Cisco Cisco 5508 Wireless Controller Guía De Diseño
1-12
Book Title
OL-xxxxx-xx
Chapter 1 Cisco Adaptive wIPS Management Deployment Guide, Release 8.0
Cisco Adaptive wIPS Introduction
How Many wIPS Access Points do I need?
Before deploying an Adaptive wIPS system, it is important to consider that the communications range
of an access point’s cell is less than the actual range at which frames may be received and decoded. The
reason for this discrepancy is that an Access Point’s communication range is limited by the weakest link
– which in typical deployments is the WLAN client. Given that the output power of a WLAN client is
intrinsically less than the Access Point’s maximum, the range of the cell is restricted to the client’s
abilities. In addition, it is recommended practice to run Access Points at less than full power to build RF
redundancy and load balancing into the wireless network. These aforementioned fact combined with the
superior receive sensitivity of Cisco’s Access Points allows the Adaptive wIPS system to be deployed
with less access point density than the client serving infrastructure while still providing pervasive
monitoring.
of an access point’s cell is less than the actual range at which frames may be received and decoded. The
reason for this discrepancy is that an Access Point’s communication range is limited by the weakest link
– which in typical deployments is the WLAN client. Given that the output power of a WLAN client is
intrinsically less than the Access Point’s maximum, the range of the cell is restricted to the client’s
abilities. In addition, it is recommended practice to run Access Points at less than full power to build RF
redundancy and load balancing into the wireless network. These aforementioned fact combined with the
superior receive sensitivity of Cisco’s Access Points allows the Adaptive wIPS system to be deployed
with less access point density than the client serving infrastructure while still providing pervasive
monitoring.
As depicted in the above diagram, a wIPS deployment is based on hearing 802.11 management and
control frames which are used by a majority of attacks to cause harm. This is in contrast to a data Access
Points deployment that is surveyed to provide higher throughput data rates anywhere from 24Mbps to
54Mbps.
control frames which are used by a majority of attacks to cause harm. This is in contrast to a data Access
Points deployment that is surveyed to provide higher throughput data rates anywhere from 24Mbps to
54Mbps.
There are numerous factors that go into deciding exactly the number of wIPS Access Points that are
required for a specific environment. Given that each prospective deployment’s security requirements and
environmental conditions are different, there is no hard and fast rule that will address the needs of every
deployment but a few generalized guidelines must be taken into account.
required for a specific environment. Given that each prospective deployment’s security requirements and
environmental conditions are different, there is no hard and fast rule that will address the needs of every
deployment but a few generalized guidelines must be taken into account.
The main factors, which affect the number of wIPS Access Points required, are as follows.