* Still a case for portable analyzers
It might seem that with all the radio frequency tools getting collapsed into wireless LAN switches and controllers, the need for portable analyzers and monitoring capabilities might be dwindling. However, there are still a number of good reasons to keep these gizmos around.
There’s no question that RF management capabilities in switches and controllers are very useful. They monitor the entire RF landscape at once – all components in context with one another – and automate many management and security tasks according to your policy. This is much more scalable and less error-prone than trying to stay on top of the status of hundreds or thousands of APs and clients manually.
The primary gotcha is that centralized systems when used alone can only take action on what the distributed access point infrastructure can “see” and report back to it. APs might not be able to quite reach everywhere in the physical environment, and the centralized RF management system may not be able to discover a dead zone caused, say, by rearranging the office furniture or the installation of a corner window. So having the portable analyzer for the nitty-gritty can come in handy.
Also, a centralized RF monitoring and management system with a built-in intrusion detection system (IDS) will be able to identify the general location of an unauthorized AP. Some of the latest tools also allow the centralized, automated suppression, or disablement, of that AP if warranted. Many companies, however, haven’t yet upgraded to technology with automated IDSs – either for budgetary reasons or simply because the technology is too new. Older systems, however, require that a technician be dispatched to disable the rogue AP.
When manual disablement is required and the technician arrives in the rogue’s general vicinity, all the APs in the area physically look the same. Portable analyzers often provide a beep that leads you to the culprit.
Also, if your organization has technicians who are responsible for troubleshooting and securing both the wireless and wired segments of your network, today there are few (if any) centralized devices that perform both functions. There are, however, some custom protocol analyzers that do. One is the OptiView II from Fluke Networks, which recently posted a white paper at its Web site about troubleshooting WLANs at https://www.flukenetworks.com/us/_Promotions/ESV/Troubleshooting+Wireless+LANs+Whitepaper.htm
