What is Nmap?
Nmap (Network Mapper) is the standard tool for network discovery. It tells you which ports are open on a target and what services are running on them.
Every penetration test starts with nmap.
Basic Syntax
nmap TARGET_IP
Common Flags
-sV — detect service versions -p- — scan all 65535 ports -p 80,443,22 — scan specific ports -T4 — faster scan speed -oN output.txt — save results to file
Your First Scan
Run a basic scan against the target:
nmap 15.204.80.238
Look at the output. You will see open ports listed with the service name next to each one.
What Open Ports Tell You
Port 22 = SSH (remote login) Port 80 = HTTP (web server) Port 443 = HTTPS (secure web) Port 3306 = MySQL database Port 21 = FTP (file transfer)
Each open port is a potential entry point.