Client-side Wi-Fi discovery tools aid in WLAN management tasks

摘要

Wi-Fi discovery and connection tools have existed since the early days of 802.11. While many have their roots in such hacker tools as AirCrack.WEPCrack, AirSnort, CoWPatty, and AirSnarf, which were all developed to exploit the fundamental weakness in Wired Equivalent Privacy these tools now legitimately embody the client-side user-interface elements that help establish essentially every wireless LAN link. Today's commercial and open source discovery and connection tools - as shown in this Clear Choice test of nine software packages, the second in our series of tests homing in on the various layers of WLAN management wares - range in function from the very basic (Microsoft's Wireless Zero Configuration [WZC] approach) to robust enough to enable diagnostic use throughout in the enterprise (such as PassMark's WirelessMon and Sandy Road's WiFi Hopper, our Clear Choice winner and runner-up, respectively). A good connection manager can complement the functions of a centralized WLAN management console, providing a view of clients' radio and network parameters not readily available from most enterprise-class WLAN management products. A network operations person would tap into the client (possibly over a remote-control or similar connection) to apply the data gathered by the connection manager to the wider WLAN-management picture. On the lower end, a smaller organization lacking a centralized management console could use one of the more feature-rich tools for many WLAN troubleshooting activities.