Practical Packet Analysis: Using Wireshark to Solve Real-World Network Problems |  | Author: Chris Sanders
Publisher: No Starch Press
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $26.37
as of 7/31/2010 07:10 CDT details
You Save: $13.58 (34%)
New (12) Used (12) from $17.71
Seller: Amazon.com
Rating:  12 reviews
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 192
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.7
ISBN: 1593271492
Dewey Decimal Number: 004.66
EAN: 9781593271497
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
It's easy enough to install Wireshark and begin capturing packets off the wire--or from the air. But how do you interpret those packets once you've captured them? And how can those packets help you to better understand what's going on under the hood of your network? Practical Packet Analysis shows how to use Wireshark to capture and then analyze packets as you take an indepth look at real-world packet analysis and network troubleshooting. The way the pros do it. Wireshark (derived from the Ethereal project), has become the world's most popular network sniffing application. But while Wireshark comes with documentation, there's not a whole lot of information to show you how to use it in real-world scenarios. Practical Packet Analysis shows you how to: - Use packet analysis to tackle common network problems, such as loss of connectivity, slow networks, malware infections, and more
- Build customized capture and display filters
- Tap into live network communication
- Graph traffic patterns to visualize the data flowing across your network
- Use advanced Wireshark features to understand confusing packets
- Build statistics and reports to help you better explain technical network information to non-technical users
Because net-centric computing requires a deep understanding of network communication at the packet level, Practical Packet Analysis is a must have for any network technician, administrator, or engineer troubleshooting network problems of any kind. Technical review by Gerald Combs, creator of Wireshark.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
 A must for Wireshark users December 31, 2008
J. Cornell (Maryland)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Lately I have been reading reviews after I buy books just to see how they stack up, and this is no exception. I bought the book after checking it out at the book store and saw that there was good stuff in it. If you use Wireshark, or if you are learning it, you should have this book on your shelf period.
Chris Sanders not only does a great job of introducing you to the mindset of packet analysis, he shows a side of it that most of the people I interact with don't consider...the day to day administrator's needs for a way to diagnose network problems.
If you live the world of network monitoring and information security then this books works for you as well. The concepts are what is important and they are presented very well.
As to those who say there are too many things like the mis-representation of the three-way handshake I say Thanks for pointing it out to the novice among us. For the novice, now you know, so...buy the book anyway. If I put a technical book back every time I saw a mistake that the proofer missed, I'd have empty shelves.
Thanks Chris for taking a tough subject and making it much easier to digest.
Great intro with an eye towards practical usage... June 12, 2007
Thomas Duff (Portland, OR United States)
10 out of 20 found this review helpful
As an application developer, I don't spend a lot of time wondering about what goes down the wire (but perhaps I should). But the little hacking geek in me does have more than a passing interest in being able to see things that aren't obvious. This is probably the first book that's explained packet analysis in words and terms I could understand... Practical Packet Analysis: Using Wireshark to Solve Real-World Network Problems by Chris Sanders. Not only is it a good intro to the Wireshark (formerly Ethereal) product, but he applies it to real-world troubleshooting situations.
Contents: Packet Analysis and Network Basics; Tapping into the Wire; Introduction to Wireshark; Working with Captured Packets; Advanced Wireshark Features; Common Protocols; Basic Case Scenarios; Fighting a Slow Network; Security-based Analysis; Sniffing into Thin Air; Further Reading; Afterword; Index
I find that many networking books get heavy into the protocols and terminology, and before long a beginner like myself is completely lost. This book differs from the norm in that it covers the basics in everyday language that a relatively competent IT person (who's not a network geek) can understand. Then from there, Sanders dives into the Wireshark product and shows how it can be used to see what's actually going across the line from your computer to the network. It's not a detailed guide to the product, but there's more than enough there to allow anyone to get started and to see results. Where things really get valuable (in my opinion) is when you get to Basic Case Scenarios. There, Sanders starts walking through true-to-life situations that every IT shop will recognize. Then using Wireshark, he shows how the problem could be examined and fixed by understanding what sort of packet traffic is occurring. This bridge from book knowledge to practical experience allowed me to see why I need to have Wireshark installed, and gave me the framework for understanding how important a packet sniffer can be. By the time I was done, I was out on the website downloading the software. I may not need to "fix" anything right away, but I'm now confident that I can start to understand what's happening between my box and the rest of the world.
Hard-core network admins will probably already know most of this (and already use Wireshark). For those who dabble a bit in packet analysis as part of their job, this book will take you past the bare essentials to a more complete understanding of just what you can do. And for newbies like me, it opens a whole new world that was somewhat incomprehensible before... A very nice job on this book.
An excellent guide to true understanding of how a network works November 5, 2007
R. Lindfield (Tampa, FL)
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is one of the best books, of hundreds, that I have ever put my hands on. I work as technical instructor for a Cisco Learning Parnter and I have been in IT for 15 years, teaching for the last 4. I encourage students of entry level networking classes to read this as well as students of my advanced firewall, intrusion detection and hacking classes. While I have read other books in the past that cover packet analysis or ethereal on it's own, this book is different because it can be easily digested on one weekend. The points are clear and concise and the books stays interesting.
A must have for packet analysis June 19, 2007
Thomas Stanley (Manchester, NH United States)
2 out of 11 found this review helpful
This book is well written and easy to read and understand. The author covers the basics of the WireShark protocol analyzer, and provides real-world examples of what could go wrong with your network, as well as examples of what a well running one look like.
 worth a look March 4, 2009
Drake (Montreal, Quebec Canada)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
As there aren't too many books out there on use of wireshark I found this book to be quite useful for people wanting to get their hands onto trying. I was looking for some books that would be good as a learning tool that I can throw to new members on my team and this book was roundly accepted, particularily the real world examples. By no means should this book be the only one on your shelf as there are many concepts that need to be delved into to really get a firm understanding. The book begins with a basic intro to general router concepts and hardware, it then goes into the functions of Wireshark. I found that this information could of been found on the Wireshark userguide or help file. It was basically a re-hash here so that space could of been better used providing more info about routers in general instead as a lot of the real world problems come from misconfigured routers or machines.
Overall after reading the book the reader should get a fair understanding of TCP/IP concepts and communication on a network and is a good jump off point onto more advanced books.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
|
|
|
|
