Network traffic or network data is the amount of packets that are moving across a network at any given point of time. The following is a classical formula for obtaining the traffic volume of a network: Traffic volume = Traffic Intensity or rate * Time
In the following screenshot, we can see what the network traffic looks like in Wireshark:
In the previous screenshot, we can see all the information that is sent over, along with the data packets on a network. It includes several pieces of information, including the following:
- Time: The time at which packets are captured
- Source: The source from which the packet originated
- Destination: The sink where packets reach their final destination
- Protocol: Type of IP (or set of rules) the packet followed during its journey, such as TCP, UDP, SMTP, and ARP
- Info: The information that the packet contains
The Wireshark website contains samples for capture files that you can import into Wireshark. You can also inspect the packets that they contain: https://wiki.wireshark.org/SampleCaptures.
For example, we can find an HTTP section for downloading files that contains examples of HTTP requests and responses:
