Http request logs collector

Question

I have a simple rails app and it is sending http requests to a server which then displays the results in UI.

I just want to count the number of requests that I send and the request and response for each http request.

Is there any gem or utility to automatically collect tear requests or do I need to write custom code for that?

EDIT

I need to get the number of requests in my rails app so that future requests will be sent based on the count provided by the tools. So either the tool has to be integrated with my rails app or it needs to provide API access to get the count.

Answer 1

Maybe something like httpry will be better suited to your purpose.
More info can be found at: http://dumpsterventures.com/jason/httpry.
The code is hosted by GitHub: https://github.com/jbittel/httpry.

httpry version 0.1.8 -- HTTP logging and information retrieval tool
Copyright (c) 2005-2014 Jason Bittel 
Usage: httpry [ -dFhpqs ] [-b file ] [ -f format ] [ -i device ] [ -l threshold ]
              [ -m methods ] [ -n count ] [ -o file ] [ -P file ] [ -r file ]
              [ -t seconds] [ -u user ] [ 'expression' ]

   -b file      write HTTP packets to a binary dump file
   -d           run as daemon
   -f format    specify output format string
   -F           force output flush
   -h           print this help information
   -i device    listen on this interface
   -l threshold specify a rps threshold for rate statistics
   -m methods   specify request methods to parse
   -n count     set number of HTTP packets to parse
   -o file      write output to a file
   -p           disable promiscuous mode
   -P file      use custom PID filename when running in daemon mode 
   -q           suppress non-critical output
   -r file      read packets from input file
   -s           run in HTTP requests per second mode
   -t seconds   specify the display interval for rate statistics
   -u user      set process owner
   expression   specify a bpf-style capture filter

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This is the output when I refresh this page:

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If you want to pipe the output into other programs, (like grep for instance) use -F.

-F Disable all output buffering. 
   This may be helpful when piping httpry output into another program.

Answer 2

Try Portswigger's Burp Suite.
https://portswigger.net/burp/download.html

Answer 3

I am using fiddler to achieve that for my work.

• Fiddler can capture the requests from the entire PC or any specific process or any specific application by dragging icon to the window
• You can see the request and responses from the side tab for each request.
• You can resend the requests if you want through it's neat UI.
• You can log the requests for a specific web browser or a particular user-agent.
• Option to export and import the sessions
• Option to create custom rules
• Option to minimize to tray and runs in background.
• Option to hide Image requests.

There are also a lot of interesting Addons available for this like you can flip the images that are coming in response, traffic differ, privacy scanner requests that set cookies. Debug traffic from any location in the world. Supports all platforms.

Answer 4

If don't need as many functions that burp and fiddler offer you can go for Membrane Soap Monitor. Because it is a Java based application it runs on Linux, Mac OS and Windows.

Just download and unzip, the provided .exe will automatically find your Java Runtime. Then create a simple proxy and leave all values unchanged except those where you have to give the name of your targetted server:

After that simply have your software address the proxy as if it were a normal http endpoint (I am using curl in my example):

curl http://localhost:2000/foo

Membrane will then show you the exchange with details (incoming and outgoing headers too) and count the number of exchanges:

I have worked with both Fiddler and the Burp Proxy which both are great tools and offer functionality that goes way beyond what Membrane is able to do. But if you need a simple to set up proxy I suggest using Membrane.