Wireshark Essentials : Get Up and Running With Wireshark to Analyze Network Packets and Protocols Effectively

About This Book

• Troubleshoot problems, identify security risks, and measure key application performance metrics with Wireshark
• Gain valuable insights into the network and application protocols, and the key fields in each protocol
• Configure Wireshark, and analyze networks and applications at the packet level with the help of practical examples and step-wise instructions

Who This Book Is For

This book is aimed at IT professionals who want to develop or enhance their packet analysis skills. Basic familiarity with common network and application services terms and technologies is assumed; however, expertise in advanced networking topics or protocols is not required. Readers in any IT field can develop the analysis skills specifically needed to complement and support their respective areas of responsibility and interest.

What You Will Learn

• Discover how packet analysts view networks and the role of protocols at the packet level
• Capture and isolate all the right packets to perform a thorough analysis using Wireshark's extensive capture and display filtering capabilities
• Use the optimal timestamp displays, packet marking and coloring, and protocol-level settings for effective analysis of packets
• Select and configure the appropriate Wireshark features and functions for the analysis task at hand
• Troubleshoot connectivity and functionality issues in your network
• Analyze and report the leading causes of poor application performance
• Analyze packets to detect and identify malicious traffic and security threats
• Leverage the Wireshark command-line utilities for high performance or scripted analysis activities

In Detail

This book introduces the Wireshark network analyzer to IT professionals across multiple disciplines.

It starts off with the installation of Wireshark, before gradually taking you through your first packet capture, identifying and filtering out just the packets of interest, and saving them to a new file for later analysis. The subsequent chapters will build on this foundation by covering essential topics on the application of the right Wireshark features for analysis, network protocols essentials, troubleshooting, and analyzing performance issues. Finally, the book focuses on packet analysis for security tasks, command-line utilities, and tools that manage trace files.

Upon finishing this book, you will have successfully added strong Wireshark skills to your technical toolset and significantly increased your value as an IT professional.

James H. Baxter

James H. Baxter is the President and CEO of PacketIQ Inc., a company which specializes in network and application performance analysis and management, including development of advanced analysis frameworks and tools. With over 30 years of experience in the IT industry, his diverse technical background includes electronics, RF, satellite, data/telecom, LAN/WAN and voice design, network management, speech technologies, and Java/.NET programming. For most of the last 20 years, he has been working specifically with network and application performance issues. James is a Wireshark Certified Network Analyst (WCNA). He is a member of the IEEE, Computer Measurement Group, and Association of Computing Machinery, and he follows advancements in artificial intelligence. James is also a private pilot who holds an amateur radio Extra class license. He is also a guitar player and an amateur astronomer. You can find out more about James and PacketIQ Inc. at www.packetiq.com.