Network Protocol Dictionary

This is a YAML network protocol dictionary for all (binary based) OSI-Layer 1-4 protocols, eg. Ethernet, IP, TCP, UDP, etc.

• What this dictionary should be:

  • A complete machine readable structure definition dictionary for all binary based network protocols
  • Addon: some protocol documentation from wikipedia or RFCs for display use.
  • A reference for building a network packet from scratch in an application, mostly for applications dealing with network packets.

• What it is clearly NOT:

  • Currently: complete.
  • A replacement for reading RFCs: Dependencies and constraints are NOT defined in this dictionary
  • A source for implementing network stacks

How to add a new protocol

Clone. Check structure-schema.yml. Install kwalify (has ruby as dependency!). Write protocol file in ./protocols/osi[layer]/[protocolname].yml. Validate structure with 'kwalify -lf structure-schema.yml [path/to/protocolname].yml' or validate all at once with 'kwalify -lf structure-schema.yml ./protocols/osi*/*.yml'. Be happy.

How to use this dictionary

Clone. Get a YAML library for your program language. Load desired protocol files, or all of them. Use resulting data structures to build protocol packet structures.

This repository will provide examples or useable code snippets for specific programming languages in the future...