February 23, 2009
The New, Improved, Vibrating Cisco WAP!
While skimming the latest TAC update, I stumbled across this one:
Field Notice: FN # 63177 - Cisco Aironet 1250 Access Point Buzzing, Vibrating, and Making Noise
What a hilarious way to start the week! If I can find one of these vibrating WAPs on Ebay...I'm buying it.
Posted by JC at 8:09 AM | Comments (28)
May 21, 2008
Budget Wireless Sniffer
Just found this wireless sniffer from Canary Wireless. Looks like a pretty nice, cheap alternative to me carrying my laptop around trying to figure out what wireless channels are in use when deploying a wireless network.
UPDATE: Even better!!! http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/illuminated/991e/. TShirts reach a whole new level.
Posted by JC at 1:50 PM | Comments (8)
July 18, 2007
Simple Article on Configuring 802.1X
802.1X is a powerful technology forcing people to authenticate before they are able to access Layer 2 services (such as a switchport or wireless access point). I recently stumbled on a step-by-step article showing an end-to-end configuration for the Windows RADIUS server, the Windows XP client, and the Cisco wireless access point - the link is below; just click the Server, Client, and Access Point links at the bottom of the page to get the configurations.
http://www.cs.umd.edu/~mvanopst/8021x/howto/
Posted by JC at 12:50 PM | Comments (6)
July 6, 2007
Understanding Cisco Wireless Antennas
I've installed and configured a few Cisco wireless access points over the last couple years, but never really had a grasp of the different antenna options available. I just used the normal internal antennas and everything seemed to work fine... So, I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I have now mastered my wireless antenna knowledge by setting up Cisco access points on an alien space ship. Seriously. On Cisco's CCNA Prep Center, they have an online game called "Wireless Explorer" - it seemed cheesy at first, but I got seriously addicted to it and spent over an hour learning about all sorts of wireless information. So, if you'd rather not play the game, here's the most valuable info I got:
Omni-Directional Antenna: Provides even spread of wireless signal in a radius around the access point
Directional Antenna: Allows you to point antennas to get more radius and range in a specific direction.
Yagi Antenna: Provides dual adjustments of direction (same as directional antenna) and focus. The more streamlined focus gets intense reach/range.
Posted by JC at 5:50 PM | Comments (5)