xviii Introduction
Why This Book?
You may find yourself wondering why you should buy this book as opposed
to any other book about packet analysis. The answer lies in the title: Practical
Packet Analysis. Let’s face it—nothing beats real-world experience, and the
closest you can come to that experience in a book is through practical
examples with real-world scenarios.
The first half of this book gives you the knowledge you’ll need to
understand packet analysis and Wireshark. The second half of the book is
devoted entirely to practical cases that you could easily encounter in day-
to-day network management.
Whether you’re a network technician, a network administrator, a chief
information officer, a desktop technician, or even a network security ana-
lyst, you will benefit greatly from understanding and using the packet analy-
sis techniques described in this book.
Concepts and Approach
I’m generally a really laid-back guy, so when I teach a concept, I try to do so
in a really laid-back way. This holds true for the language used in this book.
It’s easy to get lost in technical jargon, but I’ve tried my best to keep things
as casual as possible. I’ve defined all the terms and concepts clearly and
without any added fluff. After all, I’m from the great state of Kentucky, so I
try to keep the big words to a minimum. (But you’ll have to forgive me for
some of the backwoods country verbiage you’ll find throughout the text.)
The first several chapters are integral to understanding the rest of the
book, so make it a point to master the concepts in these pages first. The
second half of the book is purely practical. You may not see these exact
scenarios in your workplace, but you will be able to apply the concepts they
teach in the situations you do encounter.
Here is a quick breakdown of this book’s contents:
Chapter 1: Packet Analysis and Network Basics
What is packet analysis? How does it work? How do you do it? This chap-
ter covers the basics of network communication and packet analysis.
Chapter 2: Tapping into the Wire
This chapter covers the different techniques for placing a packet sniffer
on your network.
Chapter 3: Introduction to Wireshark
Here, we’ll look at the basics of Wireshark—where to get it, how to
use it, what it does, why it’s great, and all that good stuff. This edition
includes a new discussion about customizing Wireshark with configura-
tion profiles.