Lab - Use Wireshark to View Network Traffic

Topology

Objectives
Part 1: Capture and Analyze Local ICMP Data in Wireshark
Part 2: Capture and Analyze Remote ICMP Data in Wireshark

Background / Scenario
Wireshark is a software protocol analyzer, or "packet sniffer" application, used for network troubleshooting,
analysis, software and protocol development, and education. As data streams travel back and forth over the
network, the sniffer "captures" each protocol data unit (PDU) and can decode and analyze its content
according to the appropriate RFC or other specifications.
Wireshark is a useful tool for anyone working with networks and can be used with most labs in the CCNA
courses for data analysis and troubleshooting. In this lab, you will use Wireshark to capture ICMP data packet
IP addresses and Ethernet frame MAC addresses.

Required Resources
 1 PC (Windows with internet access)
 Additional PCs on a local-area network (LAN) will be used to reply to ping requests.
Using a packet sniffer such as Wireshark may be considered a breach of the security policy of the school. It is
recommended that permission be obtained before running Wireshark for this lab. If using a packet sniffer such
as Wireshark is an issue, the instructor may wish to assign the lab as homework or perform a walk-through
demonstration.

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Lab - Use Wireshark to View Network Traffic

Instructions

Part 1: Capture and Analyze Local ICMP Data in Wireshark – perform on NetLab
In Part 1 of this lab, you will ping another PC on the LAN and capture ICMP requests and replies in
Wireshark. You will also look inside the frames captured for specific information. This analysis should help to
clarify how packet headers are used to transport data to their destination.
Before moving on to Step 1, please wait 10-15 minutes so that the Default Gateway Router has enough
time to fully initialize after bootup. If you are not receiving a DHCP address in Step 1, that means more
time is needed for the router to finish booting up. I will suggest after starting lab on NetLab start working
with Part 2 on personal device and come back after 15-30 min or wait for at least 15 min to obtain IP
automatically.

Step 1: Retrieve your PC interface addresses.

For this lab, you will need to retrieve your PC IP address and its network interface card (NIC) physical
address, also called the MAC address.
Open a Windows command prompt.

a. For this lab, you can utilize both PC-A and PC-B for use. Click on PC-A and then you will need to retrieve
your PC IP address and its network interface card (NIC) physical address, also called the MAC address.
The IP address on either PC-A or PC-B will be provided via DHCP.

C:\Users\Student> ipconfig /renew

C:\Users\Student> ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DESKTOP-NB48BTC

Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid

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Lab - Use Wireshark to View Network Traffic

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :

Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . :00-26-B9-DD-00-91
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::d809:d939:110f:1b7f%20(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.147(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
<output omitted>

b. Click on PC-B and use the ipconfig command to record the IP address provided to the 2nd PC.

Close a Windows Command Prompt.

Step 2: Start Wireshark and begin capturing data.

a. Navigate to Wireshark. Double-click the desired interface to start the packet capture. Make sure the
desired interface has traffic.

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Lab - Use Wireshark to View Network Traffic

b. Information will start scrolling down the top section in Wireshark. The data lines will appear in different
colors based on protocol.
This information can scroll by very quickly depending on what communication is taking place between
your PC and the LAN. We can apply a filter to make it easier to view and work with the data that is being
captured by Wireshark.
For this lab, we are only interested in displaying ICMP (ping) PDUs. Type icmp in the Filter box at the top
of Wireshark and press Enter, or click the Apply button (arrow sign) to view only ICMP (ping) PDUs.

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Lab - Use Wireshark to View Network Traffic

c. This filter causes all data in the top window to disappear, but you are still capturing the traffic on the
interface. Navigate to a command prompt window and ping the IP address of PC-B.

C:\> ping 192.168.1.114

Pinging 192.168.1.114 with 32 bytes of data:

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Lab - Use Wireshark to View Network Traffic

Reply from 192.168.1.114: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Reply from 192.168.1.114: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.114: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.114: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.114:

Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
Notice that you start seeing data appear in the top window of Wireshark again.

Note: If PC-B does not reply to your pings, this may be because the PC firewall is blocking these
requests. Please see Appendix A: Allowing ICMP Traffic Through a Firewall for information on how to
allow ICMP traffic through the firewall using Windows.
d. Stop capturing data by clicking the Stop Capture icon.

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Lab - Use Wireshark to View Network Traffic

e.

Step 3: Examine the captured data.

In Step 3, examine the data that was generated by the ping requests to PC-B. Wireshark data is displayed in
three sections: 1) The top section displays the list of PDU frames captured with a summary of the IP packet
information listed; 2) the middle section lists PDU information for the frame selected in the top part of the
screen and separates a captured PDU frame by its protocol layers; and 3) the bottom section displays the raw
data of each layer. The raw data is displayed in both hexadecimal and decimal form.
a. Click the first ICMP request PDU frames in the top section of Wireshark. Notice that the Source column
has your PC IP address, and the Destination column contains the IP address of the PC that you pinged.

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Lab - Use Wireshark to View Network Traffic

b. With this PDU frame still selected in the top section, navigate to the middle section. C : click the plus sign
to the left of the Ethernet II row to view the destination and source MAC addresses.

Questions:

Does the source MAC address match your PC interface?

YES
Does the destination MAC address in Wireshark match PC-B MAC address?
YES
How is the MAC address of the pinged PC obtained by your PC?

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Lab - Use Wireshark to View Network Traffic

ANS : When your computer pings another device, an ARP request is sent to resolve the IP address to a
MAC address. If the pinged device is connected to the same network as your PC, it will respond with its
MAC address, which your PC can save for future use.
Note: In the preceding example of a captured ICMP request, ICMP data is encapsulated inside an IPv4
packet PDU (IPv4 header) which is then encapsulated in an Ethernet II frame PDU (Ethernet II header)
for transmission on the LAN.

Part 2: Capture and Analyze Remote ICMP Data in Wireshark – perform on

personal device connected to Internet.
In Part 2, you will ping remote hosts (hosts not on the LAN) and examine the generated data from those
pings. You will then determine what is different about this data from the data examined in Part 1.

Step 1: Start capturing data on the interface.

a. Start the data capture again.
b. A window prompts you to save the previously captured data before starting another capture. It is not
necessary to save this data. Click Continue without Saving.
c. With the capture active, ping the following three website URLs from a Windows command prompt:

1) www.yahoo.com
2) www.cisco.com
3) www.google.com
Note: When you ping the URLs listed, notice that the Domain Name Server (DNS) translates the URL to
an IP address. Note the IP address received for each URL.
d. You can stop capturing data by clicking the Stop Capture icon.

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Lab - Use Wireshark to View Network Traffic

Step 2: Examining and analyzing the data from the remote hosts.
Review the captured data in Wireshark and examine the IP and MAC addresses of the three locations that
you pinged. List the destination IP and MAC addresses for all three locations in the space provided.

Questions:

IP address for www.yahoo.com:

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Lab - Use Wireshark to View Network Traffic

ANS : 74.6.143.25
MAC address for www.yahoo.com:
ANS : 68:2c:7b:bb:e2:e8.
IP address for www.cisco.com:
ANS : 184.29.160.113
MAC address for www.cisco.com:
ANS : 68:2c:7b:bb:e2:e8.
IP address for www.google.com:
ANS : 142.251.33.164
MAC address for www.google.com:
ANS :

What is significant about this information?

ANS : The MAC address were same.
How does this information differ from the local ping information you received in Part 1?
Ans: It was different as it shows MAC
Close the Windows command prompt

Reflection Question
Why does Wireshark show the actual MAC address of the local hosts, but not the actual MAC address for the
remote hosts?

ANS : Wireshark shows MAC address for the local hosts but it doesn’t shows MAC for remote hosts
as those MAC addresses are not directly accessible, only their ip addresses can be accessed.

Appendix A: Allowing ICMP Traffic Through a Firewall

If the members of your team are unable to ping your PC, the firewall may be blocking those requests. This
appendix describes how to create a rule in the firewall to allow ping requests. It also describes how to disable
the new ICMP rule after you have completed the lab.

Part 1: Create a new inbound rule allowing ICMP traffic through the firewall.
a. Navigate to the Control Panel and click the System and Security option in the Category view.
b. In the System and Security window, click Windows Defender Firewall or Windows Firewall.
c. In the left pane of the Windows Defender Firewall or Windows Firewall window, click Advanced
settings.
d. On the Advanced Security window, click the Inbound Rules option on the left sidebar and then click
New Rule… on the right sidebar.
e. This launches the New Inbound Rule wizard. On the Rule Type screen, click the Custom radio button
and click Next.

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Lab - Use Wireshark to View Network Traffic

f. In the left pane, click the Protocol and Ports option and using the Protocol Type drop-down menu,
select ICMPv4, and then click Next.
g. Verify that Any IP address for both the local and remote IP addresses are selected. Click Next to
continue.
h. Select Allow the connection. Click Next to continue.
i. By default, this rule applies to all the profiles. Click Next to continue.
j. Name the rule with Allow ICMP Requests. Click Finish to continue. This new rule should allow your
team members to receive ping replies from your PC.

Part 2: Disabling or deleting the new ICMP rule.

After the lab is complete, you may want to disable or even delete the new rule you created in Step 1. Using
the Disable Rule option allows you to enable the rule again at a later date. Deleting the rule permanently
deletes it from the list of inbound rules.
a. On the Advanced Security window, click Inbound Rules in the left pane and then locate the rule you
created previously.
b. Right-click the ICMP rule and select Disable Rule if so desired. You may also select Delete if you want to
permanently delete it. If you choose this option, you must re-create the rule again to allow ICMP replies.
document
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