As a network analyst or administrator, you may have encountered situations where you need to troubleshoot network issues. Wireshark is one of the tools that can help you analyze and solve the problem. This article will guide you through the process of using Wireshark on Ubuntu.

What is Wireshark?

Wireshark is a free, open-source network protocol analyzer used for network troubleshooting, analysis, development, and education. It can capture and display network traffic in real-time or from a saved capture file in a dissected and detailed format.

Installing Wireshark on Ubuntu

Wireshark is available in the default Ubuntu repository, and the installation process is simple. First, make sure that your system is up to date by running the following commands in a terminal window.

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sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

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Once your system is up to date, run the command below to install Wireshark.

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sudo apt install wireshark

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During the installation, Ubuntu will prompt you to specify whether non-superusers should be able to capture packets with Wireshark. Choose “Yes” to enable non-superusers to capture packets.

After the installation, you can start Wireshark by opening a terminal window and typing the following command.

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Wireshark

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Capturing packets with Wireshark

Wireshark provides a friendly user interface that makes it easy to capture, analyze, and filter network traffic. You can capture packets on any interface that is up and running on your Ubuntu system.

To start capturing packets with Wireshark, follow these steps:

1. Open Wireshark by running the command “wireshark” in a terminal window.

2. Choose the interface you want to capture packets on from the list of interfaces in the Wireshark window.

3. Click the “Capture Options” button to configure your capture options, such as the capture filter and the file name to save the capture to.

4. Click the “Start” button to start the capture.

Analyzing packets with Wireshark

Once you have captured packets with Wireshark, you can analyze them in great detail. Wireshark can provide you with network statistics, protocol hierarchy, packet details, and many other insights into your network traffic.

To analyze packets with Wireshark, follow these steps:

1. Stop the capture by clicking the “Stop” button in the Wireshark window.

2. Choose a packet from the packet list to analyze by clicking on it.

3. Explore the different tabs in the bottom pane to analyze the packet in detail. For example, the “Packet Details” tab shows you the fields of the selected packet, while the “Protocol Hierarchy” tab shows you the protocol layers and the number of packets for each layer.

Conclusion

Wireshark is a powerful network protocol analyzer that can help you troubleshoot network issues and understand the behavior of your network traffic. With its friendly user interface and detailed packet analysis capabilities, Wireshark is a valuable tool for network administrators and network analysts. By following the installation and usage instructions provided in this article, you can start using Wireshark on Ubuntu today.