JC’s Python News & Notes – July 2020
Learn geopandas by plotting tornados on a map
Scapy DHCP listener in Python
This script listens for DHCP Request and Discover packets on the LAN using scapy.
A little background on the DHCP protocol
Hosts issue a DHCP Discover packet to destination 255.255.255.255 to request an IP Address assignment from a DHCP server. DHCP Discover, Request, Offer, Ack and Inform packets are sent as broadcasts, all hosts on the LAN receive these packets. Because of the nature of the protocol, no special port mirroring or tapping is required on the host that runs this script.
This script is the foundation for creating a passive network discovery tool. We can collect and store the Mac Address, Hostname, and IP Address all hosts configured for DHCP IP address assignment.
Scapy ARP listener in Python
This script listens for ARP request packets using scapy to learn the IP and Mac Address of LAN hosts.
A little background on the ARP protocol
ARP is the protocol that hosts use to discover the mac address of another LAN host. The initiating host asks “Who Has <IP Address>”, this request is transmitted as a broadcast ethernet packet to destination 00:00:00:00:00:00. Since the ARP request is sent as a broadcast, all hosts on the LAN receive and process this packet. Because of the nature of the protocol, no special port mirroring or tapping is required on the host that runs this script.
The host that has <IP Address> will reply back directly to the requester so we will not see that ARP reply packet unless our machine sent the initial ARP request.
This script is the foundation for creating a passive network discovery tool. We can collect and store the MAC Address, IP Address pairs for all hosts we hear communicating on the network.
MikroTik RouterOS Automation with NAPALM
In this tutorial, we will explore using the NAPALM python module to query data from a MikroTik Router.
Before we begin, you are expected to have python3 and pip installed as well as access to a MikroTik router running RouterOS. NAPALM will attempt to connect to the router on the default API port of 8728. You will need to enable the API service which is found in IP | Services using winbox
How to use pipenv in your python project
“goodbye requirements.txt, hello Pipfile”
In this article, I will introduce you to pipenv and show you how easy it is to use. pipenv removes the awkwardness of working with virtual environments and module dependencies. Once you spend 15 minutes with pipenv, you will realize the clarity and time savings it will bring to your python project.
Python Tutorial: Get Temperature and other environmental data from a Dell PowerEdge Server using pysnmp
Python Tutorial: How to Parse and Combine RSS News headlines using feedparser
