● Albert Einstein explained it best: ● "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there.... What is wireless

●...The only difference is that there is no cat."

Wireless LAN: ● What is it ● Versions and Standards ● How we deploy it ● How we manage it ● How we secure it ● How we improve it

What is it ● IEEE standard for wireless ethernet ● Introduced in 1997 ● Replacement for physical cabling to each host ● Has seen dramatic increase in popularity over the past few years.

Versions and Standards ● Original offered 1 and 2 Mbps speeds in the 2.4GHz band ● a added a 54Mbps speed in the 5GHz band ● b added 11Mbps speed in the 2.4GHz band – This extension is now synonymous with ● g added 22Mbps and 54Mbps speeds in the 2.4GHz band ● i improves the security and encryption ● n will add much higher speeds of potentially several hundred Mbps

How do we deploy it ● Locating, configuring and installing 'access points' or AP's. ● AP's connect the wireless clients to the wired network ● Currently we employ about 75 AP's across all campuses. ● Originally only provided in conference rooms ● Now provided in (almost) all office space

Locating and Surveying ● Optimal locations determined via in the field testing ● Testing is done with Cisco client software as well as custom survey software ● Survey software eventually produces web pages showing coverage

How do we manage it ● All access points are kept in a database ● NETS manages DHCP server for wireless network ● AP's are given static addresses while clients get dynamic ones ● AP's download their configuration at boot time from the DHCP server ● This gives them consistent default settings along with individual names.

How do we secure it ● Wireless is inherently less secure than cables ● Easier to both gain access to wireless and to watch what other people are doing ● Original spec included encryption “Wired Equivalent Privacy” or WEP ● WEP was difficult to use and contained several flaws which were later discovered rendering it almost useless ● We now rely on a security gateway and VPN

Security Gateway ● Operated by Rich Johnson and the security group ● Allows all VPN traffic. This is the preferred method for staff to secure their wireless traffic ● Also allows guest logins. These provide control over who uses the network, but does not provide the users with any privacy ● to set up guest accounts ● to log in to guest accounts

How do we improve it? ● Re-deployment starting RSN ● Coverage is spotty due to two-stage deployment. – Too much in some areas – Too little in others ● New AP's provide g and higher speeds

How do we improve it? ● New AP's allow multiple networks at once ● Provide new per-campus staff-only networks and maintain legacy network at the same time ● New security via i AKA 'WPA2' may allow staff to 'log in' to wireless securely and skip the VPN

Troubleshooting

Guest Logins