HTTPREPLAY 2.0 available

A new release of HTTPREPLAY/ STRACE is available HERE. This new release implements the following features:

• HTTPREPLAY and STRACE are now part of the same installation package (HTTPREPLAY.MSI)
• STRACE log is now using ".STRACE" extension
• HTTPREPLAYREPORT.EXE standalone executable can be used to parse STRACE or Fiddler (SAZ) files and generate HTTPREPLAY report
• HTTPREPLAYREPORT.EXE is the default application associated to the ".STRACE" extension (this allows to generate HTTPREPLAY report when clicking on STRACE log)
• TabProcGrowth registry key is set to 0 during installation of HTTP. This is to avoid generation of multiple STRACE logs

  (To revert to default Internet Explorer behavior, you can either run "C:\Program Files (x86)\HTTPREPLAY\TabProcGrowth_ON.cmd" batch or uninstall HTTPREPLAY)

• Tab interface allowing to show extra info (CTL – certificate trust list - sent by web server in case of SSL client certificate authentication, SSPI calls, proxy infos…etc)
• IE10/Windows 8 support

   

With this release, generating HTTP traces for Internet Explorer has never been so simple:

1. Install HTTPREPLAY.MSI
2. Click the STRACE icon on the desktop :

1. Use the instance of Internet Explorer (about:blank) created by HTTPREPLAY to reproduce the navigation scenario you want to trace
2. Click on the trace generated on the desktop to generate the "HTTPREPLAY REPORT" :

1. The report will open automatically :

    

    

In case you are wondering why you might consider using HTTPREPLAY/STRACE while there already are a number of excellent tools like Internet Explorer Developer Tools, Fiddler or HttpWatch, here a couple of things you should take into account:

• HTTPREPLAY is free and it works on all versions of Windows including Windows 8
• HTTPREPLAY installation is easy (package size is only 1 MB) and generating traces is as simple as clicking on an icon
• HTTPREPLAY report is a HTML file and you can easily include it in mail threads…etc
• The tracing tool (STRACE) doesn't act as a proxy and therefore, it doesn't change the way connections are established
• HTTPREPLAY provides full decryption of HTTP request over SSL without the need to install a test/faked certificate
• HTTPREPLAY provides useful SSL handshake information (dump of the CTL – see Troubleshooting 403.7 "Client Certificate Required errors" & Step by step to make sure your client certificate is displayed and selected)
• STRACE/HTTPREPLAY can be used to trace socket or HTTP traffic for Web Browsers, Office Applications…etc
• If Wireshark is installed on your PC, you can convert STRACE logs to PCAP files and take advantage of Network Monitor or Wireshark parsers (see New features recently implemented in HTTPREPLAY)

  (typical usage includes parsing of Kerberos ticket passed in client request)

• HTTPREPLAY supports replay (playback) of either STRACE or Fiddler logs (SAZ file)

For the above reasons, I believe STRACE/HTTPREPLAY is still going to be a useful tracing tool and we are still improving the tool :

• my colleague Daouda is currently working to include additional graphical informations in HTTPREPLAY report like this :

• we are also working to get HTTPREPLAY integrated in Microsoft Automatic Diagnostics tools.

Happy HTTP tracing!

Emmanuel Boersma