Wireless (but nobody bothered to ask)

Discussion in 'Wireless' started by SimonV, Feb 25, 2004.

  1. SimonV
    Honorary Member

    SimonV Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Heres one for you, I received a shipment today of 30 laptops that are for the maths department that have been purchased through a funding bid that was all done by senior management. Included was 30 wireless PC cards and 2 access points.

    Now I don't know very much about wireless technology so thought I'd ask you for some info. Can you foresee any problems with 30 laptops accessing the network through 2 access points as the laptops are to be used in the whole department and not in a fixed room.

    If anyone could point me in the direction of some general reading for wireless networking I would be grateful. :D
     
    Certifications: MOS Master 2003, CompTIA A+, MCSA:M, MCSE
    WIP: Keeping CF Alive...
  2. Jakamoko
    Honorary Member

    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    My perennial fave is Practically Networked for ALL networking issues.

    Hope that gives you a start, Si :D
     
    Certifications: MCP, A+, Network+
    WIP: Clarity
  3. flex22

    flex22 Gigabyte Poster

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    I knwo that from my studies there are different types of infrered.
    or example some are scatter, some bounce off walls, some only direct, others can go through walls etc.I suppose these are obvious considerations when thinking about the receivers etc.

    I sent you a document on wireless lans via email Si, which is vendor specific, but nethertheless helpful when thinking about wireless lans.

    Thanks :!:
     
  4. tripwire45
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    tripwire45 Zettabyte Poster

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    There are a number of factors involved here. One is the over all size of the coverage area. Will two APs do the job. Also, as flex mentioned, radio waves don't always just go through everything. Placing APs in an environment anymore complicated than an open warehouse is something of an art...especially if we're talking concrete beams, metal pipes inside walls, that sort of thing. I'm not sure about 30 wireless laptops using two APs if they're all transmitting and receiving at the same time. There's a limit to how much data transfer you're going to get and the more machines on the network at once, the slower it's going to go.

    Also, check and see which band your wireless devices operate in and make sure nothing else around is working in the same band. In a home environment, often 802.11b equipment and cordless phones both operate in the 2.4 GHz band and cause all kinds of trouble for each other (fortunately, my cordless phones both use the 900 MHz band).

    You might want to pick up a wireless primer of some sort to bring yourself up to speed on things wireless if you're expected to install and support them. I use the CWNA Official Study Guide ISBN 0-07-222902-0. Although it's geared as a certification study guide, I find that it's also useful as a "how to" book. Of course, there must be a ton of books on wireless out there to choose from so I don't think you'll be too limited in terms of reading material. Hope it works out for you.
     
    Certifications: A+ and Network+
  5. SimonV
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    SimonV Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Thanks for the responses.

    Flex that PDF seems good thanks, I've forwarded the mail onto my work address so I can take a read later today.
     
    Certifications: MOS Master 2003, CompTIA A+, MCSA:M, MCSE
    WIP: Keeping CF Alive...
  6. AJ

    AJ 01000001 01100100 01101101 01101001 01101110 Administrator

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    Si, we are looking into this in a "big way". The biggest problem that we have is making sure that the kids don't get access to teachers laptops and files via a wireless link, authentication and encryption over WiFi. we are getting some trial Access Points from Cisco and HP which will onlet "Authorised" users onto the network. These users will have to come to the IT centre and have their MAC address recorded and entered into the access point. I'll let you know how we get on.

    I do know that the school my lad is going to is invested heavily into WiFi. To the extent that they have trolleys full of laptops ready to be wheeled into classrooms for the kids to use. They have 95% coverage over the school. They run 2 versions of the WiFi. the teachers use 802.11a and the kids 802.11b. that way the kids can not access the teachers network.

    HTH
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCSA (messaging), ITIL Foundation v3
    WIP: Breathing in and out, but not out and in, that's just wrong
  7. SimonV
    Honorary Member

    SimonV Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    We will be implementing a mixture of 802.11b & 802.11g and from what I've just read in the PDF Flex emailed me (thanks Flex) they 802.11g is backward compatable with 802.11b.

    It seems like a fairly simple process I just need to read up a little more on WEP. :D

    @AJ, I'd be glad to hear how you get on with what your undertaking with wireless, keep me/us posted.
     
    Certifications: MOS Master 2003, CompTIA A+, MCSA:M, MCSE
    WIP: Keeping CF Alive...

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