CWNP Blog

CWNP
March 24, 2010

Wireless Hygiene

If there’s one term that is central to wireless networking, it is this: half-duplex. I’ve heard it over and over in the past few weeks in conversations with vendors and consultants who continue to wonder why some folks still don’t understand the basics of WLAN design. As a foretaste to our real solution, here are a few broad and specific questions and answers for basic wireless hygiene that should help our friends with underperforming networks.

CWNP
March 17, 2010

WLAN Website with Worthwhile Wisdom

I wanted to write a quick blog to make sure the CWNP blog reading community is made aware of another fantastic resource for WLAN professionals that just so happens to be called Wireless LAN Professionals. Keith Parsons, CWNE #3 and CWNT, launched his latest project at the beginning of this year, a website devoted to educating, informing, entertaining, and inspiring WLAN professionals, as his site’s subtitle aptly states. The free content and technical resources available there are exceptional.

CWNP
March 15, 2010

Ruckus' Little Dog

The title of this article aside, I have a deep deep distaste for little dogs. They’re either yapping annoyingly or showing their teeth while snarling (that is not cute, or funny, BTW). In sum, I really do not like little dogs, and I have two words: alligator food. Sorry to little dog owners everywhere.

CWNP
March 12, 2010

Wi-Forti-Fi

Way back in the days before 802.11i, Wi-Fi security was immature. WEP was the best the industry had to offer and WLAN education was in its infancy. Features like SSID hiding and MAC filtering became popular, and Wi-Fi inherited a reputation like the nervous kid in high school: insecure. As we all know, Wi-Fi uses a shared and openly accessible medium, so it has some inherent security needs, but thankfully there are more than adequate answers to the problem. In fact, many WLANs are more secure than wired LANs due to the extra diligence taken to protect them. No less, Wi-Fi security is always a hot topic and it will continue to be a hot topic… for-ever, for-ever… (ever seen The Sandlot?).

CWNP
March 08, 2010

Hands-On Fluke

Most of you know by now that I spend most of my days in my home lab…writing, testing, reading, and exploring different implementations of the technology with hands-on experience. A few weeks back, I was invited by Fluke to get a little hands-on exposure to their new handheld tool, AirCheck™. Normally, when we say "hands-on," what we really mean is that you are using real equipment instead of reading a book or watching a video. This time, hands-on is quite literal; I was holding a device in my hands. :)

CWNP
March 01, 2010

Come and Get Your Love!

Will you, or someone you know, be the next NPA-AFP’s “Best Networking Professional"? Here’s an opportunity for WLAN professionals to gain recognition among the broader family of IT professionals.

CWNP
February 09, 2010

Subjectivity, Scrutiny, and Simpletons

Every few months, we see press from vendors pointing to tests that show why they’re the best. Best throughput, best coverage, best capacity performance, best multimedia, best whatever. Sometimes the test is done by a contracted third-party, and other times we’re graced with simple marketing tests conducted by the “best” vendor itself. Before I go any further, let me be loud and clear that this article has nothing to do with the latest two or three tests that have hit the news. It is not aimed at any specific vendor, nor is it intended to say how a product should or shouldn’t be marketed, or even that a test is or isn’t reliable. This article is here to say how I think a competitive test should be conducted by a vendor, a biased (or unbiased) third-party, or otherwise, IMHO.

CWNP
January 29, 2010

Meritorious Meraki: A Review

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen…” – Henry David Thoreau, Walden When I first logged into the Meraki management platform (i.e. Meraki Cloud Controller – MCC) and spent a few minutes observing the high-level organization of their interface, the previous Thoreau quote came immediately to mind. As a staunch believer in simplifying life, I must say that Meraki took Thoreau’s words and applied this principle to their solution, including the GUI. Continue reading...

CWNP
January 21, 2010

Dynamic Frequency Selection

In the beginning stages of my Wi-Fi journey, 802.11h was confusing. Just like everyone else, I was drowning in the world of faceless acronyms. Over time, the meaning of Dynamic Frequency Selection (DFS) started to take on a concrete form and I assimilated the term into my armory. If you’re feeling that way, I wanted to share some thoughts on DFS that should help to secure it in the memory as an important topic. Continue reading...

CWNP
January 18, 2010

The Teeter-Totter of GUI Complexity

All vendors must address a problem that I like to call the teeter-totter of GUI complexity. OK, so I just made that up, but here’s the gist. First, their solution should offer feature richness. Reaching the broadest possible customer market means having the most flexible configuration choices, right? Conversely, keeping customers happy and minimizing confusion means that GUI simplicity must be maximized. Impossibly complex interfaces are bad. Flexibility goes up, simplicity goes down. Simplicity goes up, flexibility goes down. Teeter. Totter. Continue reading...

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