WLW028 – Aerohive Client Health & Teacherview
Aerohive Client Health & Teacherview
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This episode invites back Adam Conway of Aerohive networks to talk about their latest software upgrade. I asked Adam on the Wireless LAN Weekly Podcast specifically to talk about ‘Client Health Score’ as part of the 3.5 code release.
If you have 19 clients for every Access Point, the clients are 95% of all the wireless in your environment. Even if you have a very dense AP deployment and have only 9 clients for every Access Point, you still have the STA’s or client wireless as 90% of your wireless network. Clients are terribly important when it comes to maintaining a healthy, working Wireless LAN.
Adam will talk to use about this new type of technology, and how it can effect your Wireless LAN. Listen in, and enjoy!
Download the Solution Brief Understanding the Concept of Client Health Score
Watch the Video Understanding the Concept of Client Health
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WLW 027 – Fluke Network’s AirCheck
Fluke Network’s AirCheck
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My apologies about the messed up/missing audio on last week’s podcast with Joe Epstein. We’ll be having him back next week.
This week contains and interview with Carolyn Carter of Fluke Networks. Carolyn is the Portable Network Tools Product Manager – and one of her charges is the new AirCheck hand-held testing device for Wireless LANs.
For Further information you can contact Fluke Networks. They have a great online simulator where you can try a little virtual hands-on with the AirCheck device.
You can reach Carolyn Carter directly at Carolyn.Carter@flukenetworks.com or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/FlukeNetworks.
Now for those supporting graphics to go along with Carolyn’s descriptions in the audio interview.
My own personal review of the Fluke Network’s AirCheck
I had a chance to play with a pre-production unit right before the official launch. Without any instructions, or hints from the Fluke sales rep, I was able to do everything the tool is designed for… it is just that intuative!
Since receiving an evaluation unit, I’ve taken it on gigs all around the world. Large industrial sites, hospitals, airports, hotels, office buildings, conferences, and even on a cruise ship. I’ve used it for my own clients, taught other field reps to use it, and as a backup to my larger laptop-based tools.
Simply put, the AirCheck does exactly what is was designed for. It is fantastic at discovery, quick and easy in ‘Find’ mode, connects and tests Access Points and the DHCP services behind an AP. All in a small, lightweight device.
You will be surprised, nay even shocked, at the speed at which it boots and gets down to scanning. (well under three seconds from powered off, to scanning the air for WiFi signals)
Those who understand 802.11 and WiFi, will instantly understand and know how to use an AirCheck. With those field techs I’ve trained on the device, they too pick up the interface quite quickly, but don’t always understand what the screens are showing them.
I’m very impressed with this device, it has early a coveted spot in my ‘go bag’ and WiFi toolkits!
It’s not perfect however… the power brick is large, heavy, and unwieldy. I don’t like carrying custom special power bricks. They should have allowed for charging from USB port’s 5v.
Configuration is also a bit of a pain. To prepare the AirCheck to connect with an authenticated Wireless LAN, you have to start a Windows session on your laptop, run the AirCheck software, configure then transfer a profile from the Windows machine to the AirCheck. (though you only have to do this once for each different profile you need. But this does take away from the ‘portability’ of the device.
If you are interested at all, use the link above to try the online simulator and see if the screens and information the AirCheck discover/display will help you in your own Wireless LAN analysis and troubleshooting, I know it has helped with mine.
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WLW 026 – Scalable VoIP Mobility Integration and Deployment
Scalable VoIP Mobility Integration and Deployment
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Looking at my bookshelf in my office I have over four shelves full of books on Wireless LAN technologies. I’m sure many of you do as well. It’s a big part of how we learn about the thing we deal with day in/day out.
Lately someone recommended I check out a book with a very long name, Scalable VoIP Mobility – Integration and Deployment. Now that’s a mouthful…
But when I heard the author was Joseph Epstein of Meru Networks fame, I thought this might be a good read. I was not disappointed!
I’ve been teaching folks around the globe on how to best design their Wireless LANs for a VoIP deployment, as well as teaching people to use AirMagnet’s VoFi Analyzer. Either of these tasks requires a very large baseline of knowledge.
You’ve got to know and understand:
- Network Components – switches, hubs, routers
- Networking Protocols – TCP, UDP, IP, MAC, etc.
- Voice Technology – Analog vs Digital, PSTN, CO, CPE, etc.
- VoIP Fundamentals – Codecs, MOS, Jitter, Latency, etc.
- Wireless LAN Fundamentals – Contention Domain, RF characteristics, 802.11 Protocols, roaming, etc.
- Network Security – Authentication, Encryption, etc.
All of those technologies, and then learn to synthesize those together into a cohesive bit of knowledge to apply on your Voice over WiFi network. Whew!
Well Joe does a great job in covering all of those items in great detail in his book!
This week we are pleased to have Joe Epstein in an interview to help explain in person some of the concepts covered by his book.
I’ve read just about every book on the market that has anything to do with Wireless LANs – and this one shines as a beacon of knowledge, lighting the way for further, in-depth understanding of not only the Voice over IP issues, but more importantly how 802.11 works, and how mixing the two effects each other.
Highly recommended!
You can get your copy on Amazon
The book contains many tables and charts just loaded with researched details any Wireless LAN Professional needs to have at their fingertips. We even found out in the call that Joe developed all the book’s graphics himself.
Here are a couple of those graphics – they can really help to understand some fairly complex topics.
If you want to learn about 802.11, or VoIP, or WiFi Security – you can’t go wrong with this book. I personally went the the Kindle version so I can have it on my iPad as a technical reference with me always available.
Thanks again to Joe Epstein for not only writing this book filled with knowledge we all need, but also for sharing his time on this podcast episode!
You can find Joe and his work at MeruNetworks
Last Minute Apology – Due to a technical problem in the recording. The interview with Joe Epstein will be postponed until a future episode. This is a big ‘Doh’! on my part. I connected up some of the recording equipment incorrectly and the resulting audio was un-fit for publishing. My apologies!
Thanks for listening.
We’d love to have you subscribe to our RSS feed – just click the button in the upper right corner of the web page. Until next week, thanks for listening!
If you have any feedback on the show – please drop an e-mail to feedback@WirelessLANProfessionals.com.
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