Programming Exercise: Network Scanner

Problem Statement:

You are tasked with developing a Python program that scans a range of IP addresses in a given

subnet to determine which hosts are active and reachable on the network. The program should

output a list of active hosts along with their IP addresses.

Requirements:

$1.$ The program should take as input a subnet in CIDR notation $($e$.$g$.,192\mathrm{.}168\mathrm{.}1\mathrm{.}0/24)$ Use

your local subnet for this exercise. $192\mathrm{.}168$ is the example here. $$ representing the range of

IP addresses to scan. Figure out subnet

$2.$ Implement a function named scan network$($subnet$)$ that scans the specified subnet for active

hosts.

$3.$ Use ICMP ping requests to determine if a host is reachable. You can use the $$ping$$ utility or

Python$$s $$ping$$ library to send ICMP echo requests.

$4.$ The function should return a list of tuples, where each tuple contains the hostname and IP

address of an active host.

$5.$ Display the list of active hosts in the console output.

$6.$ You may use os$,$ platform, subprocess, ipaddress, socket or any other module available to get

this assignment done.

Example:

python scan network$(192\mathrm{.}168\mathrm{.}1\mathrm{.}0/24)$

Active hosts:

Hostname: host$1,$ IP: $192\mathrm{.}168\mathrm{.}1\mathrm{.}1$

Hostname: host$2,$ IP: $192\mathrm{.}168\mathrm{.}1\mathrm{.}10$

Hostname: host$3,$ IP: $192\mathrm{.}168\mathrm{.}1\mathrm{.}20$

Page $1$

Additional Guidelines:

$-$ Handle errors gracefully and provide informative error messages if the input subnet is invalid or if

there are any issues with network connectivity. $-$ Ensure that the program runs efficiently and doesn$$t

cause excessive network traffic or delays. $-$ You may use any external libraries or modules that are

necessary for the implementation. $-$ Document your code clearly, including function descriptions

and any assumptions made.