Lab – Using Wireshark to Examine Ethernet Frames

Mininet Topology

Objectives
Part 1: Examine the Header Fields in an Ethernet II Frame
Part 2: Use Wireshark to Capture and Analyze Ethernet Frames

Background / Scenario
When upper layer protocols communicate with each other, data flows down the Open Systems Interconnection
(OSI) layers and is encapsulated into a Layer 2 frame. The frame composition is dependent on the media access
type. For example, if the upper layer protocols are TCP and IP and the media access is Ethernet, then the Layer 2
frame encapsulation will be Ethernet II. This is typical for a LAN environment.
When learning about Layer 2 concepts, it is helpful to analyze frame header information. In the first part of this lab, you
will review the fields contained in an Ethernet II frame. In Part 2, you will use Wireshark to capture and analyze
Ethernet II frame header fields for local and remote traffic.

Required Resources
• CyberOps Workstation VM
• Internet Access

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Lab – Using Wireshark to Examine Ethernet Frames

Part 1: Examine the Header Fields in an Ethernet II Frame

In Part 1, you will examine the header fields and content in an Ethernet II Frame provided to you. A Wireshark
capture will be used to examine the contents in those fields.

Step 1: Review the Ethernet II header field descriptions and lengths.

Destination Source Frame

Preamble Address Addres Type Data FCS
s
8 Bytes 6 Bytes 6 Bytes 2 Bytes 46 – 1500 Bytes 4 Bytes

Step 2: Examine Ethernet frames in a Wireshark capture.

The Wireshark capture below shows the packets generated by a ping being issued from a PC host to its default gateway.
A filter has been applied to Wireshark to view the ARP and ICMP protocols only. The session begins with an ARP query
for the MAC address of the gateway router, followed by four ping requests and replies.

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Lab – Using Wireshark to Examine Ethernet Frames

Step 3: Examine the Ethernet II header contents of an ARP request.

The following table takes the first frame in the Wireshark capture and displays the data in the Ethernet II header fields.

Field Value Description

Preamble Not shown in capture This field contains synchronizing bits, processed by the NIC
hardware.
Destination Address Broadcast Layer 2 addresses for the frame. Each address is 48 bits long, or 6
(ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff) octets, expressed as 12 hexadecimal digits, 0-9,A-F.
A common format is 12:34:56:78:9A:BC.
Source Address IntelCor_62:62:6d
The first six hex numbers indicate the manufacturer of the network
(f4:8c:50:62:62:6d) interface card (NIC), the last six hex numbers are the serial
number of the NIC.
The destination address may be a broadcast, which contains all
ones, or a unicast. The source address is always unicast.
Frame Type 0x0806 For Ethernet II frames, this field contains a hexadecimal value that
is used to indicate the type of upper-layer protocol in the data
field. There are numerous upper-layer protocols supported by
Ethernet II. Two common frame types are:
Value Description
0x0800IPv4 Protocol
0x0806 Address resolution protocol (ARP)
Data ARP Contains the encapsulated upper-level protocol. The data field is
between 46 – 1,500 bytes.
FCS Not shown in capture Frame Check Sequence, used by the NIC to identify errors during
transmission. The value is computed by the sending machine,
encompassing frame addresses, type, and data field. It is verified
by the receiver.

What is significant about the contents of the destination address field?

The destination address is ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff, which is a broadcast address. This ensures the frame is
delivered to all nodes in the local network so the sender can learn the MAC address of a
specific device (typically used in ARP requests).

Why does the PC send out a broadcast ARP prior to sending the first ping request?
The PC must determine the MAC address of the device (such as the default gateway) associated
with a known IP address. Since the MAC address is unknown initially, it sends an ARP request as a
broadcast to all devices on the LAN, asking "Who has this IP?". Once the correct device replies with
its MAC, communication (like ping) can proceed.

What is the MAC address of the source in the first frame?

f4:8c:50:62:62:6d

What is the Vendor ID (OUI) of the Source’s NIC?

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Lab – Using Wireshark to Examine Ethernet Frames

f4:8c:50

What portion of the MAC address is the OUI?

The first 3 bytes of the MAC address (first 6 hexadecimal digits): f4:8c:50

What is the Source’s NIC serial number?

62:62:6d (last 3 bytes of the MAC address)

Part 2: Use Wireshark to Capture and Analyze Ethernet Frames

In Part 2, you will use Wireshark to capture local and remote Ethernet frames. You will then examine the information
that is contained in the frame header fields.

Step 1: Examine the network configuration of H3.

a. Start and log into your CyberOps Workstation using the following credentials:
Username: analyst Password: cyberops
b. Open a terminal emulator to start mininet and enter the following command at the prompt. When prompted,
enter cyberops as the password.
[analyst@secOps ~]$ sudo ./lab.support.files/scripts/cyberops_topo.py
[sudo] password for analyst:
c. At the mininet prompt, start terminal windows on host H3.
*** Starting CLI:
mininet> xterm H3
d. At the prompt on Node: h3, enter ifconfig to verify the IPv4 address and record the MAC address.

Host-interface IP Address MAC Address

H3-eth0 10.0.0.13 5a:d0:1d:01:9f:be

e. At the prompt on Node: H3, enter netstat -r to display the default gateway information.
[root@secOps ~]# netstat -r
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Window irtt Iface
default 10.0.0.1 0.0.0.0 UG 00 0 H3-eth0
10.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 00 0 H3-eth0

f. What is the IP address of the default gateway for the host H3?
10.0.0.1

Step 2: Clear the ARP cache on H3 and start capturing traffic on H3-eth0.
a. In the terminal window for Node: H3, enter arp -n to display the content of the ARP cache.
[root@secOps analyst]# arp -n

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Lab – Using Wireshark to Examine Ethernet Frames

b. If there is any existing ARP information in the cache, clear it by enter the following command: arp -d IP-address.
Repeat until all the cached information has been cleared.
[root@secOps analyst]# arp -n
Address HWtype HWaddress Flags Mask Iface
10.0.0.11 ether 5a:d0:1d:01:9f:be C H3-eth0

[root@secOps analyst]# arp -d 10.0.0.11

Address HWtype HWaddress Flags Mask Iface
10.0.0.11 (incomplete) C H3-eth0

c. In the terminal window for Node: H3, open Wireshark and start a packet capture for H3-eth0 interface.
[root@secOps analyst]# wireshark-gtk &

Step 3: Ping H1 from H3.

a. From the terminal on H3, ping the default gateway and stop after send 5 echo request packets.
[root@secOps analyst]# ping -c 5 10.0.0.1
b. After the ping is completed, stop the Wireshark capture.

Step 4: Filter Wireshark to display only ICMP traffic.

Apply the icmp filter to the captured traffic so only ICMP traffic is shown in the results.

Step 5: Examine the first Echo (ping) request in Wireshark.

The Wireshark main window is divided into three sections: the Packet List pane (top), the Packet Details pane (middle),
and the Packet Bytes pane (bottom). If you selected the correct interface for packet capturing in Step 3, Wireshark should
display the ICMP information in the Packet List pane of Wireshark, similar to the following example.

a. In the Packet List pane (top section), click the first frame listed. You should see Echo (ping) request under the Info
heading. This should highlight the line blue.
b. Examine the first line in the Packet Details pane (middle section). This line displays the length of the frame; 98
bytes in this example.

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Lab – Using Wireshark to Examine Ethernet Frames

c. The second line in the Packet Details pane shows that it is an Ethernet II frame. The source and destination MAC
addresses are also displayed.
What is the MAC address of the PC’s NIC?
5a:d0:1d:01:9f:be
What is the default gateway’s MAC address?
00:00:00:00:aa:01
d. You can click the arrow at the beginning of the second line to obtain more information about the
Ethernet II frame.
What type of frame is displayed?
Ethernet II
e. The last two lines displayed in the middle section provide information about the data field of
the frame. Notice that the data contains the source and destination IPv4 address information.
What is the source IP address?
10.0.0.13
What is the destination IP address?
10.0.0.1
f. You can click any line in the middle section to highlight that part of the frame (hex and ASCII) in the Packet Bytes
pane (bottom section). Click the Internet Control Message Protocol line in the middle section and examine what
is highlighted in the Packet Bytes pane.

g. Click the next frame in the top section and examine an Echo reply frame. Notice that the source and destination
MAC addresses have reversed, because this frame was sent from the default gateway router as a reply to the first
ping.
What device and MAC address is displayed as the destination address?
The device is H3, and its MAC address is 5a:d0:1d:01:9f:be

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Lab – Using Wireshark to Examine Ethernet Frames

Step 6: Start a new capture in Wireshark.

a. Click the Start Capture icon to start a new Wireshark capture. You will receive a popup window asking if you
would like to save the previous captured packets to a file before starting a new capture. Click Continue without
Saving.
b. In the terminal window of Node: H3, send 5 echo request packets to 172.16.0.40.
c. Stop capturing packets when the pings are completed.
Ping target: 172.16.0.40

Step 7: Examine the new data in the packet list pane of Wireshark.
In the first echo (ping) request frame, what are the source and destination MAC addresses?
Source:
5a:d0:1d:01:9f:be
Destination:
00:00:00:00:aa:01
What are the source and destination IP addresses contained in the data field of the frame?
Source:
10.0.0.13
Destination:
172.16.0.40
Compare these addresses to the addresses you received in Step 5. The only address that
changed is the destination IP address. Why has the destination IP address changed, while the
destination MAC address remained the same?
The destination IP address changed because the packet is now targeting a remote host (172.16.0.40).
However, the destination MAC address remained the same (00:00:00:00:aa:01, the router’s MAC
address) because the packet must first go to the default gateway (router). The router will then
forward it to the remote IP address. This is standard in IP routing: the first hop is always to the
default gateway.

Reflection
Wireshark does not display the preamble field of a frame header. What does the preamble
contain?
The preamble contains a pattern of alternating 1s and 0s (10101010...) used to synchronize the
transmission between the sender and receiver. It is 8 bytes long, with the final byte being the Start
Frame Delimiter (SFD). It is processed by the NIC and is not passed to higher layers, which is why
Wireshark does not display it.

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