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Lesson 11: Hands-On Lab Exercises

Practice NMAP skills with guided exercises and real scenarios

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Lab Environment and Setup

Important Lab Guidelines
  • • Only practice on networks you own or have explicit permission to scan
  • • Use virtual machines and isolated lab networks when possible
  • • Start with basic commands before attempting advanced techniques
  • • Document your results and compare with expected outcomes
  • • These exercises are for educational purposes only

Recommended Lab Setup

Virtual Machine Environment:
  • • Scanner VM: Kali Linux or Ubuntu with NMAP
  • • Target VMs: Various OS (Windows, Linux, FreeBSD)
  • • Services: Web servers, databases, SSH, FTP
  • • Network: Isolated virtual network
  • • Vulnerable targets: Metasploitable, DVWA
Online Practice Resources:
  • • Hack The Box: Retired machines for practice
  • • TryHackMe: Guided NMAP learning paths
  • • VulnHub: Downloadable vulnerable VMs
  • • OverTheWire: Natas web challenges
  • • NMAP.org: Official testing targets
Sample Lab Network Topology:
Scanner VM
192.168.100.10
Kali Linux with NMAP
Web Server
192.168.100.20
Ubuntu + Apache + MySQL
Windows Target
192.168.100.30
Windows 10 + Services

Pre-Lab Checklist

Technical Requirements:
NMAP 7.80 or newer installed
Root/administrator privileges available
Network connectivity to targets
Sufficient disk space for output files
Text editor for command scripting
Knowledge Prerequisites:
Basic TCP/IP networking concepts
Command line interface proficiency
Understanding of common network services
Basic security principles
Completed previous NMAP lessons