Discuss your approach to completing this Hands-on Assignment. (1) Give the URL of the resource(s) you used to find instructions for installing and using Wireshark. What advice would you give to another new user to make the process successful? (2) Briefly explain how to interpret the information in the packet details section for the server’s response to your computer’s GET command. How does understanding encapsulation help you find and interpret the contents of a frame? (3) Briefly explain the information shown in the packet capture (top) section, and how to interpret it. How does using filters help network analysts to locate the specific packets they need?
(1) Give the URL of the resource(s) you used to find instructions for installing and using Wireshark. What advice would you give to another new user to make the process successful?
There were two primary URLs used for installing and using Wireshark. The URL for downloading Wireshark and offering instructions was https://www.wireshark.org/download.html. The other URL to offer further instructions for using Wireshark for the assignment was https://www.wireshark.org/docs/wsug_html_chunked/. The advice that I would offer to newer users is to utilize Google searches and YouTube videos to better understand the process for installing and using Wireshark.
(2) Briefly explain how to interpret the information in the packet details section for the server’s response to your computer’s GET command. How does understanding encapsulation help you find and interpret the contents of a frame?
To interpret the information for the server’s response to the GET command, it starts with looking in the HTTP sections of the packet to find the necessary information and then noting how each segment of the command is broken down with the requested URI, path, query, and version of HTTP to combine to create the full command. Encapsulation helps understand the contents of a frame by understanding how its smaller components are ordered in a specific format from the inner to the outermost layer.
(3) Briefly explain the information shown in the packet capture (top) section, and how to interpret it. How does using filters help network analysts to locate the specific packets they need?
The information in the packet capture section has a large amount of interpretation, consisting of a number associated with each packet in the capture, the time it was captured, the source and destination IP addresses for a basic path, the protocols connected to most packets, the total bit length of a packet, and additional information that provides simplified information that can be found in a packet’s details. Filters can help to save a lot of time for network analysts due to thousands of packets showing in a few minutes, and if they are looking for a specific component or type of packet, they won’t need to look through the details through every packet in a capture.