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I am trying to learn TCP/IP. Can anyone recommend some tools to help me better understand it?

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5 Answers

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Scapy is a very good tool for forging packets in conjunction with wireshark, it may fit your needs.

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+1, Interesting... thanks for the link! – l0c0b0x Dec 28 '09 at 13:52
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The first think you should know is that TCP and IP are different things and the original question you're asking is like asking about milk-and-cookies.

It's not light reading, but the fully authoritative source for all things TCP is the original RFC.

RFC 793

IP also has a RFC, but TCP is the harder of the two.

You didn't say why you need to know this.. Let's assume it's for an interview.

When I interview people looking for jobs who say they know TCP/IP I ask them about these sorts of things:

  • Subnetting and CIDR
  • How many /24s in a /22?
  • What are the differences between TCP and UDP?
  • Is TCP tunable? (what would you tune and why?)
  • What are TCP and IP Options?

Good luck with your studies.

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Though a lot of the application layer information is outdated, TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols is a great resource for learning.

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I could not agree with this comment more. I used TCP/IP Illustrated to bootstrap into TCP/IP more than a decade ago. The fundamentals haven't changed, and the late W. Richard Stevens had a way of explaining complicated concepts that made them highly accessible. Buy this book. – Brian Clapper Dec 28 '09 at 14:34
The TCP/IP Guide (tcpipguide.com) is also good. – Gerald Combs Dec 28 '09 at 18:18
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I found this site a while ago for a friend, LearnTCPIP which she said helped her understand the basics, and is of course "free"

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This does not seem like a very good site. They are much more interested in selling CDs than teaching. – Joel K Dec 28 '09 at 12:59
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I have enjoyed the Security Now podcast (http://twit.tv/sn) which, over the years, has covered many aspects of the TCP/IP family of protocols.

Once you have learned the theory, nothing beats installing a protocol analyzer, such as wireshark (http://www.wireshark.org/) and getting some hands on.

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Big fan of Security Now! which has made clear to a whole bunch of people why the field of computer security is harder than just putting a virus scanner on a computer and thinking that is the end of the problem. – Stephen Thompson Dec 28 '09 at 10:14
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