How to use Wireshark

Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer that can be used for network troubleshooting, analysis, software and communications protocol development, and education. It is widely used by network administrators and security professionals to analyze network traffic and detect network problems. Wireshark is a powerful tool that can capture and analyze network packets in real-time. It can be used to troubleshoot network problems, detect network attacks, and monitor network traffic. In this article, we will discuss how to use Wireshark to capture and analyze network packets.

Installing Wireshark

Wireshark is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. You can download the latest version of Wireshark from the official website here. Once you have downloaded the installer, you can install Wireshark on your computer by following the on-screen instructions.

Capturing Packets

To capture network packets with Wireshark, you need to select a network interface to capture packets from. You can select the network interface by clicking on the “Capture” menu and then selecting “Interfaces”. This will open a dialog box that shows all the available network interfaces on your computer. Select the network interface that you want to capture packets from and click on the “Start” button to start capturing packets.

Wireshark will start capturing packets from the selected network interface in real-time. You can see the captured packets in the main Wireshark window. The packets are displayed in a tabular format with detailed information about each packet, such as the source and destination IP addresses, protocol, and packet size.

Analyzing Packets

Once you have captured packets with Wireshark, you can analyze the packets to troubleshoot network problems or detect network attacks. You can filter the captured packets by using display filters to focus on specific packets that match certain criteria. For example, you can filter packets by IP address, protocol, port number, or packet size.

You can also use Wireshark’s built-in tools to analyze the captured packets. For example, you can use the “Follow TCP Stream” tool to reconstruct a TCP stream and view the data exchanged between the client and server. You can also use the “Statistics” menu to view statistics about the captured packets, such as the number of packets captured, the number of packets dropped, and the average packet size.

Conclusion

Wireshark is a powerful network protocol analyzer that can be used to troubleshoot network problems, detect network attacks, and monitor network traffic. It is widely used by network administrators and security professionals to analyze network traffic and detect network problems. In this article, we discussed how to use Wireshark to capture and analyze network packets. We covered the installation process, capturing packets, and analyzing packets with Wireshark. We hope this article has helped you understand how to use Wireshark to troubleshoot network problems and detect network attacks.

References

• Wireshark Official Website
• Wireshark User Guide
• Wireshark Wiki
• Http Protocol
• Tcp Protocol
• Udp Protocol
• Dns Protocol
• Network Protocol
• Network Traffic
• Network Security
• Network Troubleshooting
• DHCP Protocol
• ARP Protocol
• ICMP Protocol
• FTP Protocol
• SSH Protocol
• TLS Protocol
• SSL Protocol
• SMTP Protocol
• POP3 Protocol
• IMAP Protocol
• HTTPS Protocol
• Wi-Fi Protocol
• Bluetooth Protocol
• Ethernet Protocol
• IPv4 Protocol
• IPv6 Protocol
• OSI Model
• TCP/IP Protocol
• Network Packet
• Network Analysis
• Network Monitoring
• Network Attack

Filters Example

• ip.addr == "127.0.0.1": Filter packets with IP address
• tcp.port == 80: Filter packets with TCP port number
• udp.port == 53: Filter packets with UDP port number
• frame.len > 1000: Filter packets with packet size greater than 1000 bytes
• http: Filter packets with HTTP protocol
• dns: Filter packets with DNS protocol
• tcp.analysis.flags: Filter packets with TCP flags
• tcp.analysis.retransmission: Filter packets with TCP retransmission
• tcp.analysis.duplicate_ack: Filter packets with TCP duplicate ACK
• tcp.analysis.out_of_order: Filter packets with TCP out-of-order
• tcp.analysis.window_update: Filter packets with TCP window update
• tcp.analysis.zero_window: Filter packets with TCP zero window
• tcp.analysis.fast_retransmission: Filter packets with TCP fast retransmission
• tcp.analysis.keep_alive: Filter packets with TCP keep-alive
• tcp.analysis.window_full: Filter packets with TCP window full
• tcp.analysis.window_update_ack: Filter packets with TCP window update ACK
• tcp.analysis.reused_ports: Filter packets with reused ports
• tcp.analysis.flags.reset == 1: Filter packets with TCP reset flag
• tcp.analysis.flags.syn == 1: Filter packets with TCP SYN flag
• tcp.analysis.flags.ack == 1: Filter packets with TCP ACK flag
• tcp.analysis.flags.fin == 1: Filter packets with TCP FIN flag
• tcp.analysis.flags.push == 1: Filter packets with TCP PUSH flag
• tcp.analysis.flags.urg == 1: Filter packets with TCP URG flag
• tcp.analysis.flags.cwr == 1: Filter packets with TCP CWR flag
• tcp.analysis.flags.ecn == 1: Filter packets with TCP ECN flag
• tcp.analysis.flags.ns == 1: Filter packets with TCP NS flag
• tcp.analysis.flags.res == 1: Filter packets with TCP reserved flag
• tcp.analysis.flags.str == 1: Filter packets with TCP stream flag
• tcp.analysis.flags.rst == 1: Filter packets with TCP reset flag
• udp.analysis.duplicate_payload: Filter packets with UDP duplicate payload
• udp.analysis.duplicate_payload_and_checksum: Filter packets with UDP duplicate payload and checksum
• udp.analysis.duplicate_payload_in_order: Filter packets with UDP duplicate payload in order
• udp.analysis.duplicate_payload_out_of_order: Filter packets with UDP duplicate payload out of order
• udp.analysis.duplicate_payload_reorder: Filter packets with UDP duplicate payload reorder
• udp.analysis.duplicate_payload_reorder_and_checksum: Filter packets with UDP duplicate payload reorder and checksum
• udp.analysis.duplicate_payload_reorder_in_order: Filter packets with UDP duplicate payload reorder in order
• udp.analysis.duplicate_payload_reorder_out_of_order: Filter packets with UDP duplicate payload reorder out of order
• udp.analysis.duplicate_payload_reorder_and_checksum_in_order: Filter packets with UDP duplicate payload reorder and checksum in order
• udp.analysis.duplicate_payload_reorder_and_checksum_out_of_order: Filter packets with UDP duplicate payload reorder and checksum out of order
• udp.analysis.duplicate_payload_reorder_and_checksum_reorder: Filter packets with UDP duplicate payload reorder and checksum reorder
• udp.analysis.duplicate_payload_reorder_and_checksum_reorder_in_order: Filter packets with UDP duplicate payload reorder and checksum reorder in order
• http.request.method == "GET": Filter packets with HTTP GET request method
• http.request.method == "POST": Filter packets with HTTP POST request method
• http.request.method == "PUT": Filter packets with HTTP PUT request method
• http.request.method == "DELETE": Filter packets with HTTP DELETE request method
• http.request.method == "HEAD": Filter packets with HTTP HEAD request method
• http.request.method == "OPTIONS": Filter packets with HTTP OPTIONS request method
• http.request.method == "TRACE": Filter packets with HTTP TRACE request method
• http.request.method == "CONNECT": Filter packets with HTTP CONNECT request method
• http.request.method == "PATCH": Filter packets with HTTP PATCH request method
• http.request.method == "PROPFIND": Filter packets with HTTP PROPFIND request method
• http.request.method == "PROPPATCH": Filter packets with HTTP PROPPATCH request method
• http.request.method == "MKCOL": Filter packets with HTTP MKCOL request method
• http.request.method == "COPY": Filter packets with HTTP COPY request method
• http.request.method == "MOVE": Filter packets with HTTP MOVE request method
• http.request.method == "LOCK": Filter packets with HTTP LOCK request method
• http.request.method == "UNLOCK": Filter packets with HTTP UNLOCK request method
• http.request.method == "VERSION-CONTROL": Filter packets with HTTP VERSION-CONTROL request method
• http.request.method == "REPORT": Filter packets with HTTP REPORT request method
• http.request.method == "CHECKOUT": Filter packets with HTTP CHECKOUT request method