Would like to request literature in order to learn about packets

[ElDiabloWaspinator]

Hello forum readers. I would like to request any literature you got about the following subjects:

1) Internet Protocols used to send and recieve packets

2) Sending, recieving and capturing packets (practically and theoretically)

3) Analyzing and reverse engineering packets via wireshark.

4) Using information learned from packets in order to establish a picture about a certain mechanism on the web

5) Working with wireshark (all general data such as filtering and more)

6) Understanding the complete structure of a packet

 

Thanks in advance!

Would really appriciate your generous comments since I'm a newbie in the subject.

[Sato]

Everything you do on the Internet involves packets. For example, every Web page that you receive comes as a series of packets, and every e-mail you send leaves as a series of packets. Networks that ship data around in small packets are called packet switched networks.

On the Internet, the network breaks an e-mail message into parts of a certain size in bytes. These are the packets. Each packet carries the information that will help it get to its destination -- the sender's IP address, the intended receiver's IP address, something that tells the network how many packets this e-mail message has been broken into and the number of this particular packet. The packets carry the data in the protocols that the Internet uses: Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Each packet contains part of the body of your message. A typical packet contains perhaps 1,000 or 1,500 bytes.

 

Each packet is then sent off to its destination by the best available route -- a route that might be taken by all the other packets in the message or by none of the other packets in the message. This makes the network more efficient. First, the network can balance the load across various pieces of equipment on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis. Second, if there is a problem with one piece of equipment in the network while a message is being transferred, packets can be routed around the problem, ensuring the delivery of the entire message.

 

Depending on the type of network, packets may be referred to by another name:

 

• frame
• block
• cell
• segment

Next, learn about the parts of packets and an example of how packets are applied.

 

*How Stuff Works*

 

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

If you're going to copy something off an external website, please provide a link to the original source. Copying extended portions of a website is copyright infringement.

 

Otherwise, I think a good book on networking would suffice. There are also several books on the use of Wireshark which may be useful.

[ElDiabloWaspinator]

Thank you for your kind answer but it didn't help me at all because I asked for literature, by which I mean names of books that will give me all of this information.

 

 

Edited June 10, 2011 by ElDiabloWaspinator

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

These sorts of books:

 

http://www.amazon.co.../dp/1593272669/

http://www.amazon.co.../dp/0136079679/

http://www.amazon.co.../dp/0201633469/

 

I can't give a personal review because I've learned most of my networking from practical experience running this server. Perhaps there are some other members that can recommend their favorite books?

[Sato]

If you're going to copy something off an external website, please provide a link to the original source. Copying extended portions of a website is copyright infringement.

 

Otherwise, I think a good book on networking would suffice. There are also several books , on the use of Wireshark which may be useful.

Sorry, I just go by the rules of most of the other forums I was on. I'll be sure to include full details on the author of the content. Let me clarify what that means... I usually include the name of the original source at the bottom within asterisks. If you notice I had *How it Works* at the bottom. They're the ones who made it, so yes I did include the source.

Edited June 10, 2011 by Sato

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Best practice would just be to give the link to the page you found the quote on. Alternately, give the link without the quote -- people can follow the link if they want to read it.

[ElDiabloWaspinator]

Thanks for the reccomendations!

Just one more question before I begin reading, do you suggest reading them in a particular order? Or I can start with whichever of these books I want?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

I'd suggest either of the networking books first, and then tackle Wireshark. You'll want to understand networks first.