Hamina, bitches…

So, how long HAS it been since a new WLAN design tool hit the market? Arguably, this has been a space long-dominated by de facto monopoly. And sure, most of us in WLAN Land created and supported the monopoly. It was working for everyone. But then circumstances changed. Companies were bought. People changed. And people have a way of making things great, or laying waste to years-cultivated credibility. Such is life.

But wait- I was talking about WLAN design tools. There’s a new one out there, you realize… Now, I know that you know that I know that a whole bunch of us already know about Hamina. It’s really a rather small community of wireless professionals, and people talk to each other. They share. And Hamina is definitely a hot topic right now.

Beyond just being weary of what an incumbent tool vendor might be doing under new management, I think many of us are ready for a more lightweight design experience. Lighter on the wallet, lighter on the hardware required to run the tool, and lighter on the fable that Wi-Fi design is something akin to rocket science that requires razor precision. After a while, some stories start to collapse under their own weight. That’s not to say existing tools aren’t still effective, but paying ever more to use to use them is in no way a privilege. The notion of who is working for who sometimes gets blurred,

So why look at Hamina? To start with, it is feature-packed for WLAN design, on par with any leading tool. It’s in version 1.0 currently, and feels very intuitive to use. Everything you’d expect to see for 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz are there. Bring in the CAD files if you’d like or do your walls and such manually. You can model your designs, and then model what a client (using various device types) would experience in the environment as they move around. It works well in my experience, so far as a design tool.

Differentiators? Hamina is browser-based. Run it on Windows, run it on Mac without installing software. Run it on a locked down corporate machine. And for me at least, the 12-month cost for the WLAN-only version is a fraction of what the competitor charges just for renewal after purchase. Add in 4G/5G features, and the cost is still quite comfortable for the higher tier. And it all seems to work well in my experienced opinion- even in the early versions. There are other niceties in the mix that I may or may not personally use- BLE and LoRaWAN planning, planning for cable runs and network switches and such.

Take a look at Hamina, says I.

Hamina, bitches!

We Shouldn’t Need Wyebot, But We Do

Just a taste of the Wyebot UI

Wireless network systems are expensive- like insanely expensive- and they are only one part of a given enterprise network environment. You can spend top dollar on market-leading WLAN hardware, switches, RADIUS servers, DNS and DHCP systems, Active Directory resources, security stuff and more You can have veteran IT craftspeople design, install and configure it all- and still have problems that are not only hard to solve but also hard to even start looking at when an end user tells you they aren’t happy. It is what it is, and many of the built-in tools that SHOULD help don’t do a particularly good job when you most need them.

Enter Wyebot.

I’ve been dipping toes in the Wyebot waters for a few years now, and was happy to see the Massachusetts-based company presenting at Mobility Field Day 8. Through the years I have been less than impressed after testing other 3rd party sensors and monitoring overlays (excluding 7signal, whose methodology I find to be quite effective), as false alarms are the norm and the systems frequently become just another high-cost glass of pain to ignore shortly after implementation.

I’ve personally found Wyebot to work well in effectively characterizing the WLAN space it operates in, exposing all of the WLAN-oriented details a wireless admin needs to know about. What’s there? How are the SSIDs configured? Where is contention and the potential for trouble? Which Wi-Fi networks are deviating from best practices? That’s the easy stuff. It also does highly-reliable synthetic testing that you define (one area where other sensors just don’t get it right) to help tell when any of the non-WLAN parts of the network are misbehaving in ways that frequently tarnish the WLAN’s reputation. I like the information delivered from the monitoring of spectrum, client behavior, and testing of upstream network resources. I find Wyebot to be a force multiplier in that it watches and ACCURATELY reports on what I care about when my pricey wireless system can’t natively get it done.

All network problems feel wireless to wireless users.

I particularly like that Wyebot not only has a robust packet capture capability for problem analysis, but you can also import wireless pcap files taken outside elsewhere using Wireshark on a laptop (just one example) and display that capture through the graphical Wyebot UI for Wyebot’s analysis of that capture. I also like that I can do wireless backhaul from the Wyebot sensors if needed.

The company is generous with free trials, and has some interesting case studies that show how organizations are using the solution.

Have a look at the Mobility Field Day 8 presentations by Wyebot. Also, see my past blogs about Wyebot here,

Well-designed and maintained wireless networks ought to not need outside tools to help keep them running well. Unfortunately, WLAN professionals know that we live in a very imperfect world. Unfortunately, not all of those outside tools are particularly effective, but I personally like what I get out of Wyebot.

The Thing About Ventev

Having just participated in Mobility Field Day 8, I got to spend some quality time with Ventev– during which I had an epiphany of sorts. We’ll get to that in a moment.

I’ve been fortunate enough to participate in many of the Field Day events through the years. They know me out there in Silly Valley where vendors and Field Day delegates come together and discuss industry trends, new products, what works and what sucks, and so on.

Being a veteran Field Day-er, I understand the routine. Vendors present what they want the world to know, delegates ask questions and make comments to dig deeper or provide criticism (some constructive, some because often the vendors can be decoupled from the reality of what end users actually need). How effective a Field Day is depends on (in my opinion) how effective the vendors are at following the guidance given to them for their presentations by Field Day management, and the quality of the delegate’s questions and comments. There are human beings involved on both sides of the table, and sometimes one side or the other just makes a given presentation laborious. Maybe boring content is offered a mile wide and an inch deep, or perhaps a given delegate just cannot shut up as they enjoy the sound of their own voice as they redesign the vendor’s product for them in real time. Again, the human factor.

One prevailing theme from the vendor side is this: WE THINK THIS FEATURE OR THINGY IS TRULY INNOVATIVE AND SO WE WILL NOW TRY TO CONVINCE YOU DELEGATES AND THE FOLKS AT HOME SO YOU WILL PAY US LOTS OF MONEY FOR THE HARDWARE AND A SHITLOAD OF LICENSES BUT YOU MAY NOT IMMEDIATELY SEE THE VALUE SO WE GOTTA WALK YOU THROUGH IT WHILE WE HOPE YOU DON’T ASK TOO MANY QUESTIONS THAT COULD CUT INTO OUR STORY AND HENCE OUR BOTTOM LINE.

Nothing new here.

Let’s get back to Ventev, shall we? I promised you an epiphany.

So I’m listening to their Mobility Field Day 8 presentations about specialty enclosures, solar powered network “stations” (my word, not theirs) and antennas when a tidal wave of realization came over me. While network equipment vendors work hard to convince you that their often murky magic is worth the constantly elevating costs for what I often feel ought to be largely commoditized by now, Ventev sells fact. Ventev sells tangible reality. Ventev sells physics.

Whether it’s their Venvolt battery packs for survey work and temporary power needs or providing solutions for wireless access points to function out in the middle of Frozen Friggin Nowhere, Ventev doesn’t need to convince anyone of anything. When they talk about specialty antennas, their situational benefits are obvious and the physics of it all is instantaneously provable.

The Ventev narrative isn’t one of trying to out-AI or out-dashboard the other guy. They just make wireless environments better (or in some cases, even POSSIBLE). The Ventev story is end-to-end real, with no hype to sort through. No hyper-granular, squeeze-you-until-it-hurts-then-do-it-again-in-three-years-because-we-got-your-wallet–by-the-nuts-now licensing bullshit to hold your nose and pay for.

That is pretty sweet. And all too rare these days.

I suggest you get to know Ventev. Their presentations from Mobility Field Day 8 and earlier events are all found here.

A Wi-Fi Look at the GoPro MAX

That’s right, I said MAX. A hip guy like me isn’t going to have something called MIN junking up my life. I’m top shelf all the way. The GoPro MAX is a fascinating action camera that does what other GoPro cameras like the Hero 10, 9, 8, 7… all can do (which is a lot) PLUS lets you get freaky, like so:

You can do a heck of a lot more with a 360 camera- like Google street view kinda stuff. And… you can also control the camera via GoPro’s Quick app with a combination of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi (it’s also got GPS in there, and voice command capability. It just impresses the heck out of me, but each one of these works against the battery life.)

So… what does it actually DO for Wi-Fi?
Being a wireless professional, I can’t leave well enough alone and simply enjoy the magic. I gotta know what’s in play with the MAX and it’s Wi-Fi capabilities. Anything and everything you’d like to know is here, but stay with me and I’ll boil it down for you.

It’s dual-band- works in both 5 GHz (.11ac) and 2.4 (.11n). It appears to default to 5 GHz, and it uses a whopping 80 Mhz channel width. That’s right, I said 80… Don’t believe me? Well maybe this will change your doubting mind:

For giggles, here’s the 2.4 GHz side of the MAX doing it’s thing:

It’s always interesting to me to see how they craft the WLAN antennas in various tight squeeze products, and the MAX is definitely a tight squeeze product. The complete take-it-apart views are here, but this is the antenna view from that series:

What about about power? This little guy isn’t as skimpy in that department as I expected it to be, at least not in some frequency slices:

I see no way to manually manipulate channel, channel width, or power output settings. So far I love the control via Wi-Fi, but I can also see where if you get a number of these and other late-model GoPros also doing wireless ops together at an event, they certainly could impact the business/visitor WLAN in a noticeable way. Such is Wi-Fi life.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to make a bunch of goofy round pictures that only I find interesting…

Wanna Blog? Then Blog Already

This post was created for a ten-minute talk for the Wireless LAN Professionals Conference (2018). Want help getting started in blogging? Hopefully this blog lights a little fire for you, and I’m always happy to answer questions if you reach out.

Want to blog about Wi-Fi?

1. Take the first step. Writing, like public speaking, puts you “out there” for praise and criticism. If you’re gonna do it, do it.

2. Be yourself. Your words, your thoughts, your style. It’s OK to be inspired by others, but the world needs YOU, not you copying someone else. Write from YOUR experiences and discoveries.

3. Have something to say, but don’t force it. When the time is right to get your shareable thoughts out, you’ll feel it.

4. Put a fresh angle on the topic, whatever it is. Find something else to lead with that others aren’t discussing, some under-told feature or use case, etc. It’s OK to write about what others are writing about, but find some way to make it fresh, even if just subtly so.

5. Write often enough to stay relevant. If you last wrote back in 2015, chances are you’ve fallen off of most people’s radar. Every few weeks is OK, every few months is acceptable. Beyond that, don’t expect a lot of readers. Bonus- the more you write, the better you will get at writing.

6. Blogs aren’t novels- people have limited reading time. Don’t write more than you need to on a topic.

7. Promote, and be promoted. Get proofreading help early on if you need it; your blogging “advisor” will likely promote your blog.

8. Don’t be thin-skinned, and keep your ego in check. BTW- none of us know everything. And “experts” aren’t omnipotent- know the difference when interacting with people.

9. Any comments/feedback are worth responding to (almost). Stay respectful, and try to foster healthy dialogue. But it’s better to delete hyper-caustic comments than to reply with rancor.

10. Money can be made writing for the right outlet (or company) but generally it takes a while to build up to that- and you might have to know someone to get in the game. Unless you’re truly gifted, you won’t get rich with blogging. But you might develop a nice side income, and get other writing gigs.

Wireless Field Day 8 Takes “Wireless” Up a Notch

If you’re not familiar with the Tech Field Day franchise,  you’re really missing out on a fantastic resource. When the events are live and playing out, you get a nice feel of the pulses of the various spaces covered (Network, Storage, Wireless, and Virtualization).  After the live coverage is done, the session recordings become excellent on-demand resources.

I’ve had the privilege of attending a number of Wireless Field Days (WFDs), and I think the upcoming WFD8 really moves in a nice direction. Each WFD event I’ve been to  has provided a wonderful glimpse into the goings on of the presenting WLAN-related vendors. I’ve got to see and hear first-hand what the following companies have to say on their own offerings, industry trends, and what the future of wireless might look like:

• 7signal
• Aerohive
• AirTight Networks
• Aruba Networks
• Avaya
• Cisco Networks
• Cloudpath
• Extreme Networks
• Fluke Networks
• Juniper
• Meraki
• Meru Networks
• MetaGeek
• Motorola
• WildPackets
• Xirrus

WFD8 features Aruba Networks as an HP company for the first time, Cambium Networks, Cisco, Cradlepoint, Ruckus Wireless, and Zebra Technologies. I like this lineup a lot, for various reasons.

With Aruba and Cisco, it’s always good to hear from the WLAN industry’s #1 and #2. I’m a Cisco and Meraki customer, so visiting Cisco’s campuses is a bit more personal for me. I’ve long respected and admired Aruba, and I’d like to see how things “feel” now that HP is the mothership.

Cambium Networks is a bit exotic as I think of them as a backhaul company- but they certainly do more with wireless, and it’ll be exciting to hear from a relative newcomer. I did one blog entry about Cambium awhile back.

The Field Day organizers did well in my opinion to land Cradlepoint. Modern day “wireless” is about so much more than Wi-Fi, and Cradlepoint’s 4G edge-routing will take the delegates down a new WFD path that could serve as precedent for future non-mainstream Wi-Fi vendors. I’ve covered Cradlepoint in my blog as well.

With Ruckus, WFD finally lands one of the main WLAN vendors out there that I’ve not met with, though they were at #WFD3.  Ruckus covers a lot of ground, so their presentation is hard to predict, but is guaranteed to be interesting.  I’ve done a fair amount of coverage of Ruckus, both for Network Computing (like this one) and right here in this blog.

Finally, there is Zebra Technologies. I’ve personally never laid hands on a Zebra product, and for those who don’t know, Zebra bought Motorola’s Wi-Fi interests (which I blogged about.) With a fascinating product line of their own, this too should be a very interesting session.

Put a reminder on your calendars- this Wireless Field Day promises to really put a fresh spin on an already excellent event. Woo woo!

How to Melt Your Private Parts With Wi-Fi

There has been a lot of press lately about the perceived dangers of Wi-Fi. For example, Forbes ran this one earlier in the year. There have been lawsuits about Wi-Fi endangering health. Then you have major vendors like Cisco publishing safety briefings, and online forums where IT professionals debate topics like safe distances from WLAN access points.

And if you need a laugh, give these nutjobs a few minutes of your time.

The truth is, you don’t have to wonder what safe “is” when it comes to transmitters. You can invest some time and learn what existing FCC regulations are on RF safety and how to computationally prove whether a given scenario is safe or not.  Go the lazy route, and with just a bit of information, you can figure it out using online calculators like this one.

But back to Wi-Fi fears in particular. If you’re worried about those wireless access points on the ceiling at work, you might want to forgo considering the use of a new automotive hotspot, lest you tempt the fates to wreak RF-induced havoc on your naughty parts from the Wi-Fi just a few inches away. I’m just sayin’…

An Open Letter to the FCC

Dear Chairman Wheeler and Commissioners,

In response to the recent Commission actions relating to Smart City  and Marriott blocking of Wi-Fi hotspots, as a WLAN professional I implore you to recognize that these actions are creating significant amounts of confusion for enterprise Wi-Fi environments and those of us who keep them operational for the millions of business clients that use them every day.

The running theme of late very much seems to be “you can’t use Wi-Fi mitigation techniques to deny individuals the use of their paid-for cellular-equipped personal hotspots” (my own words). But from here, the questions start.

DA 15-113 Enforcement Advisory states clearly “Willful or malicious interference with Wi-Fi hot spots is illegal.” That seems pretty cut and dry, until later in the document we read “No hotel, convention center, or other commercial establishment or the network operator providing services at such establishments may intentionally block or disrupt personal Wi-Fi hot spots on such premises, including as part of an effort to force consumers to purchase access to the property owner’s Wi-Fi network. Such action is illegal and violations could lead to the assessment of substantial monetary penalties.”

Given that most of us doing Wi-Fi are not lawyers and very much want to stay within legal boundaries, these questions hang over the WLAN space:

1. What constitutes an “other commercial establishment”? Would these be hospitals? Universities? Does it even really matter? If not, why call out just hotels and conference centers?
2. There is emphasis on Wi-Fi blocking being frowned upon especially when it is used to try to force those using hotspots onto an expensive WLAN service. What if blocking ISN’T used to try to push hotspot users onto a pay Wi-Fi service, but to try to eliminate a hotspot that’s significantly interfering with an organization’s private Wi-Fi and business operations- especially if a free Wi-Fi option is available to the hotspot users?
3. Are hotspot users free to bring their devices anywhere and everywhere regardless of the interference caused by those hotspots?
4. In  DA 15-113, and other FCC documents (including those related to Mariott), blocking of Wi-Fi is increasingly implied to equal “jamming”. Does blocking Wi-Fi with either wide band noise in the traditional sense OR network frame manipulation in fact now constitute jamming?
5. Pretty much all major WLAN vendors sell network management systems that include the very mitigation tools that were used by Marriott and Smart City to block hotspots. Are these tools legal under any circumstances? (If frame manipulation now equals jamming, it would seem not.) If they do have an envisioned legal use, in what situations can they be used without an administrator needing to worry about running afoul of the law? This is perhaps the absolute murkiest aspect of the entire Marriott/Smart City situation to those of us who bought these tools on good faith from our WLAN vendors. If blocking of Wi-Fi is illegal in every situation, why are these tools allowed on the market?

Without clear guidance, there is broad room for misinterpretation of what the FCC both is and is not saying on this general matter. PLEASE consider revisiting DA 15-113 and providing greater clarity on the above questions, for the benefit of all concerned.

Kind regards,

Lee Badman

Cradlepoint Introduces a Beauty

(Quick edit, 8/17/15)

Of late, I’ve had a few opportunities to learn more about the mobile edge router space and the really powerful feature sets that exist in this market. I’ve been briefed by the big players on how their gear is winning over traditional networking in a variety of scenarios, and how slick tools like cloud management and SDR (software defined radio) make mobile edge gear pretty advanced in capability. Read more on the general topic of 4G edge-routing developments with a piece I wrote for Network Computing.

Cradlepoint’s latest announcement provides a great example of the impressive tech in play in this unique realm that creatively puts networking in a variety of interesting places, from public transportation fleets to retail kiosks that pop up and disappear as events come and go to permanent locations like restaurants and gas stations. The new product is the AER3100, and with it’s specifications and flexibility, it’s going to fast find it’s way into all of the markets that Cradlepoint serves with micro-branch/mobile and small branch style offerings.

Here’s the quick view, stolen from Cradlepoint’s web site:

This is light-years past simple personal hotspot kind of 4G modem kit. If you ever get an opportunity to take a briefing with Cradlepoint, you’ll realize that the businesses using these sorts of components have a lot to lose by making poor choices with their networking, from lost revenue to data breeches. Cradlepoint seems to have covered all of the bases with robust security, multi-carrier support, and legitimate enterprise network feature sets (including 11ac support on the WI-Fi side) in small components that just happen to get their ISP connectivity generally via 4G.

Give the Tech Specs a look, and see if you’re not as impressed as I was when I first got familiar with them:

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Technical Specifications

WAN

• Integrated 4G LTE (with 3G failover) Multi-Carrier Software-Defined radio
  • Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Europe, and generic models available
  • Dual integrated modem option
  • Dual SIM slot in each modem
  • Most models include support for active GPS
• 13 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports (WAN/LAN switchable)
• WiFi as WAN (only on AER3100)
• Failover/Failback
• Load Balancing
• Advance Modem Failure Check
• WAN Port Speed Control
• WAN/LAN Affinity
• IP Passthrough

LAN

• 13 10/100/1000 Ethernet ports (WAN/LAN switchable); Supports four ports of PoE (9-12) for class I, II, or III devices (up to 15W) or two ports high power PoE for class IV devices (up to 30W)
• LLDP support
• VLAN 802.1Q
• DHCP Server, Client, Relay
• DNS and DNS Proxy
• DynDNS
• Split DNS
• UPnP
• DMZ
• Multicast/Multicast Proxy
• QoS (DSCP and Priority Queuing)
• MAC Address Filtering

MANAGEMENT

• Cradlepoint Enterprise Cloud Manager¹
• Web UI, API, CLI
• GPS Location
• Data Usage Alerts (router and per client)
• Advanced Troubleshooting (support)²
• Device Alerts
• SNMP
• SMS control
• Console Port for Out-of-Band Management

¹Enterprise Cloud Manager requires a subscription
²Requires CradleCare Support

ROUTING

• IPsec Tunnel – up to 40 concurrent sessions
• OpenVPN (SSL VPN)¹
• L2TP¹
• GRE Tunnel
• OSPF/BGP/RIP¹
• Per-Interface Routing
• Static Routing
• NAT-less Routing
• Virtual Server/Port Forwarding
• VTI Tunnel Support
• NEMO/DMNR¹
• IPv6
• VRRP¹
• STP¹
• NHRP¹

¹–Requires an ECM PRIME subscription or an Extended Enterprise License

SECURITY

• RADIUS and TACACS+
• 802.1x authentication for Wireless and Wired Networks
• Zscaler Internet Security¹
• Certificate support
• ALGs
• MAC Address Filtering
• CP Secure Threat Management²
• Advanced Security Mode (local user management only)
• Per-Client Web Filtering
• IP Filtering
• Content Filtering (basic)
• Website Filtering
• Real-time clock with battery backup for CA certificate validation

¹–Requires Zscaler Internet Security License
²-Requires a CP Secure Threat Management license

PORTS AND BUTTONS

• 54V DC Power
• 13 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN
• Console port
• Two cellular antenna connectors (SMA)
• GPS antenna connector (SMA)
• Lock compatible
• External USB port for USB modem and/or firmware updates
• Factory Reset

TEMPERATURE

• 0° C to 50° C (32°F to 122°F) operating
• −20° C to 70° C (−4°F to 158°F) storage
• Redundant internal fans for reliable cooling

HUMIDITY (non-condensing)

• 10% to 85% operating non-condensing
• 5% to 90% storage non-condensing

POWER

• 54VDC 2.25A adapter
• 802.3af (15W) or 802.3at (30W) PoE capable

SIZE

• 12.2 in x 10.6 in x 1.75 in (310 mm x 270 mm x 45 mm)
• 1U height for rack mount

– See more at: https://cradlepoint.com/products/aer-3100#!specs

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I’m new to this space when it comes to looking at it to any real depth. What I’ve seen so far makes me think beyond my own typical wired ISP approach to certain branch environments, and it does get fascinating when you contemplate robust networking being enabled anywhere you have halfway decent 4G coverage. I’ve really just skimmed the surface of a pretty big story here, and I look forward to learning more.

Do you work with Cradlepoint gear or competing mobile edge solutions? I’d love hear your take, and examples of success or failure with kind of solution.

Tanaza and Cucumber Tony- Software Makes Cheap Wi-Fi Cloud Manageable

Quick and dirty- I have an article running at Network Computing about Tanaza and Cucumber Tony, two companies that promise to breath cloud-managed functionality into cheap Wi-Fi gear. Their web sites:

• Tanaza
• Cucumber Tony

I’d love to hear opinions on the paradigm, and whether you’d ever give this sort of software/management/hotspot capability a try.

Thanks for reading!