Smart APs

 < Day Day Up > 



A smart access point (also known as a "fat" or "thick" AP) provides radio functionality and has most of its network intelligence in the same box, thus these devices can handle most of the protocols for roaming, encryption, management, user authentication, and so forth. Such industry giants as Cisco and Enterasys back the smart AP approach. A smart AP presents the end-users it serves to the wired network switch as if they were physically connected. Furthermore, smart APs reduce the load on central switches within the wired LAN, albeit at the cost of needing to be managed.

One of the downside with these APs is that the smarter the AP, the higher the cost. Another is that these smart devices present very tempting targets to thieves in that they require horsepower in the form of memory and processing power. Also, if the WLAN is large with many smart APs, upgrading these devices with new firmwire or security features means that a technician must manually connect to each device to perform the upgrade. This can result in IT personnel lugging around ladders, screwdrivers, flashlights, etc. just to get to the various APs.

However, integrating network services directly into the AP enables important services to be pushed out to the first point of contact with the wireless user. The thought is that by provisioning access control lists and policies directly from the radio, end-users can move, for example, onto another subnet in another corporate location, and still retain all their access rights.



 < Day Day Up > 



Going Wi-Fi. A Practical Guide to Planning and Building an 802.11 Network
Going Wi-Fi: A Practical Guide to Planning and Building an 802.11 Network
ISBN: 1578203015
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 273

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net