This is a guest blogpost by Erik Hjelmvik, an expert in network forensics and network security monitoring at NETRESEC.
Wireshark is the default goto tool for analyzing captured network traffic for most network engineers. But there are a few other free and open source alternatives that are sometimes overlooked, one of which is NetworkMiner (disclaimer: I’m the creator of NetworkMiner).
I was interested in how Apple AirPlay works in my network. I am using an iPad to stream music to a Yamaha R-N500 network receiver. There is a great Unofficial AirPlay Protocol Specification which already shows many details about the used protocols. But since I am a networking guy I captured the whole process in order to analyze it with Wireshark.
Following is a downloadable pcap if you want to have a look at it by yourself as well as some Wireshark and NetworkMiner screenshots for a first glance.