Whether you’re a network admin, a penetration tester, or just someone fascinated by network security, understanding how Nmap works can be incredibly valuable. In this guide, we’ll dive into Nmap’s functionality, exploring its features and how you can use it to enhance your network scanning and discovery efforts. What is Nmap? Nmap, short for Network Mapper, is the go-to tool for discovering hosts and services on a computer network. It’s a powerful, open-source scanner that helps network administrators and security professionals map out networks, identify open ports, and detect potential vulnerabilities. Some of the nifty features Nmap offers include: Host Discovery : Find out which hosts are up and running on your network. Port Scanning : Identify open ports on a host. Service and OS Fingerprinting : Determine the services running on open ports and the operating system of the host. Basic Vulnerability Detection : Spot potential security weaknesses. And if you prefer a graphical interfa...