Introduction to Wireless LAN Analysis
applicable location. Propagation will change over time because of
reconfiguration of offices and presence of new machinery. This
constant change makes it imperative to measure and assess propagation
to avoid coverage holes in a proactive manner. Proactive analysis
reduces frustration when users make use of applications requiring a
high quality wireless link.
Performance Analysis
Performance analysis involves the measurement of throughput and
delays in order to determine how well the wireless LAN is supporting
data traffic. The goal of performance analysis is to minimize the
impacts of the wireless LAN on the speed at which the user can utilize
network applications. For example, monitoring a part of the network
may reveal that utilization is approaching the capacity of a particular
access point. Users in this area will likely be experiencing delays when
using any network-intensive applications, and access to the network
may not be possible if utilization increases any further. Provisions can
be made to either add more access points in that area or offer a form of
bandwidth control for each user or application.
Performance analysis may involve protocol interaction due to multiple
802.11 modulations in use in the same area. For example, 802.11g
access points and stations may be configured to be backwards
compatible with 802.11b stations and access points, but the reverse is
not true. There will be environments in which 802.11g radios are
configured to work with 802.11b radios, and there will be environments
where 802.11g radios are configured to ignore 802.11b radios. Both of
these situations have advantages and disadvantages that the analyst
should be aware of.
Security Analysis
Companies must define security policies for wireless LANs. The
problem is that installers and administrators sometimes make mistakes
when configuring access points, wireless LAN switches, wireless
gateways, and even client devices. For example, someone may forget
to enable encryption for one particular access point, which makes the
access point vulnerable to hackers. The hacker can associate with this
access point from outside the facility and attack corporate resources.
