Study Guide Questions Flashcards
What is the purpose of network analysis?
Identify performance problems, locate security breaches, analyze application behavior, and perform capacity planning
Name at least three troubleshooting tasks that can be performed using network analysis.
- Locate faulty network devices
- Identify device or software misconfigurations
- Measure high delays along a path
- Locate the point of packet loss
- Identify network errors and service refusals
- Graph queuing delays
Why is network analysis considered a security risk by some companies?
It involves tapping into network traffic and eavesdropping on communications potentially showing unencrypted communication.
What is the purpose of WinPcap?
Windows port of the libpcap interface. Provides low-level network access and the Windows version of the libpcap API.
What is the purpose of Wireshark’s dissectors?
Decode packets to display field contents and intepreted values, plugins provide special routines for dissection, display filters define which packets are displayed
What is the purpose of the Wiretap library?
Enables Wireshark to ready a variety of trace file formats.
If you connect a Wireshark host directly into a switch, what traffic can you expect to see by default?
By default, switches forward all broadcast packets, multicast packets (unless configured to block multicast forwarding), packets destined to the Wireshark host’s hardware address and packets destined to unknown hardware addresses.
What is the difference between monitor mode and promiscuous mode?
In monitor mode, the driver doesn’t make the adapter a member of any service set. In this mode, an adapter and driver pass all packets of all SSIDs from the currently selected channel up to Wireshark. Promiscuous mode enables a network card and driver to capture traffic that is addressed to other devices on the network, not just to the local hardware address.
What is the purpose of file sets?
File sets are contiguous files that can be individually opened and examined faster than single files.
What is the difference between capture filters and display filters?
Capture filters limit the packets captured when you are on a busy network or are focusing on a specific type of traffic. Display filters limit the packets displayed from a full capture.
What format is used by Wireshark’s capture filters?
Berkeley Packet Filtering (BPF)
What is the purpose of the following capture filters?
ether dst 08:3f:3d:03:32:03
gateway rtrmain01
host www.espn.com
Captures all traffic sent to that MAC address.
Captures all traffic to or from the MAC address of that hostname. Must be able to resolve the hostname.
Captures all traffic sent to or from the IP belonging to www.espn.com.
How does Wireshark’s network name resolution use DNS to associate an IP address with a host name?
Uses hosts file lookup or inverse DNS queries to resolve IPs to host names.
Why would you want to alter Wireshark’s preference settings?
To customize Wireshark for your network environment. These settings include the panes displayed in the main Wireshark window, capture settings, the name resolution processes, individual dissector behavior, etc.
What is the difference between a global preference and a personal preference setting?
Global preferences are system-wide preferences. Personal preferences define customized Wireshark behavior and override the global preferences.
What is the difference between marking packets and applying a coloring rule?
Packet marking is a temporary designation that is cleared when you reload the trace file, open the trace file again or toggle the packet marking off. Coloring rules are automatically applied to the traffic each time you open the trace file.
How do you share coloring rules with other Wireshark users?
Import/export out of the coloring rules window or copy the colorfilters file.
You have created a coloring rule for ICMP Type 3 traffic as shown in the figure below. How can you ensure that ICMP Type 3 packets are colored with this new rule?
Coloring rules follow a top down logic. Make sure your rule is not being overridden by a higher rule.
How can the time setting be used to identify the cause of network performance problems?
Set the Time column to Seconds since Previously Displayed Packet and look for large gaps in time in a conversation during what should be an automated streaming process.
You have opened a trace file sent to you from another company. The timestamp only shows millisecond resolution. Why? Can you improve the timestamp resolution of the trace file?
The analyzer used to capture the trace file could not provide more precise timestamps. You cannot alter the timestamp resolution of captured trace files.
You have opened a trace file that contains 5 separate conversations. How can Time Reference be used to measure the time elapsed in one of the conversations?
Set a Time Reference on the first packet of the conversation you are interested in and scroll to the end of the conversation. The Time column will indicate the time elapsed from the Time Reference packet and the last packet of the conversation.
How can you use the Protocol Hierarchy window to identify a breached host?
After capturing traffic to and from the host, open the Protocol Hierarchy window to look for unusual applications such as TFTP, IRC, etc. You can apply a display filter for the conversation from inside the Protocol Hierarchy window and then follow the TCP or UDP stream to reassemble the communications and identify commands or information exchanged.
Your trace file contains over 100 TCP connections. How can you identify the most active (bytes/second) TCP connections?
Open the Statistics | Conversations window and select the TCP tab. Sort the information by the Bytes column. You can now right-click and apply a filter based on the most active conversation for further analysis.
What is the purpose of GeoIP?
GeoIP maps IP addresses in the Endpoints window to an OpenStreetMap view of the world.
What syntax type is used by Wireshark display filters?
Wireshark specific syntax
Why is the display filter arp && bootp incorrect?
You will never have packets that are both ARP and DHCP/BOOTP.
What is the difference between Prepare a Filter and Apply as Filter?
Prepare a Filter creates the filter and displays it in the Display Filter window. Apply as Filter applies the filter immediately.
What is the difference between the following filters?
(ip. src==192.168.0.1 and udp.port==53) or tcp.port==80
ip. src==192.168.0.1 and (udp.port==53 or tcp.port==80)
The first filter displays DNS/port 53 traffic from 192.168.0.105 plus all HTTP/port 80 traffic on the network. The second filter displays DNS/port 53 or HTTP/port 80 traffic from 192.168.0.105.
You have selected a packet in the Packet List pane, but Follow TCP Stream, Follow UDP Stream and Follow SSL Stream are not available. Why not?
The packet does not have a TCP/UDP header and is not SSL communication. ARP for example.
What is the syntax of the display filter created when you choose Follow TCP Stream?
tcp.stream eq
How can you determine the type of file transferred over an FTP connection when you use Follow TCP Stream?
You can look at the file name in the command channel or look for a file identifier inside the file itself.
Why would the Stream window be empty when you select Follow SSL Streams?
You did not apply decryption keys to the SSL stream.
What elements can you customize using Wireshark profiles?
You can customize your preferences (such as name resolution, columns, stream coloring and protocol dissection settings), capture filters, display filters, coloring rules, etc.
How can you move a custom profile to another Wireshark system?
You can copy the entire profile directory to the other Wireshark system’s profiles directory.
Which file should you be cautious of sharing when copying a custom profile to another Wireshark system?
The preferences file may contain settings that are specific to the original Wireshark system. This file contains configurations such as the default directory setting for opening new trace files and the default capture device
How can you quickly view all the packet comments in a trace file?
Open the Expert Infos window and select the Packet Comments tab.
What save options are available when you only want to save a subset of packets contained in a trace file?
When you select File | Export Specified Packets, you can choose to save displayed packets, selected packets, marked packets, first to last marked packet or a packet range.
What export format could you use if you are going to import information from the Packet List pane into a spreadsheet program?
CSV
Which Wireshark feature should you use if you want to save a TCP header as a text file?
Expand the TCP header in a packet and choose File | Export Packet Dissections and choose as “Plain Text” file. Select Packet Details: As displayed in the Packet Format section.
What is the fastest way to launch the Expert Infos window?
Click on the Expert Info button on Wireshark’s Status Bar.
How can you make specific Expert Info elements stand out in the Packet List pane?
By default, Wireshark colors all Expert Info elements with a black background and red foreground. You can make Expert Info elements stand out by creating a coloring rule for the element (e.g., tcp.analysis.retransmission) and placing it above the BadTCP coloring rule.
How can you filter on all packets that trigger TCP Expert notifications?
Apply a display filter for tcp.analysis.flags.
What file is referenced to determine the port to use in a communication when the application does not explicitly specify a port?
etc/services file
What can you assume when a client does not generate a DNS query to resolve a target’s IP address?
The client either has the target’s IP address in cache or the client has a hosts file.
What configuration fault might cause a host to ARP for a remote target?
The client might have a subnet mask that is too short.
What is the purpose of DNS?
Resolve hostnames to IP addresses.
When does DNS traffic use TCP as the transport?
Zone transfers and requests larger than 512 bytes.
What is the difference between recursive and iterative DNS queries?
Recursive will allow the DNS server to query another DNS server if it does not have the record locally. Iterative only allows the DNS server to look at its local database.
What are the four sections of DNS queries and answers?
- Questions
- Answer Resource Records
- Authority Resource Records
- Additional Resource Records
What is the purpose of ARP?
Obtain the hardware address of a target host or gateway.
What configuration problem can cause a host to ARP for a remote host?
Subnet mask is too short.
Why can’t ARP packets cross routers?
No IP header
What is the syntax of capture and display filters for ARP traffic?
arp
arp
What is the purpose of IPv4/IPv6?
Provides datagram delivery services for networked system as well as fragmentation and reassembly for low MTU networks
Which three IPv4 header fields are used with IP fragmentation?
Don’t Fragment bit, the More Fragments bit and Fragment Offset field.
What should an IPv4 router do when a packet to be forwarded arrives with a TTL value of one?
Discard the packet
What is the purpose of the Differentiated Services field?
The Differentiated Services field can be used to prioritize traffic along a path.
What is the syntax for capture and display filters for IPv4 and IPv6 traffic?
Capture filter: ip or ip6
Display filter: ip or ipv6
What is the format of an IPv6 6to4 packet?
An IPv6 header is preceded by an IPv4 header. The IPv4 Protocol field is set to 41 (IPv6).
What is the purpose of ICMP?
ICMP is used as a messaging system for errors, alerts, and general notifications on an IP network.
What type of device might generate an ICMP Type 3, Code 13 (Destination Unreachable, Communication Administratively Prohibited) packet?
This packet might be generated by a verbose firewall. Many firewalls will silently discard blocked packets rather than send this packet.
You have captured only ICMP packets on your network. How can you determine what triggered the ICMP Type 3 (Destination Unreachable) packets on your network?
ICMP Type 3 packets contain the IP header and at least the next 8 bytes of the packet that triggered this response. Examine the IP header and bytes following the ICMP portion to determine why this packet was sent.
Which ICMPv4 and ICMPv6 packets are used for the standard ICMP-based ping process?
ICMP Type 8 (Echo Request) and ICMP Type 0 (Echo Reply) packets.