OT: Reverse engineering methods?

[Erik Forsberg]

Hi!

Since this is probably a bit off-topic, please consider responding off
the list.

I'm in the startup-phase of a master thesis project that aims to
reverse-engineer version 5.x of the RDP protocol, in order to access
more features of windows terminal servers using the rdesktop
(http://rdesktop.sf.net) software. 

Now, what does samba have to do with this? Not much, but I thought
this might be a good place when it comes to experience of
reverse-engineering of network protocols, especially protocols
designed my Microsoft :-).

Since it's a master thesis, the report is supposed to be of
"scientific quality" which among other things mean I should be able to
put my work into a context. I'm now looking for documentation on
methods for reverse engineering. Are there any formal methods for
doing it? How do you structure your work? What tools do you use?

Any pointers to information on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
\EF
-- 
Erik Forsberg, Cendio Systems AB.