You have wireless client issues? What is your Wireless NIC system event log telling you?

 I have an interesting nugget this week on the NIC system events. I was surprised to find this a few years ago and I’ve used it as another tool to troubleshoot wireless client problems.

Did you know when you associate to an access point your wireless NIC reports to the OS a 4201 code? Or, when your wireless NIC loses connectivity it reports a 4202 code?

http://www.my80211.com/client-labs/2009/7/19/you-have-wireless-client-issues-what-is-your-wireless-nic-sy.html 

Cisco Inks "6" CCIE Wireless Professionals !

Cisco inks 20,003 CCIEs wouldwide!

As of 6/29/09 there is a total of 20,003 CCIEs worldwide. Of which, 6 are wireless IEs.

Interesting facts about the CCIE number !

CCIE Numbering and Recertification

Upon successful completion of the hands on lab exam, a new CCIE is awarded a CCIE number. The first CCIE number allocated (in 1993) was 1024, and has increased incrementally from there. A lower number indicates that the CCIE was awarded some time back, a higher number indicated a more recently awarded certification. As of July 2009, the highest CCIE number allocated was just under 25000.

Number 1024 was allocated to the first CCIE lab location, rather than to an individual, and featured as a plaque at the entrance to the lab. Number 1025 was awarded to Stuart Biggs, who created the first written exam and first lab exam. The first person to pass both CCIE written and lab exams was Terrance Slattery, who was consulting to Cisco at the time when the lab was being devised. Terry Slattery (CCIE 1026) was therefore the first CCIE who passed both exams, and the first CCIE who was not an employee of Cisco.

Any CCIE who obtains further CCIE certifications, is not awarded any further numbers, the new CCIE certification is awarded under the same number as the original.

Every two years a CCIE has to take a CCIE written test to retain the certification (known as recertification, or recert). If this is not done, the CCIE is then said to be in suspended status. The CCIE certification is not recognised by Cisco as current at this point. After one further year, if a written test has not been undertaken and passed, the CCIE is then revoked. The CCIE certification can then only be re-gained by taking the written exam and lab exam from scratch.

(Information provided by WiKi)

CCNA Wireless Official Exam Certification Guide

I completed my third go around with the CCNA Wireless Offical Certification Guide.

First I will mention it is an easy read. Brandon Carroll did a great job laying out the foundation of 802.11 based on concepts and standards. He then leads into protocols and architecture, which sets the stage for the reader to better understanding of Cisco’s WLAN controller based product.

If you are like me having something new from Cisco Press on wireless, especially on the LWAPP product was a pleasure to read. My IEEE 802.11 Handbook. CWNP (cwna, cwsp, cwap) books, Bruce Alexander (Site Survey) and P. Roshan / J. Leary (802.11 Fundamentals) books were getting a bit old. I was excited to get my hands on this book. It was harder finding the time to sit down and enjoying the book for all its technical worth.

I was disappointed, however, with the amount of technical errors. I think the technical reviewers Bobby Corcoran and Robert Marg did an injustice to the book and frankly the author. I found a number of mentions that caused me to pull up the IEEE handbook and other reference material to discount some of the mentions. Although, I am not surprised, it is a technical book and as life goes within Cisco --- You have to answer it the Cisco way.

Again, just my two cents. I recommend the book, I just caution the readers to do their home work …..

Welcome to my80211.com

Welcome to my80211.com journal (launched January 2009), where I will share with you my journey through 802.11. I'm George Stefanick, a Sr Wireless Consultant for a Healthcare and Enterprise Mobility company located in the greater Philadelphia area, servicing customers in the Healthcare and Enterprise industries.

By day ~ I design, deploy, secure, conduct pre/post sales and troubleshoot Data, VoIP and RFID WLANs in today's Healthcare and Enterprise environments.

Deploying a properly designed WLAN in today's Healthcare and Enterprise environments is no easy task and should never be considered lightly. We shouldn't be surprised, wireless users today will not tolerate 'issues' of any sort and demand the same reliability as wired connections. As wireless technology develops, so has the demand of mobile applications. In the last two years, use of mobile applications relying specifically on wireless have ski rocketed. Just five years ago, VoIP over 802.11 was a pipe dream, today it's adopted by most Healthcare systems. The next fronteer is active RFID over wireless.

By night ~as the saying goes, "the devil is in the details" I am fascinated with the 802.11 protocol. In fact its an addiction of sorts. With the recent addition of the IEEE 802.11n standard, the black magic is still alive and well.

So, you may ask, why the journal. Its pretty simple I suppose. I want to have a place to call home for my labs, studies, security exploits, application reviews, troubleshooting efforts, spectrum analysis, and certifications. Wireless is an ever expanding force in todays enterprise networks and it's growth is unmatched in today's networking.

These studies have been of great value to customers and wireless engineers a like. So I hope you find my work of value and benefits you in your personal journey with 802.11.

Our journey begins right here with packet captures, performance enhancements, troubleshooting, WLAN security (hacking), RFID, VoIP over wireless, spectrum analysis and wireless certifications.

So lets dive in shall we !

George M. Stefanick Jr., CCNA, CWNA,CQS-CWLANSS