Deciding What’s Important When Upgrading to 802.11n
The 802.11n specification has been ratified since 2009, but many of its capabilities remain an enigma, especially for those who don’t have the time or inclination for a semester-long course in RF. And let’s face it, that shouldn’t be required when deploying 802.11 equipment. So, let’s alleviate the mysteries, simplify the technologies, and determine what’s important when upgrading to 802.11n.
Greenfield Deployment or Mixed Upgrade?
First and foremost, you must consider your environment when contemplating a move or an upgrade to 11n. There are two overall environments to consider. The first is Greenfield, or an environment where there is currently no 802.11 wireless deployed. Here you are starting from scratch with your wireless deployment. This gives you more room to leverage the new capabilities of 11n without interfering with current equipment.
If you already have a wireless LAN in place utilizing 802.11a/b/g technology, you are working in a mixed environment, and need to carefully consider the impact that new equipment will have on existing equipment. And keep in mind that RF knows no boundaries, so evaluating how close you are to neighbors who may have a wireless LAN is part of the equation. Mixed environments introduce some additional variables, so what you deploy and upgrade will differ slightly from a Greenfield deployment.
Continue reading "Upgrading to 802.11N? - You should Consider! (by Jay Botelho)" »
The war today is the Cyber War and it goes on 24 hours a day 7 days a week…..all year long and in every home, business, town, state and country in the world!
Just last week I was called to help in a multi-jurisdictional and multi-location criminal raid warrant. I worked with some of the best cyber law enforcement officers in Georgia and our job was to document and start the evidence trail on many personal and business computers plus the networks that they were attached to – WiFi, WLAN and XDSL.
As I approached the scenes I use the Fluke's AirCheck to determine the RF arena and I stored the information for later reporting and to assure that we had all the IP addresses for further warrants. Really a very cool and very valuable tool for LE as well as for enterprise RF signal radiation WiFi studies and defenses!
Fluke's AirCheck Area WiFi network overview!
Continue reading "Daddy or Mommy, What Did You Do During The WAR! (by The Oldcommguy®)" »
So, when should you start migrating to 11n?
The time to start moving to this new standard is when you need the bandwidth, and it’s quite likely that your WLAN is already beginning to feel the pressure. With the widespread adoption of smart phones and tablets that use WLAN networks whenever they are available, demand for WLAN access is skyrocketing. This is particularly true in high concentration areas, like university classrooms and common areas, but it is also increasingly common for hotspots and within enterprise WLANs. With nearly a 10-fold increase in throughput (from 54Mbps to 450Mbps) with currently available commercial equipment, a move to 11n is likely to satisfy your bandwidth needs.
In addition, you should migrate to 11n whenever you need to upgrade any component in your existing infrastructure, whether it’s because your equipment is nearing the end of its lifecycle or because certain components have simply failed.
Continue reading "Setting the Foundation: What to Remember When Moving to 802.11n (Jay Botelho) " »
Let’s review an example, Purdue University’s wireless network.
They have of 6,000, 802.11n access points (APs) across 265 buildings with 10,000+ users.
How does Purdue keep their wireless network operating smoothly?
They set high goals that requires rigorous testing which ensures that the specified design achieves the desired goals for access while protecting the integrity of the network.
Additionally, they require the correct instrumentation for immediately verification during the initial deployment and for ongoing analysis, testing and secure verification.
While wireless networks are extremely flexible and cost-effective, they are also highly complex and potentially dangerous, as they can expose the network easily to many issues.
So here are the three key components of the wireless lifecycle that the Purdue Team considers carefully in the wireless deployment and management:
1 - Design
Wireless now requires in-depth network design and is different than it was in the past. How do you create a high-performance Wi-Fi network? Besides having to define all the applications that will be used, you must also define the areas that will need to be covered. You need to also find locations for APs and determine their configurations, which will allow you to have an idea of the network coverage and performance prior to deployment.
I agree with Tony - He did a GREAT review!
Many of you know that since I became crippled and can no longer travel I decided to do volunteer training for Law Enforcement and security officers, on the Computer/Cyber/Data world.
After almost 50 years of computer, data and network technology experience I figured I could help those on the front lines of protecting us, our Children and our Country! I support and train any Law Enforcement Team, the High Tech Criminal Investigation Association, Georgia Association of Professional Private Investigators and the Georgia Police Officers Standards and Training, plus a few more. I am also a certified Cyber/Internet Safety Instructor for the Georgia Bureau of Investigations and speak at many schools and organizations! I am also driving the most innovative Law Enforcement officers training for the GAPOST. I was recently appointed by State Senator John Albers as his Chairman on Cyber Law Enforcement and Terrorism.This is why I am passionate about helping the Good Guys find the criminals and the Fluke AirCheck wil be a super tool in the police cyber tool kit!
The child pornographers always try to hide their filthy files from Law Enforcement and they have had some success with using steganography or hiding in plain sight using the open file structure of picture formats to hide the images that they do not want you to find. They have also started hiding hot spots that are connected to large memory devices; they hide them in attics, closets and any number of places in their house. They even get their neighbors to allow them to store in their house or in some cases they hide them without the neighbor’s permission, maybe in the attic with garage access. We even had one hide the WiFi point and HDD in a wall. Yes they put power in the wall and housed the units then plastered the wall back, painted it in an attempt to hide their filth. The same for all Cyber Criminals - they love to hide the evidence and hope that the police cannot find it.
So Thanks to my friends at Fluke Networks they loaned me their new AirCheck – WiFi tester and hot spot locater…and WOW!!
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