Wireshark is a network monitor and analyzer. It works below the packet level, capturing individual frames and presenting them to the user for inspection. Using Wireshark, you can watch network traffic in real-time, and look inside to see what data is moving across the wire.

An IP address is a unique identifier used to route traffic on the network layer of the OSI model. If you think of your local network as a neighborhood, a network address is analogous to a house number. When you know the IP address of a host, it’s possible to access and interact with it.