Access Points that do site surveys

[msg]

Greetings:

What 802.11 access points do site surveys (listen to beacons,
promiscuously monitor traffic)? The Linksys WAP11 had this
feature, but I am finding it difficult to locate more recent
products that do it. It is not trivial to hoist a separate
antenna to the height of an installed community radiator
for testing; one ought to have that function available in
the access point.

Regards,

Michael

[msg]

msg wrote:

> Greetings:
>
> What 802.11 access points do site surveys (listen to beacons,
> promiscuously monitor traffic)? The Linksys WAP11 had this
> feature, but I am finding it difficult to locate more recent
> products that do it. It is not trivial to hoist a separate
> antenna to the height of an installed community radiator
> for testing; one ought to have that function available in
> the access point.

Perhaps opinions on the reliability and cost-effectiveness
of the access points on the following list, which do have
the site survey function, and additions to this list would
be helpful:

AirLive WL-5430AP
D-Link DWL-900AP+
SuperPass SuperBase SP-LINK-*

SNMP management is preferred vs. web-based management and
AP vs router functionality is also preferred.

Regards,

Michael

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:38:38 -0600, msg <msg@_cybertheque.org_> wrote:

>What 802.11 access points do site surveys (listen to beacons,
>promiscuously monitor traffic)?

Any access point or wireless router that runs alternative Linux
firmware such as DD-WRT or OpenWrt. See:

The "site survey" button in DD-WRT (on the Status -> Wireless page)
returned:

Neighbor's Wireless Networks
SSID Mode MAC Address Channel Rssi Noise beacon
Open dtim Rate Join Site
JM Wireless AP 00:11:24:27:E3:52 1 -91 -96
100 No 0 12(g)
CBMALVIN AP 00:19:5B:5F:95:BB 5 -66 -96
100 No 0 12(g)
CMS AP 00:14:6C:A3:8B:A2 6 -72 -93
100 No 0 12(g)
2WIRE562 AP 00:14:95:06:38:49 6 -77 -93
100 No 0 12(g)
2WIRE206 AP 00:14:95:89:16:C9 6 -75 -93
100 No 0 12(g)

DD-WRT also includes Wiviz:
<http://devices.natetrue.com/wiviz/>
which is interesting but methinks confusing. However, it does show
wireless clients as well as access points and wireless routers.

There are also command line incantations that can obtain the same
results using the WL command. However, various people have been
messing with the WL command and methinks it no longer works.

There's also the "/sbin/site_survey" program in DD-WRT which returns:

root@router:/sbin# site_survey
buflen=[1264] version=[108] count=[5]
|[ 0] SSID[ JM Wireless] BSSID[00:11:24:27:E3:52] channel[ 1] rssi[-93] noise[-94] beacon[100] cap[411] dtim[0] rate[12] enc[WEP]
|[ 1] SSID[ CMS] BSSID[00:14:6C:A3:8B:A2] channel[ 6] rssi[-72] noise[-91] beacon[100] cap[431] dtim[0] rate[12] enc[MULTITKIP TKIP WPA-PSK]
|[ 2] SSID[ 2WIRE206] BSSID[00:14:95:89:16:C9] channel[ 6] rssi[-74] noise[-64] beacon[100] cap[431] dtim[0] rate[12] enc[WEP]
|[ 3] SSID[ 2WIRE562] BSSID[00:14:95:06:38:49] channel[ 6] rssi[-78] noise[-91] beacon[100] cap[431] dtim[0] rate[12] enc[WEP]
|[ 4] SSID[ CBMALVIN] BSSID[00:19:5B:5F:95:BB] channel[ 5] rssi[-66] noise[-93] beacon[100] cap[431] dtim[0] rate[12] enc[MULTITKIP TKIP AESCCMP WPA-PSK]

DD-WRT runs on a wide variety of hardware:
<http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices>
Same with OpenWRT:
<http://wiki.openwrt.org/TableOfHardware>


--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
# http://802.11junk.com jeffl@cruzio.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

[msg]

Jeff Liebermann wrote:

> On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:38:38 -0600, msg <msg@_cybertheque.org_> wrote:
>
>
>>What 802.11 access points do site surveys (listen to beacons,
>>promiscuously monitor traffic)?
>
>
> Any access point or wireless router that runs alternative Linux
> firmware such as DD-WRT or OpenWrt. See:
>

Hi Jeff and thanks for your response.

I have used Linux wireless tools and drivers on various platforms
but have not considered doing so for an access point. I did a quick
check of the projects your listed and not finding ready answers I
pose these questions:

1. Is a bridged mode supported? I don't want the radio interface
to be routed, only bridged.

2. Do the projects support IPX traffic?

Regards,

Michael

[msg]

msg wrote:

> Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:38:38 -0600, msg <msg@_cybertheque.org_> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> What 802.11 access points do site surveys (listen to beacons,
>>> promiscuously monitor traffic)?
>>
>>
>>
>> Any access point or wireless router that runs alternative Linux
>> firmware such as DD-WRT or OpenWrt. See:
>>
>
> Hi Jeff and thanks for your response.
>
> I have used Linux wireless tools and drivers on various platforms
> but have not considered doing so for an access point. I did a quick
> check of the projects your listed and not finding ready answers I
> pose these questions:
>
> 1. Is a bridged mode supported? I don't want the radio interface
> to be routed, only bridged.

I see that DD-WRT does Access Point and Bridging, haven't looked
at Open-WRT yet.

> 2. Do the projects support IPX traffic?

I see nothing for DD-WRT out of the box.

Michael

[msg]

msg wrote:

> msg wrote:
>
>> Greetings:
>>
>> What 802.11 access points do site surveys (listen to beacons,
>> promiscuously monitor traffic)? The Linksys WAP11 had this
>> feature, but I am finding it difficult to locate more recent
>> products that do it. It is not trivial to hoist a separate
>> antenna to the height of an installed community radiator
>> for testing; one ought to have that function available in
>> the access point.
>
>
> Perhaps opinions on the reliability and cost-effectiveness
> of the access points on the following list, which do have
> the site survey function, and additions to this list would
> be helpful:
>
> AirLive WL-5430AP
> D-Link DWL-900AP+
> SuperPass SuperBase SP-LINK-*

I see that the Linksys WAP54G (at least Ver. 3, others not checked)
has a basic site-survey function and also does SNMP

Michael

[Jeff Liebermann]

msg <msg@_cybertheque.org_> hath wroth:

>1. Is a bridged mode supported? I don't want the radio interface
> to be routed, only bridged.

Yes. DD-WRT and OpenWRT both have a bridging mode. However, it's not
exactly transparent bridging and may cause problems if you expect
transparent bridging. Search this newsgroup and the DD-WRT Wiki for
"transparent bridge" for details.
<http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=68>
Your unspecified application may not need a transparent bridge.

>2. Do the projects support IPX traffic?

No. You'll need to build an IPX over IP tunnel. See:
<http://tldp.org/HOWTO/IPX-HOWTO-15.html>
I've never tried this on a router, although it works well on a full
server. (Yes, I still have one remaining Novell 3.11 customer running
a mixed IPX/SPX and IP system. They even use NETX on some DOS
clients).

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

[Jeff Liebermann]

msg <msg@_cybertheque.org_> hath wroth:

>> 2. Do the projects support IPX traffic?
>
>I see nothing for DD-WRT out of the box.

If you're expecting such things to "just work", you'll be
disappointed. DD-WRT, like Linux, is a learning experience.

There are a list of packages that can convince to run on the router
using ipkg at:
<http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Ipkg>
<http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/ddwrt/cross/stable/>
I'm too lazy to see if what you need is in there. Worst case is to
build your own ipkg wrapper, and post it to the "unstable" list:
<http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/ddwrt/cross/unstable/>

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558