Observer Wireless

Observer® Wireless Features

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From deploying access points to baselining activity to enforcing corporate security policies, Network Instruments® provides a complete, scalable solution for managing wireless networks.

Observer® by Network Instruments helps manage wireless networks by integrating wireless support throughout its entire line of Observer protocol analyzers: Observer, Expert Observer, and Observer Suite, as well as our hardware Gigabit and WAN Observer products. We offer analyzers that meet every need and budget, and they all support both wired and wireless analysis.analysis.

Observer's flexible and powerful analysis tools installed on a wireless PC will let you:

Capture and decode wireless and wired traffic on your network.
Monitor the health and security of your wireless LAN with several wireless-specific features, such as access point statistics, signal strength
and quality, Wireless CRC errors, rogue access points, and unauthorized adhoc traffic, to name a few.
Setup automatic notifications that will email or page you if errors exceed a configurable threshold, or if a rogue access point is detected.
Unlike other protocol analyzers, Observer lets you switch between protocol analysis and standard wireless network operation without having to
install separate drivers.
Save different wireless network setups in re-usable profiles, allowing you to use the analyzer at different sites with different A/P SSIDs and WEP keys.

Wireless Site Survey

Concurrent scanning of 802.11 a/b/g or drill down to any single channel supported under a/b/g. Wireless Site Survey displays a multitude of statistics about your wireless activity sorted by station or Access Point. Statistics include: General Info, Frame Types, Mgmt. Frames, Data Frames, Speeds, Signal Strength, and Channels in use. A convenient mapping of channels being scanned or which channels are being analyzed provides a quick view of current monitoring status.

Access Point Statistics Analysis The Access Point Statistics mode shows traffic passing through any Access Points (AP) visible to the Observer wireless NIC. This mode is an all-purpose tool for maintaining performance and security on a WLAN that uses APs, displaying: Wireless stations that are connected to an AP Non-wired stations that they communicate with Levels of signal strength, quality, data transfer rates, and non-data transfer rates on each station on the access point AP traffic totals	For example, you can immediately see if there is a station connected to the wrong AP, or if an unauthorized AP has been installed. AP statistics will display whether a station has a problem with quality or range of connection based on the number of reassociations and retransmissions, or whether a station is misconfigured based on station poll totals.
Wireless Types By Station This display shows the type of each station sensed in the air: whether it is a LAN station talking over the air to wireless stations, a wireless station, or an AP. For stations, it shows which APs and they are using. For APs, it displays the Service Set Identifier (SSID) and whether WEP is enabled on that AP. It also displays Control, Data and Management totals per station.
Wireless Speeds by Station (cumulative) This displays details of signal strength, quality, the overall rate and data rate, as well as the packet distributions for different rates on a station by station basis.
Wireless Latest Statistics Displays strength, quality, and speed of the wireless network stations, as seen at the last poll, as opposed to the other Top Talker displays, which present running averages.
Wireless Errors by Stations Wireless Errors by Station lets you pinpoint errors as they happen, and sorted by station. Errors displayed include cumulative and rated CRC, short PLCP and WEP.
Wireless Channel Scan The Wireless Channel Scan Monitor shows activity by channels on your wireless network. This tool is useful for finding which channels are being utilized on your network, or to see if a rogue AP has been setup on an unauthorized channel.
Wireless Triggers and Alarms Observer offers a number of wireless security trigger items to help keep your 802.11 network secure. These include notification of an unknown access point or station, and identification of WEP errors and stations not using WEP.

Observer® is a registered trademark of Network Instruments, LLC

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