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

Discovering ways to subset traffic

Packet analysis is used for a variety of reasons, including troubleshooting, testing, monitoring, and baselining the network. Although we can reduce the file size before we begin our analysis by using a capture filter, many times we gather all the traffic so that we don't miss any important details. Then, once captured, the file can be shared with other members of the team for further analysis or to point out specific issues.

While capturing traffic, it's optimal to get a capture that is the perfect size and includes only the troublesome packets. However, that is not always the case. At times, you may find you have to work with a large file, for a variety of reasons that include the following:

  • You have obtained the capture from a network device with a large amount of traffic. Tapping into the network, even for a short time, can generate a huge number of packets. Even if you used a capture filter while obtaining the file, you may...