How Do I Scan A Network

Scanning the network and its components is easy using Nmap

Before we go over to see how I can scan a network, I want to explain what this scanning means. What do I mean by the end when I say I scanned the X.Y.Z.A network? I refer to the fact that I used a certain program (in this case Nmap) to find out which devices are connected to the network at the moment.

Not only did we find out what these devices are (see their IP address and MAC address) but we can find out more information like:

● The type of the device

● The OS and its version

● Open ports

● Network applications that run on those ports

● etc.

Once we have this information, we can use them to better understand how the network is structured, to scan and then test the network and vulnerability servers (in an ethical way) to make sure all devices are up & running. These, of course, are just a few reasons why scanning the network and the devices in it makes sense.

How do I scan a network?

Scanning the network (and its components) is easy, using Nmap. Nmap comes from Network Mapper and helps us "map" the network into an output (from the terminal) quite easy to understand. The program I use in the example below (for scanning the network) is called Nmap. Nmap (on Windows, the graphical interface program is called Zenmap) is a free tool extremely used by hackers and ethical hackers.