Introduction
Introduction
This official CWAP Study Guide is written for two purposes. First, the
book is your indispensable resource for understanding the MAC &
PHY frame formatting and frame exchange processes behind every
802.11 wireless LAN. In other words, you can memorize the 802.11
standard, as well as every addition and amendment to that standard, or
you can make the CWAP Study Guide a permanent part of your
network analysis toolkit. Second, the book is the official self-study
resource for helping you prepare for the CWAP exam (PW0-205).
If you are pursuing the CWAP certification, you are required to pass
the CWNA exam as a pre-requisite. The knowledge that you will
acquire through achievement of the CWNA certification will serve as
the foundation for learning what has been called, “the most technically
advanced” subject matter currently taught in the IT industry.
If you are reading this book, then you undoubtedly have either a solid
knowledge of network analysis and are now endeavoring to take on the
wireless end of that trade, or you have earned your CWNA (and
possibly also CWSP) certification and are ready to take on the next
challenge in your wireless LAN-focused career. Whichever description
is more accurate, the outcome will be the same. You will learn more
about the technologies that drive 802.11 wireless LANs than you have
ever seen before. In addition, you have begun the process of setting
yourself further apart from the rest of the IT industry by pushing
yourself to learn some of the most complex and technically challenging
information in all of IT.
Your study of wireless LAN analysis will enable you to troubleshoot
any wireless LAN scenario, improve the performance of any wireless
LAN, and add a whole new dimension to your ability to secure a
wireless LAN. Furthermore, because the CWAP curriculum and exam
are supported by the industry’s leading wireless LAN analysis software
makers, you will also have a thorough understanding of how to use all
of the leading wireless LAN analysis software, which software is most
appropriate for your organization, and which software is best for any
