# Does packet beat work for custom ports or custom protocols?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-packet-beat-work-for-custom-ports-or-custom-protocols/35991>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Created:** [December 1, 2015, 7:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-packet-beat-work-for-custom-ports-or-custom-protocols/35991 "2015-12-01T07:25:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![rabeetwaqar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@rabeetwaqar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rabeetwaqar)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 7:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-packet-beat-work-for-custom-ports-or-custom-protocols/35991/1 "2015-12-01T07:25:58Z")

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Hi

Does packet beat work for custom ports or custom protocols?

Thanks

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 7:28am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-packet-beat-work-for-custom-ports-or-custom-protocols/35991/2 "2015-12-01T07:28:27Z")

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Custom ports will work for any of the existing protocols, but you need to build your own beat for any protocol we don't have one for.

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**Author:** ![rabeetwaqar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@rabeetwaqar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rabeetwaqar)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 7:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-packet-beat-work-for-custom-ports-or-custom-protocols/35991/3 "2015-12-01T07:31:36Z")

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Hello thanks for prompt reply,

I have socks v5 protocol will it trace packets for it?

Thanks

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 7:34am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-packet-beat-work-for-custom-ports-or-custom-protocols/35991/4 "2015-12-01T07:34:21Z")

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Not currently.

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**Author:** ![steffens](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/steffens/32/79630_2.png) [@steffens](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/steffens)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2015, 11:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-packet-beat-work-for-custom-ports-or-custom-protocols/35991/5 "2015-12-01T11:01:34Z")

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@rabeetwaqar which kind of data would you expect to be reported for socks v5 protocol ([RFC](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1928))? underlying TCP/UDP connection stats to socks server port? Socks protocol level connections and requests? Dynamic 'port' registration in other protocol modules to handle connections brokered by socks protocol?

For generic underlying TCP/UDP stats you can follow the [github issue](https://github.com/elastic/packetbeat/issues/373).

All higher level protocols require parsers and message correlators to be written. Feel free to open a [github issue](https://github.com/elastic/packetbeat/issues) or send us a pull request (maybe create the github issue for discussions first). Supporting socks v5 (and other 'broker like' connection enablement protocols) sounds very interesting, but will take some more planning and implementation wise.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 9:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/does-packet-beat-work-for-custom-ports-or-custom-protocols/35991/6 "2017-07-05T21:57:53Z")

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