Running tcpdump causes a significant increase on CPU usage, what other option should you use?

cppcap is a Check Point utility specifically designed for high-performance packet capture. It is part of the Check Point Packet Capture (CPPC) suite and is engineered to be more efficient and have a lower CPU performance impact than the standard tcpdump utility. When tcpdump causes a significant CPU increase on a high-load Security Gateway, cppcap is the recommended alternative for capturing packets at the OS kernel level with minimal system resource consumption.

A. fw monitor is a powerful debugging tool for inspecting packets as they pass through the firewall's kernel inspection chain, not a general-purpose, low-level packet capture tool like tcpdump.
B. Waiting for off-peak hours is a procedural workaround to mitigate impact; it is not a technical alternative that solves the underlying high CPU usage problem of the tool itself.
D. The tcpdump -e option prints the link-level header for each packet. It does not reduce the capture length or CPU utilization. The -s (snaplen) option is used to limit capture length.

1. Check Point Support Center, sk111013 - "CPPC - Check Point Packet Capture": This document introduces cppcap and states, "CPPC is a new packet capture utility that is intended to replace tcpdump for advanced debugging purposes. It is more efficient than tcpdump and has a lower performance impact." This directly supports cppcap as the correct alternative for high CPU issues.

2. Check Point Support Center, sk30583 - "How to run 'fw monitor'": This article describes the purpose and usage of fw monitor, clarifying that its function is to "see the traffic and the way it is being processed by the firewall kernel." This differentiates it from a raw packet capture tool.

3. Tcpdump Man Page (tcpdump.org): The official manual page for tcpdump describes the -e flag as "Print the link-level header on each dump line." This confirms that option D provides an incorrect description of the flag's function.