•Arnošt Havelka
Network Recon
Map out the network using standard commands.
Start Interactive Lesson
Before securing a network, you must understand it. Network reconnaissance is the process of mapping out the landscape—identifying active hosts, routers, and DNS servers.
1. Discovering Hosts (Ping Sweep)
The simplest way to find active devices is to ping them.
Terminal
C:\Users\Student>ping 192.168.1.1
(Note: Advanced users use loops to ping entire subnets)
2. Mapping the Path (Trace Route)
See how packets travel to a target. This identifies routers and firewalls.
Terminal
C:\Users\Student>tracert 8.8.8.8
3. Investigating DNS (Nslookup)
Find the IP address behind a domain name (or vice versa).
Try the command
Find the IP of example.com!
Build the command
nslookup
Terminal
C:\Users\Student>nslookup example.com
Server: google-public-dns-a.google.com
Address: 8.8.8.8
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: example.com
Addresses: 2607:f8b0:4005:809::200e
142.250.72.14
Knowledge Check
1 / 2Which command resolves a domain name to an IP address?
References
These documentation links provide authoritative details for the commands used in this article.
Up Next
Port Scanning
Identify open ports and active services.