Book Image

Learn Wireshark, - Second Edition

By : Lisa Bock
5 (1)
Book Image

Learn Wireshark, - Second Edition

5 (1)
By: Lisa Bock

Overview of this book

Wireshark is a popular and powerful packet analysis tool that helps network administrators investigate latency issues and potential attacks. Over the years, there have been many enhancements to Wireshark’s functionality. This book will guide you through essential features so you can capture, display, and filter data with ease. In addition to this, you’ll gain valuable tips on lesser-known configuration options, which will allow you to complete your analysis in an environment customized to suit your needs. This updated second edition of Learn Wireshark starts by outlining the benefits of traffic analysis. You’ll discover the process of installing Wireshark and become more familiar with the interface. Next, you’ll focus on the Internet Suite and then explore deep packet analysis of common protocols such as DNS, DHCP, HTTP, and ARP. The book also guides you through working with the expert system to detect network latency issues, create I/O and stream graphs, subset traffic, and save and export captures. Finally, you’ll understand how to share captures using CloudShark, a browser-based solution for analyzing packet captures. By the end of this Wireshark book, you’ll have the skills and hands-on experience you need to conduct deep packet analysis of common protocols and network troubleshooting as well as identify security issues.
Table of Contents (28 chapters)
1
Part 1 Traffic Capture Overview
6
Part 2 Getting Started with Wireshark
11
Part 3 The Internet Suite TCP/IP
16
Part 4 Deep Packet Analysis of Common Protocols
21
Part 5 Working with Packet Captures

Chapter 16: Understanding ARP

When data travels across networks, the packets use a logical or Internet Protocol (IP) address to identify the destination host. However, on a local area network (LAN), the packets use a physical or media access control (MAC) address to deliver data to a host. When a packet is transported from a website across the internet to a host on a LAN, the switch only has an IP address to identify the host. How does the device locate the destination host? That is the responsibility of the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), which resolves an IP address to a MAC address so that the data gets delivered to the correct host.

In this chapter, we'll learn how ARP works, and why it is an important protocol in ensuring the timely delivery of data. We'll then take a closer look at ARP headers and fields in Wireshark. We'll also examine the different types of ARP that you may encounter while doing analysis, including...