Question

The purpose of this lab:  Wireshark Intro Lab

is to get students familiar with the use of their VMs and running wireshark on their VMs. We also examine Ethernet, IPv4, and TCP addressing at the Network Access, Network, and Transport layers of the TCP/IP stack.

Reflection:

In two paragraphs reflect the experience of using Wireshark capture (in the lab) on the following questions: What was the most valuable feature of the lab? How did you prepare for this lab? What changes are you considering in preparing for your next lab? What did you learn from this experience? What advice would you give someone who was preparing for this lab for the first time? This should be well-written paragraphs that discusses items like those listed above.

Answer 1

Most valuable feature of this lab - Learning subject by rote memorisation and Learning by doing are totally different experiences. Wireshark is the de facto standard across many industries and educational institutions. This lab is giving that practical hands-on exposure which anyone would have dreamt off. Looking practically into the working of Transport, Network and Link Layer protocols is priceless wisdom.

My preparation for the lab - I was going through the documentation and found it pretty exciting to learn about Wireshark. I came to know that it's an open source project and source code is freely available under GPL license and anyone. I came to know that it is the world's foremost network protocol analyzer and it lets us see what's happening on our network at a microscopic level.. I did not spend much time in practical hands-on sessions at home.

Changes considering in preparing for next lab - I would like to come prepared with hands-on experience and look more into - Live Capture and Offline Analysis and have hands-on exposure onto standard 3-pane packet browser.

Advice to someone who is preparing for this lab - It is a great experience to have this lab. I recommend everyone to go through https://www.wireshark.org/ . Taking advantage of the lab work really makes one subject expert.