WIFITECHBLOG

On Monday, I passed the CWNA (PW0-105) exam.

While I have decided to sit out v2 of the CCIE Wireless, I do not want my skills to atrophy completely.  I had considered focusing on CCNP Wireless, but since most of my certifications are Cisco-oriented, and since I had passed CCIE Written, it seemed to me like looking at 802.11 from a different perspective was a good idea.

CCIE Wireless is focused mostly on configuration.  This makes sense - the exam is designed to ensure you know Cisco's product inside and out, which means understanding their interpretation of the 802.11 protocol.  The best way to do demonstrate this is to prove that you know all the nuances of configuring their equipment.

CWNP has a different focus, though, since it is a vendor-neutral certification.  Their focus is more on ensuring that candidates have a solid understanding of the RF characteristics that underlie the vendor's implementation of 802.11.  I am hoping that by developing a better understanding of RF, I can gain valuable insight into understanding why Cisco approaches it from their perspective - and effectively gain a better knowledge of their product.

I still have the goal of reaching CCIE Wireless.  I'm just taking a less direct approach to it at this point.

Next on my radar - CWDP!

It's been over a year since my last blog post...  Not good.

I had made 5 attempts and spent 2 years studying for CCIE Wireless v1.  On November 17, 2011 Cisco retired this version of the lab and moved on to v2.

I needed a break to determine where I was, both on a personal and professional level.  It's very disappointing to have spent 4+ hours a day in study and not bear the fruit of that effort.  A lot in my life has changed since I began this journey and I was not quite sure that I was ready to put myself through all of the challenges again.  Things are starting to come together again for me though, and I sense an attempt at CCIE Wireless v2 in the future.

Here's a list of things I have done to help myself prepare for a possible shot at the new test:

First, I wanted to gather some training material.  I had used material from both Fast Lane and IP Expert in studying for v1.  They both are excellent sources of what to study for the exam, but I like the pedagogical approach from Fast Lane better so I started with purchasing their program for v2 (I plan to buy IP Expert as well when $ permits):

CCIEW-MENT
CCIEW-WBP1

For more information on either of these, visit the Fast Lane website:

 www.fastlaneus.com

With the new workbook in hand, I started building out my lab.  At this point, my lab consists mainly of my equipment from v1 - although I have a new PC for running ACS 5.2.  I spent literally 50% of my time studying for v1 troubleshooting my virtual ACS (running in VMWare Server on a Win 2000 box) so I am hoping to have better luck this time around...  Having an independent computer shouldn't hurt.

So here's my current setup for the ACS 5.2 box:

Dell Latitude E6400 running Ubuntu 11.10, VMWare Player v 4.0.2

Installing VMWare Player was a bit onerous - the following website provided the instructions I couldn't find elsewhere:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/101139/how-to-install-vmware-player-4-0-2

Next, I used this blog as a guideline for installing ACS 5.2:

http://blog.sudonetworks.com/2010/10/installing-cisco-acs-52-on-a-laptop.html

That's it for now - I'm off to upgrade the IOS on all my equipment.

Just a quick note that on July 7th one of my study partners passed the CCIE Wireless Lab.  Kara Muessig was the first female to pass the CCIE Wireless, and one of the first 50 people to have achieved the certification.

Great job, Kara!

Settings that must be configured identically to allow wireless mobility between controllers:

LWAPP Transport Mode (layer 2 or layer 3)
config switchconfig mode {L2|L3}

Virtual IP
config interface address virtual 1.1.1.1

Mobility Tunneling Mode (symmetric or asymmetric)
config mobility symmetric-tunneling {enable|disable}

Mobility Security Mode
config mobility secure-mode {enable|disable}

DHCP Proxy
config dhcp proxy {enable|disable}

WLAN
All parameters for the WLAN should be identical (other than security settings), including the WLAN numbering on the WLCs in the mobility group.

Time for another post!

I'm hard at work looking at some more autonomous AP commands.  This time it's beacon periods!  So, on an AAP, how would you configure the beacon period to 100 milliseconds?

One would be tempted to look under the radio interface:

"ap#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
ap(config)#int d0
ap(config-if)#beac ?
  dtim-period  dtim period
  period       beacon period

ap(config-if)#beac per ?
  <20-4000>  Kusec (or msec)"


What's that, you've never heard of Kusec before?!  Where have you been?


I looked it up, and apparently Kusec is a kilomicrosecond...  And what, exactly, is that?  1.024 ms.  So now, to set your AP beacon period to 100 milliseconds you are forced to do a bit of math:


100 ms / 1.024 = 97.66 Kusec.


What about the DTIM period?  That's a bit easier - just the number of beacons to wait before multicast traffic is transmitted.

If you have ever been confused by these two settings, you're not alone.  MFP and AP Authentication are both configured from the same page via the WLC GUI.  This makes one ponder the difference between the two options.

According to Cisco, AP Authentication is used for encrypting the AP to AP RRM traffic whereas MFP is used to protect the 802.11 management frames (hence the name...).  Also, it should be noted that these two options are mutually exclusive.

Sources:
AP Authentication - http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/wcs/4.0/configuration/guide/wcstemp.html
MFP - http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk809/technologies_configuration_example09186a008080dc8c.shtml