughly the same level in the operating system stack, (2) has similar capabilities, (3) has an overlap in use-cases, and (4) has been the most effective at communicating what Subtrace is in my experience so far. I can see why the analogy is not a perfect 1:1 mapping (obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/624 ), but naming thing…

My first impression with "Wireshark for Docker containers" is "... Well, Wireshark already works with Docker containers, so if your goal is to be Wireshark for Docker containers, you'll just fail by definition. Can't beat Wireshark at being Wireshark." I'm saying this just FYI. I haven't actually looked at what your product does, but if it were to matter to me, it'd be based on what it can offer that Wireshark can't,…

I'm struggling to understand why I wouldn't just use wireshark and specify the interface as well. Reading docs shows you need to invoke your container with this as a wrapper which to me is quite a bit scarier than attaching to an interface.

Re: Show HN: Subtrace – Wireshark for Docker Containers

#47

Post by dang »

codegeek wrote: post #39

Side question. Why not do a Launch HN instead of Show HN since you are backed by YC ? I thought YC companies can do a launch HN?

They can, but for open-source startups I recommend they do a Show HN first, for the following reasons:

(1) If the Show HN succeeds, then they can save their Launch HN card to play later; if it doesn't succeed, they can go ahead and do a Launch HN soon afterwards.

(2) Show HN is more about the project/tech, especially when it's open-source. Launch HN is more about the startup/business.

(3) Nowadays many startups offer an open-source (or open core) version for free, then make money with a hosted version. For these, it's a good fit to first do a Show HN about the open-source offering, and then later do a Launch HN about the cloud product.

Re: Show HN: Subtrace – Wireshark for Docker Containers

#48

Post by dang »

mdaniel wrote: post #45
kristopolous wrote: post #11

stratoshark, the docker container part of wireshark, may be a better match for that description. I'd probably use a postman related pitch instead. This is much closer to that and looks like a nice complement to that workflow

Stratoshark was discussed last month https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42793777

Thanks! Macroexpanded:

Show HN: Stratoshark, a sibling application to Wireshark - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42793777 - Jan 2025 (50 comments)

Re: Show HN: Subtrace – Wireshark for Docker Containers

#50

Post by chatmasta »

qwertox wrote: post #31

Wireshark seems a bit misleading. More like a "network inspector" if one leans towards the browser's network tab in the inspector? But it really looks useful and I'll definitely play with it to see if I put it into my toolbox.

I can already use Wireshark itself with docker containers.

IMO the real UX problem is that there’s nothing in between “Wireshark” and “DevTools.”

What would be cool is a program that renders the real DevTools UI from a .pcap file (or stdin).

There’s a lot of use cases where I can capture all the traffic with Wireshark but I just want a basic DevTools interface.

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