Good afternoon,
Can somebody recommend a good "wireless sniffer" to see what's running in my
neighborhood? I'm running XP SP2. I'm currently using "Netstumbler" as it
shows my wi-fi S/N ratio. Is NetStumbler good enough?
TIA for your time,
--
Curt
Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm
"Jeff Liebermann" <jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us> wrote in message
news:f6krd3ho0l3dta7vnp8qoircm6eo08bv5h@4ax.com...
| On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 20:25:17 -0000, StandardGreen
| <StandardGreen@gmail.com> wrote:
|
| >When I look at available wireless networks, Windows XP differentiates
| >between the WLAN and any nearby ad-hoc networks. How? I'm assuming
| >that there is some kind of identifying bit in the packets.
|
| The information is in IEEE 802.11-1999 specs found at:
| <http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/802.11.html>
| Section 5.6 explains the difference between AdHoc and Infrastructure
| modes. The problem is that the IEEE calls them IBSS (adhoc) and ESS
| (infrastructure) modes. A client bridge is also known as an STA.
| Reading IEEE specs turns my brain to mush. Therefore, I suggest you
| digest the technobabble and acronyms in small bites.
|
| Also see:
| <http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/11/Tutorial/>
|
| The info is in the probe response frame (which also supplies the SSID)
| as in 7.2.3.9. Specifically, it's in the IBSS (adhoc) Parameter Set.
| If it's an ESS (infrastructure) access point that's responding, the
| field is blank.
|
| It might be helpful if you try a wireless sniffer and looked at the
| packets involved. See Wireshark at:
| <http://www.wireshark.com>
|
| >Furthermore, to those that know the answer to the question, where do
| >you learn this? I'd like to find your sources so I can get tips on
| >finding this stuff out for myself.
|
| A more simplified list of frame types can be found at:
| <http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/1447501>
|
| --
| # 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