802.11 Wireless LAN Fundamentals
Customer Reviews: 3 Average Customer Rating:   Write a Review and tell the world about this title! People who purchase this book frequently purchase: - Cisco Wireless LAN Security; Krishna Sankar, et al, $46.50, 22% Off!
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- Cisco 802.11 Wireless Networking Quick Reference; Toby J. Velte, et al, $19.95, 20% Off!
- Cisco Self-Study: Implementing Cisco IPv6 Networks (IPV6); Regis Desmeules, $46.50, 22% Off!
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Master the basics in designing, building, and managing a Cisco Aironet WLAN.
- Master the basics of Wireless LANs with this concise design and deployment
guide
- Understand implementation issues for a variety of environments including
vertical, SOHO, and enterprise networks
- Learn design and troubleshooting advice from real-world case studies
802.11 Wireless LAN Fundamentals gives networking engineers and IT professionals
the knowledge they need to design, deploy, manage, and troubleshoot their own
wireless local-area networks (WLANs). Starting with an overview of the technology
and architecture of WLANs, the book goes on to explain services and advanced
features that such applications can provide. Most importantly, it provides practical
design guidance and deployment recommendations.
Wireless LANs connect computer networks via radio transmissions instead of
traditional phone lines or cables. Benefits to these systems go well beyond
getting rid of all the cables and wires. Campus networks can grow geographically
larger while still retaining all their efficiency and speed. Additionally, cost
savings can be realized when third-party phone lines are no longer necessary,
saving the cost of line rental and equipment upkeep. Finally, flexibility in
campus network design increases significantly for the networking professional,
while the network accessibility and usefulness increases for the individual
users.
802.11 Wireless LAN Fundamentals helps networking professionals realize
these benefits by helping them understand how to design, build, and maintain
these networks, as well as how to justify their value within organizations.
Table of Contents
Foreword.
Introduction.
1. Ethernet Technologies.
802.3 Ethernet.
802.3u Fast Ethernet. Gigabit Ethernet. Summary.
2. 802.11 Wireless LANs.
Overview of WLAN
Topologies. 802.11 Medium Access Mechanisms. Nonstandard Devices. 802.11 MAC
Layer Operations. Summary.
3. 802.11 Physical Layer Technologies.
Wireless Physical
Layer Concepts. 802.11 Wireless LANs. 802.11b WLANs. 802.11a WLANs. 802.11g
WLANs. CCA. Summary.
4. 802.11 Wireless LAN Security.
Wireless Security.
Overview of Encryption. Encryption in the 802.11 Standard. Authentication Mechanisms
in the 802.11 Standard. MAC Address Authentication. Security Vulnerabilities
in the 802.11 Standard. Secure 802.11 WLANs. AES Encryption. Summary.
5. Mobility.
Characteristics
of Roaming. Layer 2 Roaming. Layer 3 Roaming. Summary.
6. QoS for 802.11 Wireless LANs—802.11e.
Challenges for
QoS in 802.11 Networks. QoS Mechanism Overview. Summary: The Challenges Facing
EDCF and HCF.
7. Radio Frequency Essentials.
Radio Basics. Antenna
Basics. Receiver Performance Basics. System Performance. Unlicensed Wireless.
U-NII Band WLAN Frequencies. Summary. Deploying Wireless LANs. WLAN Deployment
and Application Impact. WLAN Deployment Planning. Site Survey. Upper-Layer Considerations.
Summary.
8. The Future of Wireless LANs.
Bluetooth. UWB.
FSO. 100 Mbps WLANs. Summary.
9. WLAN Design Considerations.
Considerations
for Retail Stores. Healthcare Design Considerations. Enterprise Branch Office
and Telecommuter Design Considerations. Education Design Considerations. Public
Access Design Considerations. Public Safety Design Considerations. Summary.
Glossary.
Index.
Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews: 3 Average Customer Rating: Mar 19, 2004
Wireless LAN manual
At a total of 281 pages covering 10 chapters of material, this book is very compact, but every page is filled with relevant information. The first chapter of the book quickly delves into Ethernet technologies - 802.3 ethernet frame formats, addressing, CSMA/CD, 10Mb,100Mb and 1000Mb.
The second and third chapters cover the physical and MAC layers of 802.11 technology extensively. Chapter 2 starts from service sets (IBSS,BSS and ESS),CSMA/CA and how it differs from CSMA/CD,and moves to 802.11 MAC layer operations. MAC layer operations include station connectivity - how 802.11 clients connect to the access point, power save operation and the different 802.11 frame formats.
Chapter 3 covers the physical layer of the 802.11 protocol - the sublayers, PMD (Physical Medium Dependant)and PLCP (Physical Layer Convergence Procedure); FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) and DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) and the different modulation techniques used in 802.11,802.11a,802.11b and 802.11g.
Wireless LAN security is covered to a reasonable depth. The authors give a brief overview of encryption and then cover encryption in the 802.11 standard which is basically WEP(Wired Equivalent Privacy). Authentication mechanisms - Open and Shared Key authentication and the security vulnerabilities in the 802.11 standard are discussed in detail.
One of the most important tasks during the deployment of a wireless network is the site survey.The decisions made during this phase are critical to the optimal performance of the WLAN.Chapter 8 points to the questions that must be asked during a site survey and the necessary tools required to successfully conduct a survey.
For a Ciscopress book this volume is not very Cisco-centric. There are few references to Cisco devices. The focus is vendor neutral, stressing the 802.11 standard above all. From my point of view,this book is not targeted at helping the reader to pass any Cisco wireless certification exams. There are no cram sheets,questions, or hints. However, I believe the contents will go a long way in preparing readers for the new CWAP(Certified Wireless Analysis Professional) exam by Planet3 Wireless. This exam focuses on wireless LAN analysis - 802.11 physical layer technologies, MAC frames and the use of protocol analyzers.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a good understanding of what goes on behind the scenes on a WLAN.
Feb 9, 2004 Stephen Luhan from USA
The basics of Wireless technology are covered in this book.
The world of Wireless technology is new and constantly evolving to meet the security and real world threats to this infrastructure. Published by Cisco Press, 802.11 Wireless LAN Fundamentals, ISBN 1587050773, by Pejman Roshan and Jonathan Leary, explains the basis of the Ethernet technologies and how it relates to the 802.11x topology.
If you are new to Wireless, this is not the book for you! On the other hand, if you have a firm understanding of the basics of the communication, then this book serves as good reference and guide. The organization of the book is somewhat difficult to follow, but the technical diagrams and charts are very detailed and concise.
Feb 9, 2004 Dave from Chicago, IL
Not too bad, but not all that great
In a very thin book, the book covers the technology of the original 802.11 and the later offsprings 802.11 a/b/g standards as implemented in Cisco Aironets. The coverage is relatively deep, and covers the basics of layer 1 and layer 2 technologies of wireless LAN's. The book briefly covers implementation, but the book is geared more toward wireless design considerations.
Don't count on this book to give you all the information you need. In order to complete your knowledge on the subject matter, you will have to perform aubstantial amount of additional research on Cisco's website in terms of their antennae spec's, using their wireless distance calculation utilities, as well as detailed information on all Cisco Aironet hardware.
I will say that the book is a little difficult to read, and I had to re-read the book a few times (as well as conduct some additional research on the web) before everything made sense to me.
Although the book itself is ok, I cannot honestly recommend this book to anyone who are looking for a study material or a reference material on Cisco wireless networks.
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