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 GigaNews gives IT pros
cutting edge insight into the rapidly changing products and practices
needed to succeed in the dynamic wireless LAN marketplace.
December 2006
In This Issue:
>> Cisco Voice Over Wireless LAN Course Available January 2007
>> Updated Cisco WLAN Security & Advanced WLAN Bridging Lab
>> Tech Tip -- Spoofing a Rogue AP and De-authenticating Clients
>> White Paper & Hot Topic – The Benefits of WLAN Centralization
>> Cisco Integrated High-Gain Antenna and Enclosure Solutions
>> Aesthetically Pleasing 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and Dual Band Antennas
>> Training Corner
Cisco Voice Over WLAN Course Available for Registration >>This new 3-day course includes instructor-led training and instructor assisted hands-on labs. The curriculum is designed to give students the fundamental skills necessary to effectively design, deploy, and troubleshoot a VoWLAN solution. The VoWLAN course builds on the foundational skills taught in Cisco Wireless LAN Fundamentals and Cisco Voice with emphasis on developing skills utilizing Cisco Unified Wireless IP Phone 7920 and VoWLAN endpoints, site survey, wireless infrastructure, security, call control and troubleshooting.
View Full Course Description, Agenda & Cost
Updated Cisco WLAN Security & Advanced WLAN Bridging Lab Coming Soon >>GigaWave is finalizing updates on these two popular courses. Both courses are completely updated with the latest Cisco technologies, practices and procedures and will be available for registration Q1 2007.
>> Tech Tip
Spoofing a rouge AP, De-authenticating Clients & Legitimate APs >> Which form of Cisco wireless networking allows you to spoof a rogue AP and de-authenticate clients from a rogue AP in an effort to encourage the client to move to a legitimate access point?
A) Centralized B) Autonomous C) Both A and B
The answer is A) Centralized. Rouge APs are a problem. A solution is Cisco’s centralized wireless architecture where rogue APs are automatically identified and tested to see if it is physically on the network. How does this work? The controller that detects the rogue constantly monitors all the APs connected to it and instructs one AP to act as if it’s a client seeking association. Once the AP is associated to the rogue AP, it will try sending an ARP packet. If the packet reaches the controller, then we know the rogue is on the physical network. Next, the controller can be programmed to notify an administrator of the rogue’s presence. If that has not been done, the administrator can find data in either the controller or in WCS. Either way, the administrator has to instruct the controller to perform a containment on the rogue AP in which the admin selects between one and three APs that can hear the rogue. These APs will spoof the MAC address of the rogue and send de-authentication packets to clients associated to the rogue. This forces the clients to disassociate from the rogue and encourages them to find other APs to connect to -- hopefully valid APs on the network.
You ask, “Why isn’t the containment automatic?” Automatic containment could cause serious problems for neighboring wireless networks. For instance, if a network is next to a coffee house offering a Wi-Fi hotspot, a controller-based network set to automatic containment will detect AP’s next door as rogues. It contains them. Within minutes the network at the coffee shop is forcefully shut down – no wireless traffic occurs because the only other wireless network is yours and unauthorized users cannot connect to your network. And, what if the neighbor is a hospital? Instead of people being unable to access the Internet or email, more crucial wireless communications could be interrupted. This is why containment requires the admin to make sure the potential rogue is really on their network before a human decision is made to contain the rogue. It helps make sure we evaluate what we contain and doing so limits liabilities and the possible damage created.
>> Industry News
>> Integrated High-Gain Antenna & AP Enclosure Solutions >> TerraWave's Integrated Antenna & Access Point Enclosures now offers a three-in-one outdoor solution: A fully integrated Cisco 1242 dual radio AP and a high-gain antenna contained within a ruggedized and weatherized enclosure. These enclosure solution has the flexibility of Cisco’s dual radio AP that includes bridging as well as local coverage with wireless backhaul. All antennas are covered by a standard one-year warranty.
View 2.4 GHz Unit Data Sheet & Pricing
View 5 GHz Unit Data Sheet & Pricing
Webinar Playback on Integrated Solution
>> Cisco White Paper – The Benefits of Centralization in Wireless LANs via the Cisco Unified Wireless Network >> It’s a hot topic dividing the WLAN marketplace. This paper addresses the benefits of 802.11 WLAN centralization. It discusses how centralization of WLANs delivers advanced features and benefits that are easy to deploy, scale and manage. These benefits include ease of deployment, ease of upgrades, reliable connectivity through dynamic RF management, optimized per-user performance through user load balancing, guest networking. Layer 3 roaming, an embedded wireless Intrusion Detection System (IDS), location services, voice over IP, lowered total cost of ownership and wired and wireless unification.
View & Download White Paper
Aesthetically Pleasing 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and Dual Band Antennas >> For the Stealthy WLAN Deployment >>
Today, WLAN integrators can find variety of high quality, low cost Wi-Fi antennas and enclosure solutions that blend into any workplace environment. TerraWave’s low-profile antennas provide the same RF propagation patterns as traditional omnidirectional antennas, AND make the wireless network nearly invisible. New Wi-Fi enclosure solutions also allow system integrators to blend wireless equipment into progressive work spaces where aesthetics matter.
View Aesthetically Pleasing Antenna Solutions
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