Wireless Network Administration A Beginner's Guide

Wireless Network Administration A Beginner's Guide

by Wale Soyinka
Released August 2010
Publisher(s): McGraw-Hill
ISBN: 9780071639224

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Book description

Learn the essentials of wireless networking

Configure, manage, and secure wireless networks using the step-by-step details in this practical resource. Wireless Network Administration: A Beginner's Guide shows you how to work with the latest wireless networking standards, including the 802.11x family, on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. The book covers wireless network planning, design, hardware, services, protocols, device configuration, security, troubleshooting, and more. This hands-on guide will get you started administering wireless networks in no time.

  • Get details on regulatory and technical organizations
  • Learn about different wireless standards and the basics of RF technologies
  • Understand and determine client-side hardware requirements, including chipsets and various wireless interfaces
  • Select infrastructure-side wireless hardware, such as antennas, wireless access points (WAPs), residential gateways, switches/controllers, routers, and bridges
  • Learn about WLANs, WWANs, WMANs, and WPANs
  • Work with standard wireless network protocols--TCP/IP (IPv4 and IPv6)
  • Understand DNS, DHCP, and other supporting infrastructure services
  • Secure wireless networks using cryptography
  • Configure infrastructure devices, including a wireless access point device and wireless network switches and controllers
  • Configure and manage wireless Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux clients
  • Plan, design, survey, deploy, and troubleshoot your wireless network

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Wireless Network Administration
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Introduction
  8. Part I Overview
    1. 1 Regulatory and Technical Organizations
      1. Regulatory Organizations
        1. The ITU-R
        2. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
        3. Office of Communications (Ofcom)
        4. Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)
        5. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
        6. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
      2. Technical Organizations
        1. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
        2. Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
        3. European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)
        4. Wi-Fi Alliance
      3. Summary
    2. 2 Wireless Communication Building Blocks
      1. Waves
        1. Frequency
        2. Wavelength
        3. Amplitude
        4. Phase
        5. Bands
        6. Channels
      2. Modulation
        1. Spread-Spectrum Modulation Techniques
        2. Digital Modulation Techniques
        3. Analog Modulation Techniques
      3. Summary
    3. 3 Wireless Standards
      1. Standards
        1. IEEE 802.3
        2. IEEE 802
        3. IEEE 802.11
        4. IEEE 802.11b
        5. IEEE 802.11a
        6. IEEE 802.11g
        7. IEEE 802.11n
        8. IEEE 802.11y
        9. IEEE 802.11k
        10. IEEE 802.11i
        11. IEEE 802.15
      2. Summary
  9. Part II Hardware
    1. 4 Wireless Hardware: Client Side
      1. Chipset
        1. Components of a Wireless Chipset
        2. Chipset Makers
      2. Client-Side Wireless Hardware
        1. PCI
        2. Mini PCI
        3. PCI Express Mini
        4. PC Card
        5. ExpressCard
        6. USB
        7. CompactFlash Cards and SDIO Cards
        8. Miscellaneous Converters
      3. Other Considerations for Choosing Wireless Hardware
        1. Transmit Power (Tx Power)
        2. Receiver Sensitivity (Rx)
      4. Summary
    2. 5 Wireless Hardware: Infrastructure Side
      1. Antenna (Aerial)
        1. Antenna Concepts
        2. Antenna Types
        3. Other Antenna Considerations
      2. Wireless Access Point
        1. WAP Operational Nodes
        2. When to Use a WAP
      3. Wireless Switches and Controllers
        1. Wireless Controller Considerations
      4. Wireless Routers: SOHO and Residential Wireless Gateways
      5. Wireless Bridge
      6. Power over Ethernet
      7. Additional Considerations
        1. Cost
        2. Interoperability
      8. Summary
  10. Part III WLAN, WWAN, WMAN, and WPAN
    1. 6 WLAN
      1. WLAN Components and Concepts
        1. Wireless Medium
        2. Wireless Station
        3. Distribution System
        4. Access Point
        5. Basic Service Set
        6. Service Set ID
        7. Basic Service Set ID
        8. Basic Service Area
        9. Extended Service Set
      2. WLAN Standard (IEEE 802.11)
        1. PHY
        2. MAC
        3. Complete MAC Frame
      3. Summary
    2. 7 WWANs, WMANs, and WPANs
      1. Wireless Wide Area Networks
        1. GSM Overview
        2. UMTS Overview
        3. LTE Overview
      2. Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks
        1. WiMAX Overview
      3. Wireless Personal Area Networks
        1. Bluetooth Overview
        2. ZigBee Overview
      4. Summary
  11. Part IV Protocols, Services, and Security in Wireless Networks
    1. 8 Wireless Network Services and Protocols: TCP/IP
      1. TCP/IP and UDP
        1. Internet Protocol
        2. Transmission Control Protocol
        3. User Datagram Protocol
      2. IP-Based Networks
        1. Hosts and Networks
        2. Subnetting
        3. Netmasks
      3. IPv6
        1. IPv6 Address Format
        2. IPv6 Address Types
        3. IPv6 Backward-Compatibility
      4. Summary
    2. 9 Standard Wireless Network Infrastructure Services and Protocols: DNS, DHCP
      1. Domain Name System
        1. Domain and Host Naming Conventions
        2. The in-addr.arpa Domain
        3. Types of DNS Servers
        4. DNS Record Types
      2. DHCP
        1. The Mechanics of DHCP
        2. DHCP Server
        3. DHCP Client
        4. DHCP Relay
      3. Summary
    3. 10 Optional Infrastructure Services and Protocols
      1. RADIUS
        1. RADIUS Entities
        2. AAA
        3. When to Use RADIUS
        4. Popular RADIUS Implementations
      2. Diameter
        1. Diameter Entities
      3. Proxy Server
        1. Types of Proxy Servers
        2. When to Use a Proxy Server
        3. Popular Proxy Server Implementations
      4. Summary
    4. 11 Securing Wireless Networks: Fundamentals
      1. Security Background
        1. Security Services
      2. Cryptographic Concepts and Terms
        1. Plain-text
        2. Encryption and Decryption
        3. Key
        4. Algorithm
        5. Cipher
      3. Cipher Implementations
        1. Wired Equivalent Privacy Protocol
        2. Wi-Fi Protected Access
        3. Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)
      4. EAP
        1. EAP Entities
        2. EAP Grammar
        3. EAP Types
      5. IEEE 802.11i
        1. Four-Way Handshake
        2. IEEE 802.11i Considerations
      6. Summary
  12. Part V Wireless Devices Configuration and Other Wireless Network Considerations
    1. 12 Infrastructure Device Configuration
      1. The Wireless Access Point
        1. Configuring the WAP
      2. The WLAN Controller
        1. Configuring the WLAN Controller
      3. Summary
    2. 13 Microsoft Windows Clients
      1. Windows Client Configuration
        1. Setting Up the Hardware
        2. Setting Up a Wireless Profile
        3. Manually Connecting to a Wireless Network
      2. netsh Utility
        1. Wireless Network Configuration Cloning with netsh
      3. Wireless Odds and Ends in Windows 7
        1. Virtual WiFi and Software Access Point
        2. Internet Connection Sharing
      4. Summary
    3. 14 Apple OS X Clients
      1. Macintosh System Design
        1. Macintosh Software
        2. Macintosh Hardware
      2. Mac OS X Wireless Client Configuration
        1. Setting Up the Hardware
        2. Setting Up a Wireless Location
      3. Wireless Odds and Ends in OS X
        1. Internet Sharing
        2. Ad-Hoc Networks
        3. Bluetooth Dial-up Network
      4. Summary
    4. 15 Linux Clients
      1. Wireless Hardware on Linux Platforms
      2. Linux Wireless Drivers
        1. Linux Wireless API
        2. Common Linux Wireless Drivers
      3. Wireless Network Management Tools
        1. NetworkManager
        2. Wireless Interface Connection Daemon
        3. ConnMan
        4. Good Ol’ CLI
      4. Ubuntu Wireless Client Configuration: nm
      5. Generic Linux Wireless Client Configuration: CLI
        1. PHY and MAC Layer Configuration: CLI
        2. Network and Transport Configuration: CLI
      6. Wireless Odds and Ends in FOSS/Linux
        1. Ad-Hoc Networks
      7. Summary
    5. 16 Plan, Design, Survey, and Deploy
      1. Wireless Network Planning and Designing Considerations
        1. Past, Present, and Future Hardware
        2. Interoperability and Incompatibility Issues
        3. Data Throughput
        4. Network Reliability
        5. Estimating Hardware Requirements
      2. Site Survey
        1. Site Survey Metrics
        2. Site Survey Tools
        3. The Actual Site Survey
      3. Wireless Site Deployment Examples and Considerations
        1. Hospitals
        2. Airports
        3. Retail Environments
        4. High Security Areas
        5. Home Environments
      4. Summary
    6. A Troubleshooting Wireless Networks
      1. Troubleshooting Regulatory and Technical Organization Issues
      2. Troubleshooting Client-Side Hardware Issues
      3. Troubleshooting Infrastructure-Side Hardware Issues
      4. Troubleshooting Issues with the Wireless Building Blocks
      5. Problems with Establishing Wireless Connections
        1. Scanning
        2. Selection
        3. Authentication
        4. Association
        5. TCP/IP Configuration
      6. Problems with Infrastructure Services and Protocols: TCP/IP, DNS, and DHCP Issues
      7. Troubleshooting Networking Issues on Different OSs
      8. Summary
  13. Index

Product information

  • Title: Wireless Network Administration A Beginner's Guide
  • Author(s): Wale Soyinka
  • Release date: August 2010
  • Publisher(s): McGraw-Hill
  • ISBN: 9780071639224