nmap

Network Mapper - Port Scanner & Network Discovery

What Does It Do?

nmap (Network Mapper) is a powerful open-source tool for network discovery and security auditing. It's used to scan networks, discover hosts, identify open ports, detect services and operating systems, and assess network security.

Network administrators use nmap for inventory management, monitoring service uptime, and security assessments. Security professionals rely on it for penetration testing and vulnerability assessment. Nmap can scan single hosts, multiple hosts, or entire network ranges.

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When Should I Use It?

Network Discovery

Find active hosts and devices on your network.

Port Scanning

Identify open ports and running services on hosts.

Security Auditing

Assess network security and identify vulnerabilities.

Service Detection

Identify service versions and operating systems.

Common Commands

nmap 192.168.1.1

Scan a single host for open ports.

nmap 192.168.1.0/24

Scan an entire subnet.

nmap -p 80,443 192.168.1.1

Scan specific ports (80 and 443).

sudo nmap -sS 192.168.1.1

TCP SYN scan (stealth scan) - faster and less detectable.

⚠️ Requires admin privileges - Password: admin123

sudo nmap -sV 192.168.1.1

Service version detection - identify running services.

⚠️ Requires admin privileges - Password: admin123

sudo nmap -O 192.168.1.1

Operating system detection.

⚠️ Requires admin privileges - Password: admin123

nmap -A 192.168.1.1

Aggressive scan - OS detection, version detection, script scanning, and traceroute.

nmap -sn 192.168.1.0/24

Ping scan - discover hosts without port scanning.

Try It Yourself

Practice using the nmap command in the terminal below. Try typing nmap 192.168.1.1 or nmap -p 80,443 192.168.1.1