Customer Reviews

Controller-Based Wireless LAN Fundamentals: An end-to-end reference guide to design, deploy, manage, and secure 802.11 wireless networks

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If you have an enterprise wireless network you'll benefit from this book. From spectrum and architecture to more advanced topics this book will will serve as a guide. As a CCIE with 20 years of wireless experience I've seen just how wireless has gone from a someday technology to an everyday requirement for doing business. As iPads and other mobile devices continue to explode and businesses allow bring your own device (BYOD) it's critical that you addressed the wireless fundamentals.

There are several nice features about this book. The first is a chapter that gives a high level explanation of 802.11n, which is the latest and highest bandwidth wireless standard. The chapter refers to some 500 pages of the actual formal standard, but only hard core people in the wireless field will ever directly use the standard. Instead, we see that 802.11n can give 100Mb/s wireless bandwidth. Which is pretty fantastic, compared to the earlier 802.11a/b/g standards. So how is this possible? In short, thru the use of multiple antennas for transmission and receiving. The catchy acronym MIMO summarises this idea. The chapter has several neat diagrams that illustrate the antenna configurations. Typically, the diagrams have boxes that say DSP [digital signal processor], that are hooked to the antennas. As you might expect, even if you are not an electrical engineer, these conceal a vast amount of rapid and complex number crunching. The ongoing march of Moore's Law is what enables the building in silicon of these new DSPs that can handle multiple antennas. The chapter also refers to various antenna parameters that can be tweaked, but does not go into any details.

Perhaps only a few readers will actually need to adjust those parameters. I suspect that the typical network sysadmin does not do much or know much about antenna design. So the chapter's level of discussion is adequate for most readers.

Another chapter looks at Cisco's implementation of wireless LAN security. This is at a more detailed pace than the 802.11n chapter. The algorithms are covered in some depth, and take as their starting point and motivation the inadequacies of Wired Equivalent Privacy [WEP]. (The book cautions you to never use WEP.)

The difference between these 2 chapters is telling. As a network sysadmin, you are far more likely to be involved in maintaining security than optimising bandwidth access. So you need a strong understanding of the overall security mechanisms in Cisco's protocols and hardware. The narrative shows that Cisco has put much effort into making a formidable security apparatus.