Everything Else (Paul Smith)

 

Multi-Tasking is a fantasy. There are plenty of high-energy people out there who say they can Multi-Task, and many a job-seeker has laid claim to this skill in an interview. The truth is, they are lying. Humans can only do one thing at a time.

Anatomy of a Connection

When I analyze a trace file with a client, I always look for the beginning of the TCP connection or application.

The reason is quite simple, there are many items that you can only see at the beginning of the capture. Sure you can make assumptions if you don’t have the beginning captured, but life is so much easier if you had it.

Free ARP Scanner for your toolbox

I can never stress enough that you need to ‘get to know’ your tools for a bunch of reasons, here are a few examples;

- Understand how the tool behaves on the network

- Ensure that no extra communication is going on

- Better understand when it doesn’t ‘work’

Analyzing Multiple Trace Files- Setup

I get many emails asking for assistance when you have multiple trace files. Lets start with a quick review of the benefits of having multiple trace files: 

• Determine the source of lost packets  
• Determine network latency  
• Determine the source of out of sequence packets 

The hardest part of this process is the setup or preparing your trace files. I try to keep the capture points as consistent as possible. For example, if you have Wireshark installed on your server, I would prefer that you have Wireshark installed on the client computer. If you span the server port, I would prefer we span the client port, that sort of thing.

Common Sense (Paul Smith)

 

According to the Internet, the phrase “Common sense is not so common” originated with a Frenchman – Francois-Marie Arouet – who was a leading figure during the Age of Enlightenment. Francois, who had a knack for catchy phrases, began writing them at the age of 12. Eighteenth Century authorities were not always amused, and he often found himself in and out of the Bastille. He eventually moved to London and adopted the pen name Voltaire.