Network Protocols & Packet Analysis
Capture and read real packets — TCP/IP, TCP, UDP, DNS, TLS, ARP and ICMP — in your own lab VM.
One-time payment · lifetime access · lessons, labs, exam and certificate included · no subscription.
About this course
This course turns network protocols from memorised trivia into something you can see on the wire. Working in your own lab virtual machine with tcpdump and tshark, you capture live packets and read them layer by layer. You map the TCP/IP model, watch the three-way handshake complete, and contrast it with connectionless, spoofable UDP. Dedicated lessons cover DNS record types and why they matter, the difference between readable HTTP and opaque TLS, and the local-wire protocols ARP and ICMP. You place everything on the OSI model so you know what people mean by layer 2, 4 or 7, and finish with NAT, routing and VPN tunnelling before a capstone that fingerprints a service purely from its traffic. Each lesson has a quiz, with a final exam and certificate.
Lessons
- How This Course Works & Reading the Wire Pro
- TCP/IP & The Layered Model Pro
- TCP — The Three-Way Handshake Pro
- UDP — Connectionless & Spoofable Pro
- DNS — The Internet's Phonebook Pro
- HTTP/S & TLS — Clear Text vs the Sealed Envelope Pro
- ARP & ICMP — The Local Wire Pro
- The OSI Model & Where TCP/IP Fits Pro
- NAT, Routing & VPN — Crossing Networks Pro
- Capstone — Fingerprint a Host from Its Packets Pro