“Its Dead Jim” Looking into a SSID Issue With My NetAlly Aircheck G2

When troubleshooting WiFi issues, the last thing I want to do is worry about having issues with my laptop and trying to figure out how to do specific things.

For example, if you have 5 access points with the same SSID, can you connect to a specific BSSID using your Windows, Linux, Android or MAC for testing?

Wireshark Windows Vs Linux

I have always enjoyed testing tools in my lab. For those of you who have followed me over the years, know that I always say that you should ‘know your tools’. I know this sounds obvious but trust me, it is anything but obvious.

For example, you have a relatively new laptop with 8 GB or RAM, i7 processor and 1 Gb Ethernet adapter. So, you would think that you should be able to capture traffic up to 1 Gbps, right? Wrong!!

Packet Capture Accuracy

This is a great example of ‘knowing your tool’ or ‘tool calibration’. Regardless of what you want to call it, it is important that you test your tools to ensure their accuracy.

In most cases analysts are turning to their laptops with either Windows, Linux or MAC OS as a tool of choice since laptops are might lighter, have increased battery life, more powerful and convenient to store results.

Unfortunately, convenience might come at a price. A good example would be to ask yourself if your laptop capture packets at various rates and packet sizes. Along with this question, should be a follow up to investigate how accurate your tool of choice is.

AI and the Future of Network Monitoring!

 The world of technology is constantly evolving and with it the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its uses in the field. By applying machine learning to examine data and historical trends, you can perform highly complex tasks while reducing human input.

This overview will describe the problem that AI and network monitoring must tackle, and how they both can do so.

The Problem

Over the years, humans have tried to figure out the solution to examining data and trends without the fear of human error. One of their earlier attempts was Dark Trace. While the software’s front end was astounding on the outside, the inside was abysmal. It took many hours of human input in order for the software to do its job of predicting and recognizing attacks and finding solutions. Despite it sparking people’s imaginations on AI, it wasn’t the AI solution that anyone wanted or needed.

Regardless of the failure of Dark Trace, researchers and developers have continued to dabble with AI. Today, AI can be used in network monitoring where large amount of time can get eaten up by keeping things as they are instead of looking for ways to improve your network performance. But what does AI and machine learning actually bring to network management?

Here are some unique ways that AI and network monitoring can work alongside each other:

Data Processing and Analysis

On a daily basis networks spit out large amounts of data that needs to be processed in order for you to understand the state of the network. This can be automated through AI and machine learning as the AI sifts through the data while comparing it to historical logs in order to identify potential trends. In most networks, a large amount of data is produced and rarely accessed meaning you may be missing key areas to improve the network performance and reduce its downtime.

It also has the added benefit of providing you with alerts real-time of any malicious or dangerous data as it occurs allowing you to focus on dealing with those issues instead of managing the data. “Human oversight is still critical here as while the AI can identify a problem it will not be able to determine what caused it,” cautions tech writer Katie Broomfield, Ukwritings review and Assignment service. It’s best to use AI to simply process the data and identify potential issues, then to take the time to have actual employees look into what caused the issue in the first place and implement changes.

One example of data processing and analysis at work is Service Delivery Intelligence (SDI) from Enterprise Intelligence. It’s an AI solution that speeds up performance analysis data searches, so that problems can be detected, and solutions can be made on the fly. It also allows for AI-assisted capacity planning, meaning that traffic flow can be simulated and then carry adequate switch-by-switch performance.

Problem Solving

In addition, there are some areas of problem-solving AI and machine learning can help in. It is possible to build smart switches into your network AI in order to manage the flow of traffic on your network and prioritising critical tasks. This means that you can be sure traffic is being managed in terms of priority without worrying that critical traffic is being held up in the system. The AI does this by analysing Ethernet packages to assign various levels of service while preventing compromise in the transition of other network data. This does require human input as you need to program the AI to understand what data should be prioritised and what should be given lesser priority.

Regardless, there are some reputable AI solutions that allow for great problem solving. For example, IBM Watson Field Service Advisor is an AI solution that helps technicians resolve field service requests without them having to scramble to meet them. IBM Watson will suggest possible solutions on how to resolve problems, providing “over-the-shoulder support” for technicians.

Human Input

Finally, let’s not rule out humans entirely.

“While no human can match the efficiency and processing capability of a machine, humans still remain crucial to inputting the data and understanding its context. AI can still give false positives, it’s up to us humans to identify when it happens,” says business writer Jason Stanley, Academ advisor and Via Writing.

We may be moving forward but without humans there is no use for AI which is not capable of making critical decisions relating to cyber-security and identifying the areas that are best suited for improvement. Automation is a good tool for improving the overall processing of your data but should not be the pillar on which your network is built and the be all and end all of network monitoring.

Conclusion

Overall, in terms of providing a solution for the general administration work involved in network monitoring, AI and machine learning is making great strides to automate this process allowing your team to focus on the areas that actually matter. However, it is not something that works by magic and not a silver bullet for your problems. You need humans to program and maintain the AI in order to make sure that it is doing what you want it to do, and there is no AI yet able to fully understand the context of a situation or identify the causation of any issues.

It’s worth investing in an AI to lessen the load on your networking team, but be warned that this may create some extra work in turn, especially when first getting set up. If you use it wisely, AI will bring great benefits and help you quickly deal with network situations as they occur.

The author - Technical writer and project coordinator Sara Sparrow, Best essay writing services and Student writing services, consults businesses and participates in conferences to share her knowledge of technology and marketing. In her spare time, she also writes on a wide array of topics for online magazines and blogs like Top essay services

Coin of the Realm (Paul W. Smith)

 

Your brain is a greedy little fellow. Although it comprises only 2% of your body weight, it consumes 20% of the oxygen supply. Deprived of oxygen for a mere one minute, it’s cells will begin to die off and two minutes later, serious permanent damage will have occurred. Oxygen is number one on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – love, esteem and self-actualization all build on a foundation that starts with oxygen. It’s one of those essential things that we take for granted, until it’s at risk.

The problems of tech education in the 21st century! (Dora Miller )

 The problems of tech education in the 21st century

The education sector is under pressure to incorporate tech concepts into every subject. Doctors will need to know about the technology to be used in the laboratory. Teachers also need to use technology in class. The trend can be felt throughout all professional fields. While the desire to incorporate tech education is alive, there are numerous challenges administrators, teachers, students, and parents must overcome.