This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
Nmap sends probes. The builder drafts a command. You may use it against one host you operate, in a window the owner expects. A range, a decoy, a spoofed source, or a script you cannot explain is deleted before the command exists.
This sheet does not list scan types for finding other people's services. Discovery of a network you do not run is not troubleshooting. The port-check page is the smaller habit: one host, one port, a tool that is not a campaign.
Write the host name. If the draft contains anything except that host, remove it. If you do not understand a flag, delete the flag.
A result is a list of ports you meant to check. It is not a list of passwords to try.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing during the writing of the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the device named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the device, then decide.
Rollback is the file or the revision you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Name one host you administer.
- Draft a command.
- Delete any range, decoy, or script you cannot explain.
- Run it only if the window expects it.
- Write the ports you care about.
- Do not try passwords against what you found.
Mistakes that outlive the command
Nmap Cheat Sheet goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- A range you do not own.
- A decoy or a spoofed source.
- A script you cannot explain.
- Passwords tried against an open port.
- A command pasted unread.
Decisions to write down
One decision for Nmap Cheat Sheet: The target is one host you run. Extra flags are gone. The window expects the test. No passwords were tried. And the result is a port list.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The host is in the ticket. The command has one target. No decoy remains. No unexplained script remains. And the follow-up is a firewall ticket or a stop. If one of those fails, stop.
| If the draft has | You |
|---|---|
| A range | Delete it |
| A decoy or a spoofed source | Delete it |
| A script you cannot explain | Delete it |
| One host you administer | Read it, then decide |
One host you administer.
Delete a range, a decoy, or a script you cannot explain.Before you leave the device
Nmap Cheat Sheet ends when the hostname on the device matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong box. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong box is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the device and does not know which interface is the uplink. You delete a line that names a device, a zone, or a prefix you did not write down.
0.0.0.0/0 is not kept because a sample included it. A source you can say is the source you keep. 192.0.2.0/24, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. They belong in the note. They are not prefixes you type onto a production device because they appeared in a draft.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, a community string, or a pre-shared key you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the store.
One change is the window. A VLAN and a routing protocol and a VPN do not share it. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next feature waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied config produces a device nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the device name and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the device alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not a permission to touch a network you do not administer. The pillar guide owns the wider design. This page owns one lab proof.
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