5 Things about cloud managed WiFi Networks you should know
Here we summarize the most important things to know about WiFi cloud managed networks.
1. A WiFi network can include multiple locations
In the case of networks that are managed through hardware controllers, you need a controller for each network / for each location. The assumption “one network, one location” is not valid anymore if your network is managed through the cloud.
2. A cloud-controlled WLAN is easily manageable
As the WLANs with hardware controllers, the cloud-controlled WLANs have a single point of management and a centralized intelligence to control all the access points of the network. But more than that, cloud-based is centralized even at a multi-location level, while when using controller-based, each controller can manage only the APs of its specific location, as if each Hilton hotel was a separate isolated island, instead of being part of the same chain. This has a practical implication: with hardware controllers, it’s needed to access each location control panel and manage each one individually. On the contrary, cloud based WLANs have a single dashboard to manage all the APs of each location and all the locations without leaving the same dashboard. Cloud-based WLANs boost operational efficiency.
3. An SSID / a captive portal can be shared between multiple locations
An SSID (with or without captive portal) can be shared between multiple locations, if the access points are in the same network. For example, a network can be composed of a Milan EU Headquarter with 15 access points, a New York Branch Office with 7 access points, and a Shaghai APAC Regional Office with 8 access points, providing a smooth seamless WiFi experience to the multinational employees travelling from one branch to the next one and to guests.
Things you should be aware of when deploying a Wi-Fi network:
Wi-Fi coverage. Choose the AP and mount it in order to get the best Wi-Fi coverage possible. There are many access points, with internal or external antennas. Omnidirectional antennas spread signal in every direction. Some access points are designed specifically to be used for outdoor deployments. If you want to get the best Wi-Fi coverage, mount your access points far from metal grids, cement beams or other structures that could affect the signal transmission.
Power level. The TX power setting specifies the strength of the signal that the router produces during the times it is transmitting. Lowering the TX Power allows to reduce interferences when more Wi-Fi devices are near. (more…)
Wi-Fi stumblers complete list | Windows Mac Linux Android
This is the most comprehensive list of 17 free and commercial Wi-Fi network stumblers for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS.
In this post, we will look at the 17 most popular Wi-Fi network stumblers for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS, which will help you to examine and survey your Wi-Fi network in order to better plan, troubleshoot and deploy it.
Kismet is a detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection system for 802.11 WLANs. Kismet works by passively collecting packets and detecting standard named networks. Without sending any loggable packets, it detects the presence of both wireless APs and wireless clients, and to associate them with each other. Last update was released in 2013.
Vistumbler is a wireless network scanner written in AutoIT that runs only on Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. It shows network’s name, signal strength, kind of encryption, Mac Address, channel, manufacturer. It also graphs the traffic for each network. Last update was released in 2013.
InSSIDer is a tool developed by MetaGeek to scan, visualize, and troubleshoot WLANs. It shows what the Wi‑Fi environment looks like, both physically and logically. It identifies signal overlap, channel conflicts, and configuration issues that are degrading the WLAN’s performance.
The Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector is a free tool to characterize the integrity and performance of a Wi-Fi network. It detects Rogue APs and provides peak Wi-Fi network performance.
WiFi Explorer is a WLANs scanner tool to identify channel conflicts, signal overlapping or configuration problems that may affect the connectivity and performance of a wireless network.
NetSurveyor is an 802.11 network discovery tool that gathers information about nearby wireless access points in real time. It’s useful when installing, testing, and troubleshooting 802.11 adapters and wireless networks. It helps verifying the network is properly configured, trouble-shooting an existing network that is performing poorly, conducting wireless site surveys.
KisMAC is a free, open source wireless stumbling and security tool for Mac OS X. This sniffer/scanner application reveals hidden, cloacked and closed SSIDs; shows logged in clients (with MAC Addresses, IP addresses and signal strengths); can draw area maps of network coverage, thanks to GPS support.
NetSpot is a free Mac native tool to conduct network site surveys. It works over any 802.11 network. It helps identify connectivity and wireless interference issues, find sources of excessive noise, resolve Wi-Fi configuration problems.
Acrylic WiFi is a WiFi scanner that gathers information from 802.11/a/b/g/n/ac networks. It shows: SSIDs/BSSIDs and connected users; signal quality charts for WiFi channels; network authentication and security details for WEP, WPA, WPA2 and Enterprise (802.1X) WLANs.
This is a simple tool to conduct site surveys or track down rogue APs. Results can be sent by e-mail. It shows bridged APs, but not their MAC info. Last update was released in 2010.
iStumbler provides information about nearby Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth devices, Bonjour services and their Locations. It lists visible wireless networks with complete information, graphically indicates network type and encryption status, identifies signal and noise.
NetStumbler is a tool that detects WLANs using 802.11b, 802.11a and 802.11g. No updated version has been developed since 2005. NetStumbler helps detecting networks interference.
WiFi Scanner detects access points and clients in ad-hoc mode if the SSID is being broadcasted. Use it for wireless site surveys, wireless discovery, and to connect to WiFi networks. The tool reports signal strength in dBm and shows access point BSSID/MAC addresses. It scans 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.
WirelessNetView is a small utility that runs in the background, and monitor the activity of wireless networks around you. For each detected network, it displays the following information: SSID, Last Signal Quality, Average Signal Quality, Detection Counter, Authentication Algorithm, Cipher Algorithm, MAC Address, RSSI, Channel Frequency, Channel Number, and more.
WirelessMon is a software tool that allows users to monitor the status of wireless WiFi adapters and gather information about nearby wireless access points and hotspots. WirelessMon can log the information it collects into a file, while also providing comprehensive graphing of signal level and real time IP and 802.11 WiFi statistics.
iwScanner is a wireless scanner for Linux with an easy to use graphic interface. It gives information about detected wireless networks (AP, MAC, Channel, Encryption, etc) and indentifies signal strenght for every wireless network.
Netsniff-ng was initially created by Daniel Borkmann as a network sniffer with support of the Linux kernel packet-mmap interface for network packets. The toolkit currently consists of a network analyzer, packet capturer and replayer, a wire-rate traffic generator, an encrypted multiuser IP tunnel, a Berkeley Packet Filter compiler, networking statistic tools, an autonomous system trace route and more.
Unfortunately we didn’t find any stumbler for iOS. This is probably because in 2010 Apple removed several popular Wi-Fi stumblers from the App Store (WiFi-Where, WiFiForum and yFy Network Finder). Apple justify the removal of the apps because they used “a private framework to access wifi information”. This is described in Cult of Mac blog (read more).
Have the guest Wi-Fi clients used too much bandwidth recently, stealing it from other Wi-Fi clients who were supposed to have priority? Well, this is not an issue anymore. You can now specify the maximum bandwidth per each SSID and protect the clients that matter most!
This is just a first step to implement a broader feature set that will allow to protect your Wi-Fi clients and control the policy to grant access. Our R&D is also working on:
per client bandwidth control: it will be possible not only to protect an SSID (such as the Members SSID from the Guests SSID), but also to protect a client accessing to a specific SSID from other clients that are connected to the same SSID.
The latest release also added the following feature:
As part of our continuous effort to provide the most flexible tool to cloud-manage any Wi-Fi network device, we work both on huge features, such as zero-touch deployment or roaming, and also on smaller features, that might be just considered as little improvements.
We are glad to host on our blog the best-article-ever that anyone working in this industry can use to explain to friends and family what the cloud really is, using a cool analogy. Thanks Tom for giving permission to post this article.
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Vistumbler is a wireless network scanner written in AutoIT that runs only on Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. It shows network’s name, signal strength, kind of encryption, Mac Address, channel, manufacturer. It also graphs the traffic for each network. Last update was released in 2013.
Acrylic WiFi is a WiFi scanner that gathers information from 802.11/a/b/g/n/ac networks. It shows: SSIDs/BSSIDs and connected users; signal quality charts for WiFi channels; network authentication and security details for WEP, WPA, WPA2 and Enterprise (802.1X) WLANs.
