Wireless LAN Weekly

Right-Click Here To Download This Episode This should have a sub-title called: "Here Be Dragons" - sometimes I think people selling legacy WiFi equipment are like map sellers today trying to hawk their wares by selling maps showing dragons and the world as flat! This week is sure to cause some controversy, but hey - that's what these kind of things are all about. Something to get other Wireless LAN Professionals talking. The show notes are in the form of a new white paper on this subject. Buying Legacy WiFi We'd love to have you subscribe to our RSS feed - just click the button in the upper right corner of the web page. Until next week, thanks for listening! If you have any feedback on the show - please drop an e-mail to feedback@WirelessLANProfessionals.com. Subscribe To The Wireless LAN Weekly Podcast:

Twitter for the WLAN Professional Right-Click Here To Download This Episode Twitter… What’s all the fuss about anyway? You’ve heard things about this ‘social media’ thing, and wondered why everyone is talking about it. You might even have a Facebook page. But that’s just for sharing personal information about what you are up to with your friends and family. You also might be forward thinking a bit about your career and have already started a LinkedIn page, and shared your personal information and started to build your professional network. Good for you, you’ve started down the path of adding some social media into your life. See, it’s really not all that bad. Now on to the really powerful one called Twitter. I know, you’ve heard people talk about twitter, heard these funny new words like “tweet” and “tweeps”, and worse of all you’ve heard all people talk about is what they ate for lunch. I too was in your same place a while ago. Looking back, my first sign up with Twitter was over two and a half years ago, right after it started. But I was turned off by the service because of a couple of issues. First, I really didn’t like going to the Twitter web page to interact, and someone suggested I setup my cell phone to receive all my ‘tweets’ via SMS texts. That lasted about 20 minute or so of a frustrating endless vibrate going on. Second, I didn’t know anyone personally or professionally that used this new service. Fast forward to spring of last year. Based on a very simple suggestion, I learned to access Twitter, not via website, or cell phone, but to use a Twitter Client. Wow! Everything changed overnight when I could access a ‘twitter stream’ and control the flow and content of the Twitter feed. It was a whole new experience. It made the process much easier and more manageable. Then out of the blue, a new Twitter ‘friend’ (someone I’ve never met in person, who lives in a different country, but shares some of the same passions for Wireless LANs) – did be a huge favor and sent me a local European SIM card while I was on vacation with my family in Paris. He basically over-nighted a loaded SIM for me, additionally gave me great suggestions on where to visit, and places to see. All because we had exchanged a few 140 character messages talking about our shared passion. I found this Twitter thing could be valuable! I realized there are real people, who share many of my same goals and interests, willing to help and share their experiences with me, just for asking. And, that there were also people who could use my help as well. A community of people, not tied together by some artificial reason because of where they live or work, but based on shared interests. There is an entire world of Wireless LAN Professionals who are using Twitter on a regular basis. Of course for the Social bit, sharing what they are up to, where they are traveling, etc. But more importantly, they also share ideas and tips, as well as interesting URLs and articles about a shared passion. Twitter can also be a place to ask questions and get very timely answers. It kind of reminds me of the good ‘ol days with BBS’s and Online Tech Support Forums where we’d go in the past to get that same timely, authoritative answers to pressing tech questions. Give it a try, set yourself up an account on Twitter.com, its not only free, but very easy. Then try out one of the many Twitter clients available. I now use a funny-sounding client called Osfoora on my iPhone and iPad, and Tweetie on my MacBookPro. But there are many other clients available on all platforms, from Blackberry to Linux and everything in between. To get you started on finding some folks who might share your interest in Wireless LANs, check out this list of folks that I follow at http://wlanpros.com/follow. You might also want to search for the “hashtag” (a Twitter method of tagging information) of #WirelessWednesday when people share other Twitter users addresses they personally recommend.

Apple Products as WLAN Professional Tools Right-Click Here To Download This Episode OK, I know… everyone is going to think I’m just sort of Apple Fan Boy. And perhaps that is true. Not that I think Apple does everything right, far from it. But I hav...

Here's a video I put together that shows the equipment I take on consulting gigs. It might give you some ideas of things you might want to add to your holiday shopping lists. Keith What's in My WLAN Toolkit Case

Sorry, no podcast today. We’ve been having an issue with our hosting provider GoDaddy – blocked IP addresses, etc. that is preventing the work we normally do on show production. Hopefully this will be resolved before next week’s scheduled show. In the meantime, here are a couple of white papers written by Keith Parsons all [...] The post No podcast today… Whitepapers Instead appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

Quick and Dirty 802.11n Design Right-Click Here To Download This Episode I've been teaching about 802.11n for many years now. All about the new acronyms, technology at the hardware layer, PHY layer and MAC layer. There is so much to learn about this new protocol. But invariably the discussion leads to the question on how to design for .11n. I was going to also talk about the 'morality' of designing and selling a Legacy Access Point solution in today's market, when .11n APs are available and you KNOW they are better than any Legacy AP ever could be. But I'll leave that discussion for a different episode. There is the very long, technical and perhaps a bit boring answer. Or, as I've found after sharing this with hundreds of individuals, there is the "Quick and Dirty" method. This is NOT the best way to design for .11n. But it is a way that is very quick, simple, and provides the 80 in the 80/20 rule. If you have lots of money, plenty of time, and want to over architect your Wireless LAN - there are much more sophisticated models. This isn't the answer to all possible scenarios. Remember, it's the "Quick and Dirty" method - so "don't be hating" on this... Well, here goes. This method of designing for .11n makes a couple of initial assumptions. First, you currently have an 802.11abg system in place that is working fine for you. If you are thinking of designing for a brand new installation, you could design for 802.11abg, then follow the "Quick and Dirty" method and you'll also be alright. (Again, there are many more sophisticated design methodologies for .11n - this isn't one of them) So if you do meet the stated assumption above, you already have an 802.11abg system in place - then you can choose from either of the two simple options listed below. The first is the easiest, and cheapest, but doesn't take into consideration for current .11a clients. If you HAVE TO use current .11a clients, you might want to look to the second option. Option 1 - Replace Access Points Each location where you have abg AP replace with abgn AP 2.4Ghz Frequency 2.4GHZ is for Legacy Only 2.4GHz is 20MHz  - 1, 6, 11 ONLY -(normal channel planning) Turn off support for .11b (if you can) - Require 6Mbs Turn off support for 1, 2, 5.5 and perhaps also 11 data rates SSID = Corp (or whatever your current SSID is) Legacy Only - Everyone who is non-HT No .11n Support needed in 2.4GHz 5GHz Frequency 5-GHz is for HT Only (also known as Greenfield) 5-GHz is 40MHz  - use UNII-1, UNII-2, UNII-2e, or UNII-3 as country allows Turn off support for all Non-HT legacy devices (.11a) SSID = Corp-Fast HT Clients only (.11n) No 20MHz support Adapt channel plan if DFS situation within range Complaint Driven Solution Everyone who can 'see' the "Corp-Fast" network will self-move over to the faster network. Each person that moves over to .11n not only receives a huge boost in their own throughput, but also takes a small load off the currently over-crowded 2.4GHz band. The only issue with this scenario, is if you have people currently using their .11a devices, they will no longer be able to access the 5GHz frequency and will have to return to the 2.4GHz mess. So if you have folks in this category, and they complain, just get them a brand new .11n card, either internal or external  and they'll be able to reap all the benefits of a .11n Greenfield. What is you have either lots of .11a clients, or your firm has already committed to a .11a 5GHz VoIP WiFi Phones... Well then, if you fit in that category, you ought to try out Option 2, below. ___________________ Option 2 -Additional Access Points Each location where you have .11abg Access Point, leave it in place, and then add a new .11n Access Point 2.4Ghz Frequency - Same as in Option 1 above Turn off the 2.4GHz frequency from the old legacy AP. This legacy AP is now only supporting .11b and .11g clients. 2.4GHZ is for Legacy Only 2.4GHz is 20MHz  - 1, 6, 11 ONLY -(normal channel planning)

Wireless LAN Penetration Testing Right-Click Here To Download This Episode In this episode I spend some time with Mark Wuergler of Immunity Inc. talking about their SILICA-U Wireless LAN Pentration testign utilitiy. It is quite simple to use, single click kind of thing, and runs from a custom USB stick. I think you’ll enjoy our [...] The post WLW036 – WLAN Penetration Testing appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

Wireless LAN Value Added Reseller and Troubleshooting Story Right-Click Here To Download This Episode This week’s episode features two segments, each an interview with a Wireless LAN Professional. First is Jared Griffith of CinergyWiFi, a Wireless LAN Value Added Reseller (WLAN VAR) – and the second is a story about troubleshooting from Tim Dennehy of [...] The post WLW035 – WLAN VAR & Troubleshooting Story appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

Five Ways to Stay Current with Wireless LAN Technology Right-Click Here To Download This Episode Sometimes students, or clients, ask how they can stay in tune with all the changes and updates to Wireless LAN Technologies. It is a very fast moving target. In the past one might have just read trade magazines, and attended […] The post WLW034 – Five Ways to Stay Current with Wireless LAN Technology appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

Salmagundi Right-Click Here To Download This Episode Earlier this year I used this same title for a blog post… I thought I’d bring it back this week as a podcast episode. A chance to talk about a wide variety of subjects that have been on my mind lately. Here’s a ‘reprint’ of that blog post. [...] The post WLW033 – Salmagundi appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

NetScanTools Right-Click Here To Download This Episode Years ago I produced a series of hands-on training classes for Laura Chappell, as part of the ‘toolkit’ we included a great set of tools from Kirk Thomas called NetScanToolsPro. This set of tools have found their place in my network analysis and troubleshooting toolkit for many years [...] The post WLW032 – NetScanTools appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

Using the Right Tool Right-Click Here To Download This Episode This week’s podcast comes from a blog I posted up on the AirMagnet AirWise Community web site a while back. There is also a link to a PDF copy of this document if you’d like. Maslow’s Maxim, or as some people know it, Maslow’s Hammer, has […] The post WLW031 – Using the Right Tool appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

Joe Epstein on Mobile VoIP Right-Click Here To Download This Episode A couple of weeks ago I did a review of Joe Epstein’s book on Scalable Mobile VoIP – but had made a technical error and didn’t have the recording of our interview. This week I had a chance to get back together with Joe [...] The post WLW030 – Joe Epstein on Mobile VoIP appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

Joe Bardwell & Ron Nutter on 802.11n Right-Click Here To Download This Episode This week I’m on vacation with my family. And so we’ve invited back Ron Nutter, of TechBytes to guest host the show. His guest is Joe Bardwell from Connect802 and will be talking about some of the details around 802.11n. Please go [...] The post WLW029 – Joe Bardwell & Ron Nutter on 802.11n appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.

Aerohive Client Health & Teacherview Right-Click Here To Download This Episode This episode invites back Adam Conway of Aerohive networks to talk about their latest software upgrade. I asked Adam on the Wireless LAN Weekly Podcast specifically to talk about ‘Client Health Score’ as part of the 3.5 code release. If you have 19 clients [...] The post WLW028 – Aerohive Client Health & Teacherview appeared first on Wireless LAN Professionals.