net/hping3 20051105_1

hping is a command-line oriented TCP/IP packet assembler/analyzer. The interface is inspired to the ping(8) Unix command, but hping isn't only able to send ICMP echo requests. It supports TCP, UDP, ICMP and RAW-IP protocols, has a traceroute mode, the ability to send files between a covered channel, and many other features. While hping was mainly used as a security tool in the past, it can be used in many ways by people that don't care about security to test networks and hosts. A subset of the stuff you can do using hping:

- Test firewall rules
- \[spoofed\] port scanning
- Test net performance using different protocols,
  packet size, TOS (type of service) and fragmentation.
- Path MTU discovery
- Files transfering even between really fascist firewall rules.
- Traceroute like under different protocols.
- Firewalk like usage.
- Remote OS fingerprint.
- TCP/IP stack auditing.