IT 643 Lab 1: Packet Analysis on Linux

You can use either VMware (free, non-commercial edition) or VirtualBox to create a virtual machine in order to perform the labs in this course. If you are using Windows 10, we recommend that you follow the instructions for Option 1: Installing VMware. Otherwise, Option 2: Installing Virtual Box should work just fine and is recommended. In either case, you will need to first download Ubuntu Linux to your computer (just download it—do not install it!)

 

Downloading Ubuntu Linux

1.       Go to http://www.ubuntu.com/.

2.       Click on “Download” at the top of the screen.

3.       On the next screen, click on “Ubuntu Desktop.”

4.       On the next screen, choose the 64-bit flavor of “Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS” and click “Download.”

a.       If your computer has a 32-bit operating system, choose the 32-bit flavor.

5.       On the next screen, you can choose to donate money to Ubuntu, or not. If you do not wish to donate, change all of the dollar figures to “0” and click “Download.”

6.       The download will take a few minutes depending on the speed of your internet connection.

7.       AT THIS POINT DO NOT INSTALL UBUNTU—YOU ARE ONLY DOWNLOADING IT. You will install it into your virtual machine (in either VirtualBox or VMWare).

 

Option 1: Installing VMware Workstation Player on your Windows Operating System

1.       Go to www.vmware.com.

2.       Click on “Downloads” at the top of the screen.

3.       Scroll down the list to find “VMware Workstation Player” – Click “Download Product.”

4.       Click “Download” for “VMware Workstation 12.0.1 Player for Windows 64-bit operating systems.”

5.       Click on the VMware-player 12.0 executable (.exe) download.

6.       If you get a message that asks if you want this app to make changes to your PC, click “Yes.”

7.       At the welcome screen, click “Next.”

8.       Check the “I accept the terms in the license agreement” checkbox and click “Next.”

9.       Check the “Enhanced Keyboard Driver” checkbox and click “Next.”

10.   Select the “Check for product updates on startup” checkbox and click “Next.”

11.   Select the checkboxes for creating shortcuts on the desktop and start menu Programs folder and click “Next.”

12.   Click “Install”—installation should only take about 3 or 4 minutes.

13.   Click “Finish”—there is no need to enter a license key.

14.   The first time you start VMware Workstation 12 Player, choose “Use VMware Workstation 12 Player for free for non-commercial use” and enter a valid email address in the box. Click “Continue.”

15.   Click “Finish.”

 

Creating a New Ubuntu Virtual Machine in VMware

1.       Open the VMware Workstation Player.

2.       Click on “Create a New Virtual Machine.”

3.       On the next screen, choose “Install disc image file (iso)” and click “Browse.” Browse to your “Downloads” folder, and click on the Ubuntu download file. Click “Next.”

4.       On the next screen, fill in the blanks for Full Name (your name), User Name (the name you will use to log in), and Password.

5.       On the next screen, either accept the default machine name or change it to IT-643 or something similar, and accept the default location and click “Next.”

6.       Accept the maximum disc size of 20GB, and choose “Store virtual disk as a single file.” Click “Next.”

7.       On the next screen, click “Finish.”

8.       Allow the installation to complete—this will take up to 20 minutes, sometimes longer.

9.       During installation, if asked to install “VMware tools for Linux” software, select “Download and Install.”

10.   During or after installation is complete, if there are any updates available, download and install them.

11.   After the software uploads have been installed, enter your password and start the Ubuntu operating system (this will take a few minutes).

 

Updating the Virtual Operating System

1.       Type <ALT>+<F2> which will bring up the “Run Command” menu. Type in “gnome-terminal” and press <Enter>. This will load up a terminal to run commands with.

2.       On the left side of the desktop is the Unity application launcher. Right click on the “Terminal” window and select “Lock to Launcher.” This will ensure simple access to the terminal.

3.       With the terminal open, the operating system will need to be updated before continuing, so type in the following to update and install security patches for Ubuntu:

 

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade

(You will be prompted to type in your password)

 

 

Option 2: Installing VirtualBox on your Windows Operating System

·         Go to https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads.

·         Click on the VirtualBox 5.0.10 for your host operating system (Windows, OS X, Linux, or Solaris)—it may take a minute or so to download depending on the speed of your internet connection.

·         Once it is downloaded, click on the download executable (.exe) file.

·         Click “Next.”

·         Accept the default file configuration by clicking “Next.”

·         Accept the default shortcut and file extensions by clicking “Next.”

·         At the “Warning: Network Interfaces” screen, click “Yes” to proceed with the installation.

·         At the next screen, click “Install.”

·         The install should only take a minute or so. When it is finished, click “Finish.”

 

Virtual Machine Setup

1.       After downloading VirtualBox, install the software, accepting the default settings, which include installing device software on Windows.

2.       Start up VirtualBox. If prompted to install the “VirtualBox Extension Pack,” you can select “Yes” to download the latest extension pack and install it.

3.       From the main window, click the “New” button.

4.       In the “Create Virtual Machine” window, type “Ubuntu” as the name and then select Linux as the type and Ubuntu (64-bit) (or Ubuntu [32-bit] if that is what you have downloaded) for the version and click “Next.”

5.       The default memory size of 768MB is acceptable; click “Next.”

6.       In the Hard Disk window, choose “Create a virtual hard disk now” and click “Create.”

7.       Leave the default VDI option and click “Next.”

8.       Leave “Dynamically allocated” selected and click “Next.”

9.       Change the hard drive size from 8GB to 20GB just to leave some space for future labs, and click “Create.”

10.   You will now have a newly created Ubuntu Virtual Machine. Click “Start,” which will turn on the VM.

11.   At the “Select Start-Up Disk” window, click on the browse button next to the drop-down box. This should automatically take you to your Ubuntu download in “Downloads.” If not, navigate to your “Downloads” file and choose the Ubuntu file that you just downloaded. Click “Start.”

12.   Information about keyboard capturing and mouse pointing may appear; click to not show the message again.

13.   Click “Install Ubuntu.”

14.   Click to check “Download updates while installing” and click “Continue.”

15.   Select “Erase disk and install Ubuntu.” Click “Install Now.”

16.   Click “Continue.”

17.   Choose your time zone and click “Continue.”

18.   Choose your language and click “Continue.”

19.   At the “Who are you?” screen, fill in your name, your computer name, your username and password, and whether or not you want to log in automatically or require a password to log in, and click “Continue.”

20.   Ubuntu will install while moving through additional configuration options—installation should take about 5–10 minutes or so.

21.   When Ubuntu starts, type in the password you used during the installation and press <Enter>.

22.   Type <ALT>+<F2>, which will bring up the “Run Command” menu. Type in “gnome-terminal” and press <Enter>.

23.   This will load up a terminal to run commands with. With the terminal open, the operating system will need to be updated before continuing, so type in the following to update and install security patches for Ubuntu:

 

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade

(You will be prompted to type in your password)

 

24.   Once the update is done, hit the right <CTRL> key or move the mouse outside of the VM. Click “Devices” and select “Install Guest Additions.”

25.   Click Run to install the VBOX Additions.

26.   Type in your password and click “Authenticate.”

27.   Once the installation is completed, press <Enter> to close the terminal window.

28.   On the left side of the desktop is the Unity application launcher. Right click on the “Terminal” window and select “Lock to Launcher.” This will ensure simple access to the terminal.

29.   Click the gear in the top right corner and select “Shut down” then select “Restart” to reboot the system.

 

Setting Up Wireshark and Performing a Packet Capture

1.      Type <ALT>+<F2>, which will bring up the “Run Command” menu. Type in “gnome-terminal” and press <Enter>. This will load up a terminal to run commands with.

2.      On the left side of the desktop is the Unity application launcher.

3.      Open up the terminal and run the following command to install Wireshark, which provides a graphical packet capturing utility.

 

sudo apt-get -y install wireshark

 

4.      Type “sudo wireshark” in the terminal and enter your password. This will open up Wireshark. Start a packet capture by selecting Capture and selecting eth0 in the interfaces box.

5.      Choose Interface eth0 and click “Start” to begin the packet capture.

6.      With Wireshark running, click on the Firefox logo (in the Unity Application Launcher on the left side). Navigate to http://www.snhu.edu. Once the webpage loads, close Firefox.

7.      There will be a number of packets in the Wireshark screen (you may need to open up the packet window at the top of the screen [just under the “Filter” box] by placing the mouse arrow at its lower end—until it becomes a two-directional arrow—and dragging down); select Capture from the file menu and select “Stop.”

8.      Click “File->Save” to save the packet capture before continuing. Save the packet capture in a folder you create on the desktop, and name it Lab1.

9.      Select “File->Open” and select Lab1 and click “Open” to reopen the packet capture file.

 


 

Lab 1 Assignment

Your assignment for this lab is to provide two packets from the packet capture.

 

·         Provide the packet that provides the DNS query for www.snhu.edu.

o   Hint: Type in DNS in the Filter box at the top of the screen and then click Apply. This will bring up only DNS packets. If you stopped the packet capture immediately after going to www.snhu.edu, the packet will be near the bottom of the list.

 

For the lab report, provide the text of the packet or provide a screenshot of the packet as shown in Wireshark.

 

Lab 1 Questions

  1. Lab Question 1

When navigating through the packet capture, why were there so many other TCP/UDP connections beyond the request for www.snhu.edu?

 

  1. Lab Question 2

From the packet capture, why are there packets from other areas of www.snhu.edu (like alumni.snhu.edu )?

 

  1. Lab Question 3

What are some of the reasons why a network administrator would use a packet capture program like Wireshark?

 

 

 

Field of study: 

Answer

IT 643 Lab 1: Packet Analysis on Linux

Purchase this answer to view and download it immediately
Money Back Guarantee