Name the addresses of a call in the terminal interface

In short

In sipnab’s terminal interface, the call list shows each call’s source and destination as IP addresses. You can give an address a name, such as the name of the server it belongs to:

• select a call and press N;
• type a name for each address and press Enter;
• the names replace the addresses in the call list, and sipnab keeps them for the next run.

Every popup in the interface says how to close it, and Esc closes all of them.

Who this is for

Anyone reading calls in the terminal interface who finds IP addresses hard to tell apart, for example on a capture taken between several servers.

Open a capture

The examples use a capture from the sipnab repository:

sipnab -I tests/pcap-samples/sip-rtp-g711.pcap

The call list shows two calls between 10.0.2.20 and 10.0.2.15.

Name the two addresses of a call

Select a call and press N. The Name Address popup opens with the call’s two addresses. This is the popup on a terminal 100 columns wide:

               ┌ Name Address ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
               │  Endpoint:  10.0.2.20   10.0.2.15                                 │
               │  IP:   10.0.2.20                                                  │
               │  Name:                                                            │
               │                                                                   │
               │  Tab switch endpoint · Enter save all · empty clears · Esc cancel │
               └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

• Type a name for the first address, for example pbx-a.
• Press Tab to move to the second address, and type its name, for example sbc-b.
• Press Enter to save both.

The status line reports Named 2 endpoints, and the call list shows the names:

  # ▲    Method    From To   Source          Destination     State      Msgs +Prev    PDD    Duratio
> [ ] 1  INVITE    sipp test pbx-a           sbc-b           Completed  6    +0.000s         8.5s
  [ ] 2  INVITE    sipp test pbx-a           sbc-b           InCall     4    +8.619s         4ms

Naming an address turns name resolution on. sipnab saves the names to ~/.config/sipnab/hosts ($XDG_CONFIG_HOME/sipnab/hosts), one address and name per line, so they apply the next time you open a capture:

10.0.2.15	sbc-b
10.0.2.20	pbx-a

Remove a name

Select the call and press N again. Each address shows its current name.

• Delete the name of each address you want to clear. Tab moves between them.
• Press Enter.

The status line reports Cleared 2 names, and the call list shows the addresses again.

Close a popup

Esc closes every popup without applying it. Each popup names its closing key on its last line:

On a small terminal, sipnab draws as much of a popup as fits and keeps running. On a terminal smaller than 40 columns by 6 rows, sipnab shows only the notice Terminal too small (<width>x<height>) — sipnab needs at least 40x6 until you make the window larger.

Terms used here

• Terminal interface (TUI): sipnab’s full-screen interactive view, opened by running sipnab without -N.
• Popup: a small window drawn over the main view for one task.
• Endpoint: one IP address taking part in a call.
• Name resolution: showing host names in place of IP addresses. Press n to cycle it between off, static names and reverse DNS.
• $XDG_CONFIG_HOME: the directory for per-user settings. When it is not set, it is ~/.config.

Related guides

• Name resolution and the N popup
• Filter popup keys
• Settings popup keys
• Column selector keys