Network analysis with open source packet analyzers : case wireshark

Computer Network is a growing field every day. Networking has made life easy. This world-wide computer network is accessed by more than 3 billion people in the world. The growth rate is quick and this shows the complexity of internet world. The defense research of USA gave birth to ARPANET which later created protocols to link two different computers. This creation is called TCP/IP protocols and this is how internet was born. Computers are connected to different topologies in a network and they communicate because of networks protocols. Small home, office network, local area network (LAN) of computers then become linked with Wide area networks (WAN). In this thesis, architecture of computer networks together with analysis of packet is studied. Packet analysis is carried out with the open packet analyzer software “Wireshark”. This thesis also focuses on security challenges for a network and also presents some solutions. Wireshark can play an important role to keep the network secure and fully operational. Wireshark helps analyzing network, protocols, troubleshooting network and preventing attacks