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802.11 Networks, The Definitive Guide
The Scenario
For a lot of folks, implementing an 802.11 network involves selecting and purchasing an access point and adapter cards, and installing or compiling the proper drivers. From there, we are off and running, usually in under an hour. However for the few, the proud, the sysadmins of the world it's a whole different ballgame. Sysadmins need a deeper understanding of network technologies to be able effectively design, deploy and debug them.
What's Bad?Most of the book is right on the mark when it comes to the sysadmin audience, however chapters 8 (the PCF, for contention free service), 10 (the ISM PHYs) and 11 (802.11a overview) are only of interest to folks who are implementing 802.11 hardware, IMHO. These chapters contain very low-level material about the 802.11 transmission protocol, and will not be generally useful since equipment manufacturers do not provide access to this layer. A dead giveaway that you can skip over chapter 8 is the phrase "The PCF has not been widely implemented." If it's not widely implemented, chances are you won't have the option of using it in a deployment.
After this bellycrawl through the weeds, chapters 12 and 14 give click-by-click instructions for installing two commercially available 802.11 access point/client adapter pairs on your Windows box. The selected products are Nokia's A032 Access Point along with their C110/C111 and Lucent's Orinoco (formerly WaveLan) Access Point and client adapter. It's worth noting that these are two of the most expensive 802.11 solutions available on the market and have enhanced features that are not present in other models. These chapters are simply rehashed vendor installation documentation for these products and provide very little added value. There's nothing that I hate more than paying $30-$50 for a book which repackages documentation that is freely available on the web. Skip these chapters; the rest of the book is excellent.
What's Good?This book starts off with six strong chapters that cover the 802.11 protocol specification, why WEP is vulnerable, and some upcoming security specifications. The first six chapters are invaluable reading for any sysadmin that is planning (or already responsible) for an 802.11 deployment. This is your ammunition when users come and ask why the wireless network is slower than the wired network with fewer users (preventing contention adds more overhead in wireless) or why they really really should tunnel every wireless connection over SSH (because WEP is fundamentally flawed). The chapter that covers the current WEP implementation demystifies the "40 bit" vs. "64 bit" key-length sleight of hand that some vendors play. The standard WEP key length is 64 bits. However, 24 of those bits are used as WEP's initialization vector for the RC4 cipher. These bits aren't encrypted in an 802.11 packet, so by sniffing 802.11 traffic you can examine the IVs of the packets and see how many distinct keys are in use, and even retrieve the actual key once you have captured enough packets. AirSnort retrieves WEP keys by implementing the Fluhrer/Martin/Shamir attack (orig paper, Stubblefield paper). Chapter 16 covers using tools such as Airsnort and Ethereal to analyze the 802.11 traffic on your network. Remember to use your powers for good and not evil.
The final 3 chapters address deployment, analysis and tuning of 802.11 networks. These chapters, combined with the first six are the heart of this book and the whole motivation for buying the book. The analysis chapter has a particularly wonderful section about gathering user requirements with respect to 802.11 specific issues (security requirements, roaming ...) and a very practical section about physical installation that clearly illustrates the author's mastery of integrating 802.11 technologies into an existing infrastructure.
So What's In It For Me?If you're an sysadmin and implementing 802.11 technologies is on the horizon, this book is a solid reference of the current state of 802.11 solutions, both good and bad. It pulls no punches in presenting issues and weaknesses with the current solutions and documents forthcoming standards that are being proposed or developed to address them. If you're considering a smaller deployment at home, the security aspects of the text are still applicable, but the design/deployment sections are more rigorous than you will need. There is a bit of starch (repackaged vendor installation documentation) and unnecessary details (knowing that 802.11 frequency hopping uses Gaussian frequency shift keying is good for impressing women at parties, but doesn't really impact the design/deployment of an 802.11 network) but the other chapters redeem themselves and make this a very valuable text.
Table of Contents- Preface
- Introduction to Wireless Networks
- Overview of 802.11 Networks
- The 802.11 MAC
- 802.11 Framing in Detail
- Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
- Security, Take 2: 802.1x
- Management Operations
- Contention-Free Service with the PCF
- Physical Layer Overview
- The ISM PHYs: FH, DS, and HR/DS
- 802.11a: 5-GHz OFDM PHY
- Using 802.11 on Windows
- Using 802.11 on Linux
- Using 802.11 Access Points
- 802.11 Network Deployment
- 802.11 Network Analysis
- 802.11 Performance Tuning
- The Future, at Least for 802.11
- 802.11 MIB
- 802.11 on the Macintosh
- Glossary
- Index
You can purchase 802.11 Wireless Networks : The Definitive Guide from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to submit yours, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
To losing money: The VA Linux Business Plan.
Cunning linguists
I am my own unstoppable batallion.
Cunning linguists
This book damn well better be 802.11 pages in length. Else, it couldn't possibly be called definitive.
What I really need is a book with detailed instructions on how to make a woman out of all the old computer parts in my closet. I've got manniqins, wigs, high heels, wires, even some soft ware ready.
Who's your motherfucker now?
Cunning linguists
Now maybe I can get some good 802.11b support under windows :P.
Sure, it's there, but it's currently gimped.
Bill: please de-gimp 802.11b ASAP!
Linux is dead.
LU
Please moderate this crap down. It's not funny.
I can guarantee you that it isn't...
Cheers,
Ian
Really, they were one of the first vendors to offer 802.11 networking with the airport. Why are they relegated to the last chapter before the glossary?
He tried to kill me with a forklift!
I just order a PhatStackO'Books and this was one of them, haven't had a chance to read it through yet.
But flipping through, I was surprised how thorough it is. This isn't a book on how to set up your Apple AirPort or something (for some reason that's what I thought it was), it's hardcore on all the details including the radio and communications theory necessary to understand how the 802.11 physical layer works. Looks like the title is absolutely true, this is a definitive guide.
Q: What is the best way to kill a bunch of Polocks?
A: Put them on a bus and let one of them drive...
I made it! Jon would be proud.
Is it good, or is it whack?
lick me you buggerers
I get it!!! You said Windows sucks!!!
It's so funny it made me SPOOGE!
Is it good, or is it whack?
I would actually recommend this book to anyone who has more than a passing interest in wireless networks -- sure, there's a lot of nitty gritty details, but that's better than being short on information, right?
Anyhow, for those of you who are interested in setting up a public node, I definitely recommend you check out the NoCat project. It's an authentication/monitoring system for admins interested in having a little control over who accesses their wireless networks.
Another fun resource is the Personal Telco Project. There's lots of smart folks involved who can tell you everything you need to know about setting up wireless nodes with old abandoned computers and home built antennas. Yes. Wireless can be done cheaply.
Enjoy!
I am faced with deploying a wireless environment that requires such security.
Does the book discuss the security aspect of these new standards?
nuclear iraq bioweapon encryption cocaine korea terrorist
My application is outside line-of-sight to avoid having to trench communication cables. Does this book cover this (anybody read it yet?), or is it a strictly indoor only reference?
Thx
On a related matter, how are people covering 9 to 25 stores buildings?
I thought that an Yagi antenna at the roof, aiming down, could do the job, but I'm not quite sure.
How do you solve this? Several antennas, several AP's?
Comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards...
Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!
Does it talk about administration on FreeBSD?
I run FreeBSD on all my computers.
You get the basic rundown from a bloody manual to some wireless router or anything wireless. Then there's always the Internet. God bless Google!
It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed of so called alternative sexuality which includes anything from hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to pedophiliaWhat better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linuxs most outspoken advocates Linus Torvalds is an anagram of slit anus or VD L clearly referring to himself by the first initial Richard M Stallman spokespervert for the Gaysexs Not Unusual movement is an anagram of mans cram thrill ad Alan Cox is barely an anagram of anal cox which is just so filthy and unchristian it unnerves meIm sure that Eric S Raymond composer of the satanic homosexual propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre is probably an anagram of something queer but we dont need to look that far as we know hes always shoving a gun up some poor little boys rectum Update Eric S Raymond is actually an anagram for secondary rim and cord in my arse It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer Update the Second It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for Felch Male a disgusting practise For those not in the know felching is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own postcoital ejaculate out of the others rectum In fact it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of email turning it into emaleAs far as Richard Master Stallman goes that filthy fudgepacker was actually quoted on leftist commie propaganda site Saloncom as saying the following Ive been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance he says Its about being able to question conventional wisdom he asserts I believe in love but not monogamy he says plainlyAnd this isnt a made up troll bullshit either He actually stated this tripe which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that hes a flaming homo slutSpeaking about flaming who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdots very own selfconfessed pederast Jon Katz Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name he has already confessed nay boasted of the homosexual perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children To quote from the article linkedIve got a rare kidney disease I told her I have to go to the bathroom a lot You can come with me if you want but it takes a while Is that okay with you Do you want a note from my doctorIs this why you were touching your penis in the cinema Jon And letting the other boys touch it tooWe should also point out that Jon Katz refers to himself as Slashdots resident Gasbag Is there any more doubt For those fortunate few who arent aware of the list of homosexual terminology found inside the Linux Sauce Code a Gasbag is a pervert who gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw inserted into his urethra or to use the common parlance pisspipe then his homosexual lover blows firmly down the straw to inflate his scrotum This is of course when hes not busy violating the dignity and copyright of posters to Slashdot by gathering together their postings and publishing them en masse to further his twisted and manipulative journalistic agendaSick disgusting antichristian perverts the lot of themIn addition many of the Linux distributions a distribution is the most common way to spread the faggots wares are run by faggot groups The Slackware distro is named after the Slackwear fags wear to allow easy access to the anus for sexual purposes Furthermore Slackware is a close anagram of claw arse a reference to the homosexual practise of anal fisting The Mandrake product is run by a group of French faggot satanists and is named after the faggot nickname for the vibrator It was also chosen because it is an anagram for dark amen and ram naked which is what they doAnother distro abbrieviated as such because it sounds a bit like Disco which is where homosexuals preyed on young boys in the 1970s is Debian an anagram of in a bed which could be considered innocent enough after all a bed is both where we sleep and pray until we realise what other names Debian uses to describe their foul wares Woody is obvious enough being a term for the erect male penis glistening with precum But far sicker is the phrase Frozen Potato that they use This filthy term again found in the secret homosexual Sauce Code refers to the solo homosexual practice of defecating into a clear polythene bag shaping the turd into a crude approximation of the male phallus then leaving it in the freezer overnight until it becomes solid The practitioner then proceeds to push the frozen potato up his own rectum squeezing it in and out until his tight young balls erupt in a screaming orgasmAnd Red Hat is secret homo slang for the tip of a penis that is soaked in blood from a freshly violated underage ringpieceThe fags have even invented special tools to aid their faggotry For example the supermount tool was devised to allow deeper penetration which is good for fags because it gives more pressure on the prostate gland Automount is used on the other hand because Linux users are all fat and gay and need to mount each other automaticallyThe depths of their depravity can be seen in their use of mount points These are plainly speaking the different points of penetration The main one is obviously anus but there are others Militant fags even say there is no opt mount point because for these dirty perverts faggotry is not optional but a way of lifeMore evidence is in the fact that Linux users say how much they love man even going so far as to say that all new Linux users who are in fact just innocent heterosexuals indoctrinated by the gay propaganda should try out man In no other system do users boast of their frequent recourse to a manOther areas of the system also show Linuxs inherit gayness For example people are often told of the FAQ but how many innocent heterosexual Windows users know what this actually means The answer is shocking Faggot Anal Quest the voyage of discovery for newly converted fagsEven the title Slashdot originally referred to a homosexual practice Slashdot of course refers to the popular gay practice of bloodletting The Slashbots of course are those superzealous homosexuals who take this perversion to its extreme by ripping open their anuses as seen on the site most popular with Slashdot users the depraved work of Satan httpwwwefforgThe editors of Slashdot also have homosexual names Hemos is obvious in itself being one vowel away from Homos But even more sickening is Commander Taco which sounds a bit like Commode in Taco filthy gay slang for a pair of spreadeagled buttocks that are caked with excrement The best form of lubrication they insist Sometimes these Taco Commodes have special Salsa Sauce blood from a ruptured rectum and Cheese rancid flakes of penis discharge toppings And to make it even worse Slashdot runs on Apache The Apache server whose use among fags is as prevalent as AIDS is named after homosexual activity as everyone knows popular faggot band the Village People featured an Apache Indian and it is for him that this gay program is namedAnd thats not forgetting the use of patches in the Linux fag world patches are used to make the anus accessible for repeated anal sex even after its rupture by a session of fistingTo summarise Linux is gay Slash Dot is the graphical description of the space between a young boys scrotum and anus And BeOS is for hermaphrodites and disabled stumpers FEEDBACK What worries me is how much you know about what gay people do Im scared I actually read this whole thing I think this post is a good example of the negative effects of Internet usage on people This person obviously has no social life anymore and had to result to writing something as stupid as this And actually take the time to do it too Although I think it was satire blah its early Anonymous Coward SlashdotWell the only reason I know all about this is because I had the misfortune to read the Linux Sauce code once Although publicised as the computer code needed to get Linux up and running on a computer and havent you always been worried about the phrase Monolithic Kernel this foul document is actually a detailed and graphic description of every conceivable degrading perversion known to the human race as well as a few of the major animal species It has shocked and disturbed me to the point of needing to shock and disturb the common man to warn them of the impending homocalypse which threatens to engulf our planet You must work for the government Trying to post the most obscene stuff in hopes that slashdot wont be able to continue or something due to legal woes If i ever see your ugly face im going to stick my fireplace poker up your ass after its nice and hot to weld shut that nasty gaping hole of yours Anonymous Coward SlashdotDoesnt it give you a hardon to imagine your thick strong poker ramming its way up my most sacred of sphincters Youre beyond help my friend as the only thing you can imagine is the foul penetrative violation of another man Are you sure youre not Eric Raymond The government being populated by limpwristed liberals could never stem the sickening tide of homosexual child molesting Linux advocacy Hell theyve given NAMBLA free reign for years you really should post this logged in i wish i could remember jebuss password cuz id give it to you mighty jebus SlashdotThank you for your kind words of support However this document shall only ever be posted anonymously This is because the Open Sauce movement is a sham proposing homoerotic cults of hero worshipping in the name of freedom I speak for the common man For any man who prefers the warm enveloping velvet folds of a womans vagina to the tight puckered ringpiece of a child These men being common decent folk dont have a say in the political hypocrisy that is Slashdot culture I am the unknown liberator ROLF LAMO i hate linux FAGGOTS Anonymous Coward SlashdotWe shouldnt hate them we should pity them for the misguided fools they are Fanatical Linux zealouts need to be herded into camps for reeducation and subsequent rehabilitation into normal heterosexual society This reeducation shall be achieved by forcing them to watch repeats of Baywatch until the very mention of Pamela Anderson causes them to fill their pants with healthy heterosexual jism Actually thats not at all how scrotal inflation works I understand it involves injecting sterile saline solution into the scrotum Ive never tried this but you can read how to do it safely in case youre interested Before you moderate this down ask yourself honestly who are the real crazies people who do scrotal inflation or people who pay 1000 for a game console doubleh SlashdotWell it just goes to show that even the holy Linux sauce code is riddled with bugs that need fixing The irony of Jon Katz not even being able to inflate his scrotum correctly has not been lost on me The Linux pervert elite already acknowledge this with their queer slogan Given enough arms all rectums are shallow And anyway the PS2 sucks major cock and isnt worth the money Intellivision forever dude did u used to post on msnbcs nt bulletin board now that u are doing antigay posts u also need to start in with antiblack stuff too c u in church Anonymous Coward SlashdotFor one thing whilst Linux is a cavalcade of queer propaganda masquerading as the future of computing NT is used by people who think nothing better of encasing their genitals in quick setting plaster then going to see a really dirty porno film enjoying the restriction enforced onto them Remember a wasted arousal is a sin in the eyes of the Catholic church Clearly the only godfearing Christian operating system in existence is CPM The Christian Program Monitor All computer users should immediately ask their local pastor to install this fine OS onto their systems It is the only route to salvationSecondly this message is for every man Computers know no colour Not only that but one of the finest websites in the world is maintained by a Black Man Now fuck off you racist donkey felcher And dont forget that slashdot was written in Perl which is just too close to Pearl Necklace for comfort oh wait thats something all you heterosexuals do I cant help but wonder how much faster the trolls could do FirstPosts on this site if it were redone in PHP I could handtype dynamic HTML pages faster than Perl can do them phee SlashdotAlthough there is nothing unholy about the fine heterosexual act of ejaculating between a womans breasts squirting ones load up towards her neck and chin area it should be noted that Perl standing for Pansies Entering Rectums Locally is also close to Pearl Monocle Pearl Nosering and the ubiquitous Pearl EnemaOne scary thing about Perl is that it contains hidden homosexual messages Take the following code LWPSimple It looks innocuous enough doesnt it But look at the line closely There are two colons next to each other As Larry Balls to the Wall would openly admit in the Perl Documentation Perl was designed from the ground up to indoctrinate its programmers into performing unnatural sexual acts having two colons so closely together is clearly a reference to the perverse sickening act of colon kissing whereby two homosexual queers spread their buttocks wide pressing their filthy torn sphincters together They then share small round objects like marbles or golfballs by passing them from one rectum to another using muscle contraction alone This is also referred to in programming circles as Parameter PassingAnd PHP stands for Perverted Homosexual Penetration Didnt you know Thank you for your valuable input on this I am sure you will be never forgotten BTW Did I mention that this could be useful in terraforming Mars Mars rulaa Eimernase SlashdotWell I dont know about terraforming Mars but I do know that homosexual Linux Advocates have been probing Uranus for years Thats inspiring Keep up the good work AC May God in his wisdom grant you the strength to bring the plain honest truth to this community and make it pure again Yours Cerberus Anonymous Coward Slashdot sniff That brings a tear to my eye Thank you once more for your kind support I have taken faith in the knowledge that I am doing the Good Lords work but it is encouraging to know that I am helping out the common man hereHowever I should be cautious about revealing your name Cerberus on such a filthy den of depravity as Slashdot It is a well known fact that the Kerberos documentation from Microsoft is a detailed manual describing in intimate exacting detail how to sexually penetrate a variety of unwilling canine animals be they domesticated wild or mythical Slashdot posters have taken great pleasure in illegally spreading this documentation far and wide treating it as an extension to the Linux Sauce Code for the sake of interoperability The slang term they use for nonconsensual intercourse their favourite kindIn fact sick twisted Linux deviants are known to have LAN parties Love of Anal Naughtiness needless to say wherein they entice a stray dog known as the Samba Mount into their homes Up to four of these filthsodden blasphemers against nature take turns to plunge their erect throbbing uncircumcised members conkersdeep into the rectum mouth and other fleshy orifices of the poor animal Eventually the Samba Mount collapses due to overload and needs to be rebooted ie kicked out into the street and left to fend for itself Many Linux users boast about their uptime in such situations Inspiring stuff If only all trolls were this quality Anonymous Coward SlashdotIf only indeed You can help our brave cause by moderating this message up as often as possible I recommend 1 Underrated as that will protect your precious Karma in Metamoderation Only then can we break through the glass ceiling of Homosexual Slashdot Culture Is it any wonder that the new version of Slashcode has been christened BenderIf we can get just one of these postings up to at least 1 then it will be archived forever Others will learn of our struggle and join with us in our battle for freedom Its pathetic youve spent so much time writing this Anonymous Coward SlashdotI am compelled to document the foulness and carnal depravity that is Linux in order that we may prepare ourselves for the great holy war that is to follow It is my solemn duty to peel back the foreskin of ignorance and apply the wire brush of enlightenment As with any great opensource project you need someone asking this question so Ill do it When the hell is version 20 going to be ready Anonymous Coward SlashdotI could make an arrogant childish comment along the lines of Every time someone asks for 20 I wont release it for another 24 hours but the truth of the matter is that Im quite nervous of releasing a number two as I can guarantee some filthy shitslurping Linux pervert would want to suck it straight out of my anus before Ive even had chance to wipe I desperately want to suck your monolithic kernel you sexy hunk you Anonymous Coward SlashdotI sincerely hope youre Natalie Portman Dude nothing on slashdot larger than 3 paragraphs is worth reading Try to distill the message whatever it was and maybe Ill read it As it is I have to much open source software to write to waste even 10 seconds of precious time 10 seconds is all its gonna take M to whoop Linuxs ass Vigilence is the price of Free as in libre from the fine frou frou French language Software Hack on fellow geeks and remember Friday is Bouillabaisse day except for heathens who do not believe that Jesus died for their sins Those godless oil drench bearded sexist clowns can pull grits from their pantaloons another fine fine French word and eat that Anyway try to keep your message focused and concise For concision is the soul of derision Way Anonymous Coward SlashdotWhat the fuck Ive read your gay conspiracy post version 130 and I must say Im impressed In particular I appreciate how you have managed to squeeze in a healthy dose of the latent homosexuality you gaybashing homos tend to be full of Thank you again Anonymous Coward SlashdotWell bugger me ooooh honey how insecure are you wann a little massage from deare bruci love you Anonymous Coward SlashdotFuck right offIMPORTANT This message needs to be heard Not HURD which is an acronym for Huge Unclean Rectal Dilator across the whole community so it has been released into the Public Domain You know that licence that we all had before those homoerotic cryptofascists came out with the GPL Gay Penetration License that is no more than an excuse to see whos got the biggest fecesencrusted cock I would have put this up on Freshmeat but that name is known to be a euphemism for the tight rump of a young boyCome to think of it the whole concept of Source Control unnerves me because it sounds a bit like Sauce Control which is a description of the homosexual practice of holding the base of the cock shaft tightly upon the point of ejaculation thus causing a build up of semenal fluid that is only released upon entry into an incision made into the base of the receivers scrotum And Open Sauce is the act of ejaculating into another mans face or perhaps a biscuit to be shared later Obviously Closed Sauce is the only Christian thing to do as evidenced by the fact that it is what Cathedrals are all about Contributors although not to the eternal game of soggy biscuit that open sauce development has become Anonymous Coward Anonymous Coward phee Anonymous Coward mighty jebus Anonymous Coward Anonymous Coward doubleh Anonymous Coward Eimernase Anonymous Coward Anonymous Coward Anonymous Coward Anonymous Coward Anonymous Coward Anonymous Coward Anonymous Coward Anonymous Coward Further contributions are welcome Current changes This version sent to FreeWIPO by Bring BackATV as plain text Reformatted everything added all links back in that we could match from the previous version many new ones Slashbot bait links Even more spelling fixed Who wrote this thing CmdrTaco himself Previous changes Yet more changes added Spelling fixed Feedback added Explanation of distro system Mount Point syntax described More filth regarding man and Slashdot Yet more fucking spelling fixed Fetchmail uncovered further More Slashbot baiting Apache exposed Distribution licence at foot of document ANUX A full Linux distribution Up your ass Feces Thrower
This is your ammunition when users come and ask
why the wireless network is slower than the wired network with fewer users (preventing contention adds more overhead in wireless)
The right answer is: wireless networks are just plain slower than wired ones. Wired networks claim 100Mb/s access and wireless ones claim ~1/10 of that at 11Mb/s.
Actually CSMACA (as opposed to CSMACD the medium contention handling mechanism wired 802.3 networks use) really plays only a small part in the speed of
New cards coming out from US Robitics using TI 802.11 silicon get consistent throughput close to 7Mb/s. Linksys also uses the TI ACX100 chipset, but doesn't have quite the marketing machine USR does.
If you need more speed you ought to check them out. Still not like a wired network but a hell of a lot better than 4 Mb/s.
also published two articles on wireless security...
2 4/wlan.html
1 9/security.html
Seven Security Problems of 802.11 Wireless
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2002/05/
May 2002
Wireless LAN Security: A Short History
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2002/04/
April 2002
- what is the definition of simultanagnosia?! I've been meaning to look it up!
And all this time I thought that this was the definitive guide. Silly me. It's cool that 802 standards (which usually cost big bucks) are now available for a free download once they've been in print for 6 months. Way to go, IEEE! Now, if we can just convince ANSI to do the same... See also the main 802.11 homepage
HIV Crosses Species Barrier... into Muppets
The chapter is on the setup of your Airport Network. Have you ever set up an Airport network? Did you need a manual? The chapter goes over the settings and such of the different settings of the computer and setup of the basestation, but nothing that's not in the online help really, and it's even missing info (Like how to type in a HEX password that's used on non-apple AP's. But again, that info is in the help on the Mac anyway.) The chapter is only 14 pages long, with lots of pictures. I'm glad they threw it in there, but if you own a Mac and an Airport card, you probably know everything that's in the chapter already. Trust me, if you need to know the info that's in that chapter, the rest of the book will fry your brain :)
-- Chris Martin, System Administrator
Most of the book is right on the mark when it comes to the sysadmin audience, however chapters 8 (the PCF, for contention free service), 10 (the ISM PHYs) and 11 (802.11a overview) are only of interest to folks who are implementing 802.11 hardware, IMHO. These chapters contain very low-level material about the 802.11 transmission protocol, and will not be generally useful since equipment manufacturers do not provide access to this layer.
These are strong points dummy. One can always learn the surface material and interface rather quickly, a book the provides strong "internals" information about a given piece of computer system almost always beats the shallow publications. It is good to abstract yourself from the details of a given technology is you are just a casual user, but if you are the administrator, you are expect to know your protocol specs and header formats.
This was a fascinating step-by-step guide through the jungle that is wireless networking with 802.11. The author covers common pitfalls and makes helpful suggestions throughout. Best of all, it's all platform-independent (and information that applies to only a specific platform is helpfully highlighted as such), so the book was a great help for my Win boxes as well as my Linux systems.
One very interesting part was towards the end, when the author pointed out (correctly, I think) that, due to 802.11's shortcomings in terms of security, reliability, and bandwidth, and the media's association of wireless networking with piracy and copyright infringement, it might be a good idea to stay away from 802.11 for awhile. He mentioned that the protocol was basically owned by Apple (under the AirPort trademark), and that BlueTooth and Ethernet are better choices for any home and business networking needs. Food for thought.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Well I was hoping to see IPSec as an alternative... Too bad
Not to digress or anything, but I just saw this book at a local bookstore last week, and couldn't help but notice how expensive books are these days. When it comes to technical matters, especially with wireless networking, what can be found in a book that can not be found on the Internet? I don't doubt that the book may be good, but I just suppose that I'm a jaded outcast of the paper world and do not see the need to spend money on a book when I could get that info for free on the web, and then save the cash for other network hardware, since that isn't cheap either!
Calm down, it's *only* ones and zeroes.
So, what DO I do instead? I've resisted any sort of wireless networking in our office building because of the insecurity feature. Can someone point to a guide, a howto, a document, that says what I SHOULD be doing to prevent people from breaking the system? Is this book it? What do I need for hardware, software? How secure is THAT solution?
802 minutes and 11 seconds? Isn't that a John Cage tune?
I would highly recomend any of O'Reilly's books, I mean he was my favorite character on M*A*S*H.
Don't mod me, bro'!!!!
Anyone out there deployed a wireless network over a LANE backbone. Roaming doesn't work, but I'm wondering if I can reduce the timers suffiently that it will nearly work ?
Any ideas ?
Here is a link for an O'Reilly article on setting up a home 802.11b network using Linux and a 802.11b network card.
I'm sure it isn't as thorough as the book, but its here fast and free.
Jeremy
There is not a lot of info out there for 802.1x yet. Some pointers for you if you already didn't know about them.
e ployment/wireless/default.asp
a rtner.asp
Microsoft has a howto for EAP-TLS W/ IAS server and AD, which is what I use at home w/ a Orinoco AP-500 and it works very well. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/techinfo/d
Funk software offers a EAP-TTLS solution as well here is their press release.
http://www.funk.com/News&Events/8021x_p
Finally in the free software world, freeradius offers experimental EAP-TLS as well.
BTW if you google there are a few articles out there that say 802.1x is insecure. These are outdated and WRONG. Current 8021.x solutions use Mutual authentication NOT one-way as alluded to in previous articles. I even emailed one of the authors of one of those articles and they agreed that the current solutions solve the problem.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
I've also been very impressed with the Aironet gear. Reliable, lots of options, good interface. If you've just got a few nodes it probably isn't worth the cost, but if you're serious get Cisco (or Lucent).
i wish i could get weaned off books and only use the Internet for research but i still like having a couple of good books in front of me while i work. My armadillo and crab books are always within easy reach.
your right about book prices, some are just insane. If you're in college then you know exactly what i mean, if not, take a stroll through a college bookstore and check out the price on technical books. Most of my textbooks are between $75 and $120 bucks a pop.
Overall I think you can save about $5 or $10 dollers with Oreilly over other publishers and the material is usually better too.
I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
I've been sitting here for a couple of hours dinking around with snmpwalk and MRTG trying to track down a problem in one of our cells (Wireless ISP) that is in a really ugly area in terms of interference.
A book that explains the underlying operations in excrutiating detail would be most welcome
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
Books tend to have more credibility and research behind them than web sites (not always of course). Plus you might have to search quite a while to find all the info in a book as on the web.
Amazon has 802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide (affilate link, just so ya know) for a little over $30. Currently has a 4.5 out of 5 star rating, although not very many reviews. It is the top book which returns for 802.11, which means it is probably the most popular for that keyword...usually a good sign.
They have free shipping over $49 if anyone is looking for a cheap place to pick it up. 30% off, with 0 shipping cost if you get something else too (to hit the $49 threshold) is a good deal for a brand new tech book.
-Pete
Soccer Goal Plans
Once again, bookpool has the cheapest price in town. $27.50
it's not going to stop until you wise up, no it's not going to stop. so just give up.
Otherwise, yeah, good price.
Soccer Goal Plans
Come on Mr. Pfeifer, everyone knows that Cisco has some of the most expensive networking hardware... Lucent is just almost as expensive. Remember, if you're going to pay a lot for hardware, make sure its big, blue, and says "Cisco" all over!