In this article, we will be talking about the application of Wireshark.
Overview
Wireshark has proved to be a useful tool for capturing packet data in real-time and displaying them in a format easily readable by humans. Wireshark was formerly known as Ethereal. Wireshark is embedded with filters and color-coding, among other amazing features that will let the user take a deep dive into network traffic and assess individual packets. With Wireshark, inspections can be carried out on programs network traffic with suspicious activities, as well as analyzing traffic flow on the network and troubleshoot any network problem that arises.
Users can quickly get the Wireshark application for windows or iOS from the official website of Wireshark. Users of systems will most likely find the Wireshark application in their software centers. It is also important to warn users that a good number of organizations do not permit the use of Wireshark on their networks, and this tool should not be used without permission.
Application of Wireshark
The application of Wireshark can be made by embracing the following practices:
- Packet Capturing: once Wireshark has been downloaded and installed, the user can launch it and proceed to double click the network interface located under Capture in other to start capturing the packets available on that particular interface. Once the interface name has been clicked, packets will begin to become visible in real-time. Wireshark then captures every packet activity on the system. With promiscuous mode enabled, which is enabled by default, other packets on the network also become visible instead of packets addressed to the users’ network adapter alone. If the user wants to check the state of the promiscuous mode, click on Capture, options, and then ‘enable promiscuous mode on all interfaces,’ the checkbox gets activated at the bottom of this window. To stop capturing data, click the red button near the left top corner.
- Color coding: The packets highlighted will become visible to users in a wide variety of colors. Wireshark is programmed to utilize colors in other to assist the user in identifying the types of traffic just by looking at it. By default, TCP traffic is assigned the light purple color, UDP traffic is assigned the bright blue color, and the black color is used to identify packets with errors such as being delivered out of order. To view and understand the meaning of these color codes, click ‘View,’ ‘Coloring Rules.’ The coloring rules can also be customized and modified from this section.
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